Crunch time on the farm

(CSA Newsletter: Early Season Week 14)

Meet this week’s vegetables:

May is our busiest month. By far. That’s been reaffirmed this last week as the nice dry weather has allowed us to tackle many projects, including some that had been delayed during the extra cold, wet weather.

Consequently, we’ve been slammed with work. It’s incredible how much we’re trying to get done in one month. To give you an idea of how many tasks are overlapping, here are the types of thing we have to think about all at once in May:

Planting. Planting. Planting. In May, we have to plant many of our longer season summer crops (summer squash, tomatoes, etc.) as well as some fall/winter crops (Brussels sprouts, onions, leeks, etc.). We also have to plant the continued rounds of veggies we plant successively all year: lettuce, carrots, beets, etc. This week alone, we planted 40 200’ beds (approximately one acre!). And the upcoming week should be about as intense, if not more so. (We are very appreciative of our new Drängen during all this planting though! It’s keeping our spirits up and our backs limber.)

In addition to planting, we also have to continue thinking about field management and maintenance: i.e. weeding. The first plantings are far enough along to require cultivating, and today (Monday) we hope to cultivate our second plantings of the year as well. And, as the dry weather continues, we’ve had to think about irrigation. So, we’ve been setting up and running irrigation in all our newly planted beds as well as some of our over-wintered plantings.

We also spend a lot of time laying down, moving, removing, row cover — the long white pieces of spun fabric we use to give our plants extra protection in the shoulder seasons and year-round to protect certain types of plants from known pests. Right now we have almost all of our plantings covered, since it has been so cold.

Other vegetables require extra special care, such as our peas, which we uncovered, weeded, and began trellising this week. We’ll have to continue adding new lines of twine to our trellis system about once a week now until they reach full height.

We’ve also had to mow and should mow again, to prevent over-wintered crops from setting seed (to become future weeds).

And, during all of this we’re also trying to prepare for the upcoming first market (May 29!) and continue harvesting weekly for the CSA and Nick’s.

Needless to say, we’ve been busy. But things are good. The crunch is on but we feel much saner than any season before, even with this spring’s special challenges (cold weather and an unintentional cover crop that has been slow to break down). Big plantings have become routine — they still eat up time, but we know exactly what to expect, how much time to allocate, and what tools we need to get it done right. Our new irrigation system continues to work well and makes us very happy. It’s wonderful to know that once we’ve set up pipes in a new planting, we won’t need to move them out again until we need to cultivate or do future ground prep.

Although we’ve kept our socializing to a minimum this last week to accommodate our increased work load, we have managed to find time for special family events such as Mother’s Day and welcoming our new nephew Daniel into the world (congrats Josh & Saralé!). A sweet little baby provides invaluable perspective to two spring-weary farmers.

In other news, summer is on its way! They’re predicting much warmer temperatures later this week. We are excited to see a growth spurt in the fields, but we hope heat won’t keep you from joining us for the work party and potluck on Saturday! It should be good fun!

In the meantime, enjoy this week’s vegetables!

Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla

P.S. Don’t forget! In two weeks (May 27), the CSA main season begins and we move the pick-up to the First Baptist Church parking lot!

Work party & potluck info!

Are you a current/former/future CSA member or market share member? This Saturday, May 17, you are invited to join us on the farm from 2 to 5 pm for a voluntary farm community work party. We’ll be weeding and mulching the hedge we planted this winter — fun, easy work. Kids of all ages are welcome, with constant adult supervision. Bring a water bottle, sturdy closed-toe shoes, a hat, and layers of clothing for all weather.

At five-ish, we’ll switch gears into a purely social time as we enjoy a farm community potluck. Even if you can’t come to the work party, please join us for this on-farm dinner! Bring a dish to share. We don’t have any refrigeration or heating capabilities at the farm, so if you’re coming to the work party, consider how you’ll keep your potluck dish hot or cold while you work. We’d like to avoid using disposal items, so if you can, please bring plates and utensils for you and your family to use (we’ll have some extra but not enough if everyone comes). If you want to grill, we’ll have a grill going.

In addition to breaking bread together, we’ll fire up a campfire (s’mores anyone?) and get the frisbee out. Feel free to bring musical instruments or anything else you think would be enjoyable! Hope to see you here!

Directions to farm: From McMinnville, take HWY-18 southeast out of town, as though heading to hospital. Stay on HWY-18 past where it turns into one lane. Turn RIGHT onto Lafayette Hwy. Stay on Lafayette Hwy until you see blue winery signs for Hauer of the Dauen winery. Turn LEFT onto Farivew Road. Stay on Fairview Road, which jogs a few times. Eventually you’ll cross Wallace Rd/HWY 221 — at that point, Fairview turns into Grand Island Rd. Stay on Grand Island Rd as it drops down over a bridge onto the island. Turn RIGHT at the first uncontrolled intersection onto SE Upper Island Rd. Our driveway is the first on your LEFT, but our property is the second property. We share the driveway with our neighbor, so please stay on the RIGHT side of the driveway and park in front of our red pole building, the greenhouses, or next-to/behind our little house.