Endless Rain....repeat!

Another week of PRECIPITATION, water vapor, droplets, deluge, flood, cloud saturation blah,blah,blah. Still, the drought is a more fearsome foe. Fieldwork gone missing, seeding schedules washed away and transplanting under water..............all for the love of rain. We don't want to complain. But, for the grower too much rain is a pain. Some farmer's suffered insult to injury with a side of 2 1/2" hail to complement the main rainfall.

Rot is a major consequence of too much moisture. Insects and disease want their piece of green. All bets are off for the coming week, photosynthesis take a number! Market was ok. I salvaged lettuces, and CSA members had an ok share, certainly not what I would prefer for early June.

To the future of chlorophyll and sunlight, Here Here!! (Course then grousing about the heat will take over)

Endless Rain

Puddles everywhere.
Aaron suiting up for harvest during last Friday's deluge.
Aaron at the end of his work day, too much heat and humidity to suit him!


After 3 days of no rain, here we are again! Baritone rumbling woke me up, rattled windows and sent Max into hiding. I found him in the bathroom, determined to stuff himself between the wall and toilet. Poor dog. He hates thunderstorms.

It let up around 11:00 so we headed out to transplant tomatoes and peppers. Yesterday was very hot and muggy, plenty of sun blasting down, not good conditions for setting plants. Instead we weeded, mostly those dastardly thistles. Anyway, we worked for less than an hour and the clouds resumed their symphony with rain. Lots of rain. End of transplanting.

Tomorrow is another fruit day on the biodynamic planting calendar, so we will try again. Oh! the weather, no wonder it's in the "Top Ten" of farmer conversations.

Boot Sucking Mud, All Day Rain

Here are two Colorado Potato Beetles making more little CPB. Aaaarrrrggghhh!!!
Lettuce, and of course weeds.
Gold patty pan squash are here!

Red Express cabbage is coming along slowly but surely
Baby Bush zucchinni
Forellenschluss lettuce, a beauty. The above photos were taken before the rain.

So.............how muddy was it??? We can testify to the power of mud. It will pull off your shoe which is why I bought a pair of tight fitting, knee high rain boots. Slogging between rows of lettuce while steady rain saturated our clothing made harvesting less than pleasant. Harvest does not wait for suitable picking conditions. Market dictates harvest, and CSA members want their share. Almost 2" of rain fell Thursday and Friday. For the precipitation impaired, that is a lot of rain.

Today proved gorgeous and market was lively with a good crowd. Despite the cold, wet, unkind Spring, the vegetables are growing. I simply put one foot in front of the other and keep on planting. There have been some flats that died and the pests are devouring what they can reach. Perseverance is the only response.

24 Hour Day A Myth???

A Biodynamic Flowform. The water performs a figure 8 in each form as it flows. You Tube has several good videos of flowforms. Seeing is easier than trying to describe the process. This one was photographed at Kimberton CSA.

I think hours disappear like socks in the wash. Really. The week started, and poof, harvest day was upon me!

HOT and Sticky

Here is G9, short for Jeannine. She is an experienced farm intern and my friend. We met at a Pennsylvania Women In Agriculture business class. Out of the goodness of her heart she offered to come and help me with transplanting and weeding, all volunteer. G9 can do any task very fast, waaaay faster than I can. This potato bed got very weedy after the recent rains and she is making it look beautiful. Then a layer of straw will be added so we don't have to weed this bed again!

The weather is extreme. Why can't we just have a regular nice day? The past week it has been awful HOT and sticky. This kind of heat is not good for lettuces or peas or ME. I'll take 75 and dry. Today was particularly oppressive, with buckets of heat and humidity even after the sun disappeared.

Good Work Days

What a beautiful scene. This is my view while filling the water tank. A mother goose and her fluffy goslings have been taking regular outings on the pond, even venturing onto the meadow. That is the original spring house, with a new roof. Quite a hill to take a tumble if you are carrying milk pails. I think about how hard women had to labor to prepare the daily meals.
After the paper and fence were in place, a layer of wood chips are used to keep the paper from blowing and ripping. It also looks better. A friend helps Aaron, to make the job more enjoyable.
A shot of the green things. Temps went down to 35 degrees, other farms got hit with freezing. I tell you, not a good season so far. For CSA members, we are trying to get those little lettuces to grow. Tomorrow the forecast-77 degrees. This season is slow, slow, slow!


Finally the rye gets chopped. Daughter Alexandra stopped by to lend a hand, asking to try out the BCS with a Palladino flail mower. This is an excellent piece of machinery. It will mow and chop a 6 foot high cover crop simultaneously.

This is biodegradable paper mulch. We are experimenting with several weed control strategies. In the pic, electric net fencing is being laid out on top of the paper.

Market Opens

Paper or Plastic? or how about straw? In an effort to control weeds a mulch is used, but which one? Plasticulture is not my choice. This straw will be spread on potatoes, strawberries, rhubarb and other select crops to stem the troublemakers. Chickweed, and thistles are the worst offenders. Yes,yes I know-"a weed is simply a plant growing where it is not wanted". Well those guys are not welcome! This season a trial of biodegradeable paper mulch will be tested under the electric net fence. Weeds or vegetation touching an electric fence lowers the voltage.

Market opened today. A festive, family reunion atmosphere prevailed for vendors and customers. Hugs all around! Produce growers are having a delay in market attendance due to lousy spring weather. For me it was slim pickin's, literally.