Early Summer Update

From SHF CSA

A few photos to share of the farm. Summer crops are slowly maturing and we should have the first of the summer squash, beans, and tomatoes by the end of the month, I'm guessing. All that hot weather was good for the established summer crops which need some heat to get going, but we're still having trouble with germination of direct seeded crops so we've switched to seeding in flats and transplanting where possible. It's a little more work up front but it should save us time with weeding in the end. Fortunately we have good farming friends who have also provided us with some surplus transplants to fill a couple of gaps. Sauvie Island Organics and Meriwether's Skyline Farm have donated basil, parsley, fennel and celery starts to fill in gaps where those seedings failed.

From SHF CSA

Here's a photo of the patty pan squash that has been appreciating the heat. A couple more weeks and we might have some fruit to distribute. There are a few crops that I foresee being tricky for us to harvest on a one day a week schedule. In the peak of the season these will want to be picked at least two, if not three days a week. This might just mean that we give out a wide variety of sizes, we'll see what happens.

From SHF CSA

Above is Danny dividing up the kale shares last week. You might notice that our "packing area" is quite crude, just a patch of grass under some fruit trees. For now it's actually quite nice, as long as we can avoid smacking our heads on the low branches. We'll probably upgrade some of these spaces in the long run but I'm enjoying the simplicity of what we're doing for now.

One last note of interest, we're hoping to have an open house soon perhaps even a little pot luck picnic as an opportunity for CSA members and friends to visit the farm and to meet each other. More details will follow but the afternoon of July 19 looks like the first possible date, and if that works out there will be more to follow.