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We have made it to week number four! The students have just finished the midpoint of their summer internship. It's hard to believe that they are halfway done since it seems like they started last week. They have been doing an incredible job in a short amount of time. I don't know if a farm ever feels "caught-up", but the students have been working very hard to help get us to where we are today. One of the things that I truly enjoy when working with students, is sharing with their "firsts". The first time that they learn a new task. When they master that task. When they get to taste the first of a crop. Something that they helped along the way and so on. It's really a great thing to be a part of and it makes me appreciate the "firsts" that I experience on an annual basis, because no two years are alike when it comes to vegetable farming. 

With the holiday last week, it was a short week for the students, but a lot was still accomplished. We continued with the big task of getting the tomatoes trellised. I mentioned last week that the heirloom tomatoes were completed but we still needed to do the hoophouse that has the beefsteaks, cherries and sauce tomatoes in it. Well, that house has close to 500 tomato plants in it and it is a big undertaking. The entire house has the initial pruning, aka suckering, done, 3 of 4 beds wrapped, aka trellised, and only 1 bed to drop string and trellis left. We also were able to finally plant a bed of ginger and turmeric in the greenhouse. That was something that should have happened a couple of weeks ago, but we had some flexibility because of growing it in the greenhouse as opposed to one of our hoophouses. The greenhouse uses polycarbonate and retains heat better, so it is significantly warmer (there have been multiple 100-degree days in there this summer) much later in the season, plus we have supplemental heat if needed. We have been growing baby ginger for a number of years, but the turmeric is new for us. The students were very interested in trying to grow it, so we are giving it a shot. Both crops should be ready in late October. Our hot pepper plants were also spaced on our greenhouse benches. The bench space in the greenhouse is a valuable area and since we have started the bulk of our seeds already it can tend to be an underutilized space for the entirety of the season. This year will be the largest number of pots of hot peppers we have ever grown. There are about 15 varieties in 160 or so pots. We have some other fun plants that we are going to put in larger pots and space around the greenhouse, as well. I will keep you updated.

Last week I mentioned the cucumbers being grown in the greenhouse. Well, they have started to arrive and will highlight the CSA share this week. There aren't a lot yet, but they are beautiful. Some of the plants have reached 11 feet already! There will be another newcomer to the share this week, black currants. I have always made jam with them, but I did a quick Google and found this that might inspire you. The currants will be available over the next couple of weeks and freeze well if you wanted to accumulate some quantity. There will also be basil again, as well as scapes, lettuce mix, romaine hearts/heads, rainbow chard, carrots and kale (mostly Red Russian this week). There will be more of the Music variety of garlic, too. On our farm walk this week, we noticed that the garlic might need to be pulled a little earlier than usual. It is something that we will be monitoring in the coming weeks. 

Have a great week!

-Farmer Todd