What a roller coaster weather we had in May! The weather was going from warm to cold, back and forth – warm like summer in late April and early May, and the last half of May was like back in fall, but overall it remained relatively mild temperature. On the farm we kept scrutinizing the skies often, wondering if the sun would show up, or clouds would bring rain drops.  “Do your best and see whatever may come” has been the motto in our field dictionary.  New volunteers are finally arriving, and everything is moving forward at full speed now. Timing is everything more than plans which may be changed anytime. The early part of June has been sunny and warm so far, and crops are catching up with their vibrant growth soon to be ready for harvest.  This past week’s harvest was lettuce, radishes, kohlrabi, turnips, kale, collards, chard, mustards, mizuna, komatsuna, arugula, broccolini, bok choy, peas, garlic scape, endive and herbs/edible flowers. The list will get longer every week from now on.

Planting is going steady.  We just finished planting big items like basil, corn and summer squash, and winter squash and pumpkins are going to follow next.  We are a little behind with weeding, though. The new irrigation system is working well, except we found its water pressure dropping low capriciously.  The cause was spring water’s sediments clogging the filter, and soon we learned how to resolve the issue…just clean the filter and it’s that simple!  We are going to install drip irrigation in part of Field 3 to irrigate squash and pumpkins soon.  Tomato plants are growing well and looking better than last year, which may have something to do with the potassium rich coco coir mix we are using for seedlings this year.

We are getting quite a few farm tours lately from elementary schools to high schools and universities including Bastyr’s food and nutrition classes. Some Bastyr students have already signed up for volunteering.  The more crops become ready for harvest, the more produce the retail market will start to carry.  We are about to post more products on Food Hub and begin wholesale to FFL so that we can generate income by moving the excess produce and helping the local food movement.  By the way, there has been a lot of buzz going on with GMOs lately. Since we are a Certified Organic grower, GMO related issues are something we keep paying attention to.  Cheers to a great growing season!     Thanks.   – Framer John –