Water is so lovely when it falls from the sky. This week we have gotten back on the rain track and even though the systems bringing it to us have been on the violent side, we are oh so happy to have the water. The time and effort to set up and run water on many acres is happily spent in other places on the farm, like picking tomatoes. The tomato crop this year is looking really outstanding and this is due to the diligent efforts of the farm’s field and crew managers, Kristin and Corinne. Starting with a research visit to Johnny’s Selected Seeds last summer they have made it their mission to improve our system of growing tomatoes in field tunnels. Since the blight year of 2009 (we lost all 950 of our tomato plants) the farm has grown tomatoes (except for upic cherries) under movable tunnels, protecting them from disease. When we made this change we just moved our systems for growing out in the field under cover, which worked fine but wasn’t really taking full advantage of the indoor environment. In the past five years there has been a lot of work done by farmers and researchers alike on improving tunnel grown tomatoes from new watering schedules, systems for trellising, techniques for pruning off unwanted growth, etc. Kristin and Corrine looked at all of these improvements and went to work creating a new tomato culture for us and training the crew in the weekly intricacies of maximizing growth and fruiting of this crop. When you are enjoying the best tomato ever, think of these two hard working farmers.
What’s in the share
Carrots
Tomato
Green Pepper
Eggplant
Scallions
Jalapeno
Cukes
Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Chard/Kale
What’s in Upic
Beans
Cherry Tomatoes (just starting)