Rock & Roll Farm

Sunday! Jul 17 2005 // 6:00 pm //

Approaching critical mass

CSA; Day 48

Quick updates on the major issues:

new photos

Rain: a little more regular since my last post.

Weeds: still quite a bit of pressure. I tried to pick fava beans on Friday but I could barely find the plants. In some places the weeds are taller than I. We’re still spending like 30 hours a week weeding.

Harvest: we ate the first sweet corn yesterday. Apples started to come in last week. The black raspberries are going crazy. Broccoli and kale are huge and plentiful. We brought in a few major loads of onions and garlic last week, that we’re still cleaning and prepping for storage.

Crops coming soon: summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes.

Crops in early stages: we have a few beds of parsnips, carrots, and leeks that are limping along. Between poor germination (a problem all over the farm since the start of the season), little rain and major weed pressure, I’m surprised they’re doing as well as they are.

Pests: the deer have destroyed the equivalent of a full row of beets. It’s heartbreaking. The raccoons have started on the corn. We are going to put up an electric tape barrier, but I don’t know how well that worked last year.

Heat: it’s hot!

cory Sunday! Aug 28 2005 // 10:54 am Hi Renee, just happened upon your blog and wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading your updates and checking out the pics. My wife and I have a latent dream of starting a small organic enterprise somewhere down the line, though not in Michigan. Anyway, I hope the late summer on the farm has been good to you!