June Newsletter

6/2/2008

RAIN, RAIN, go away, come again some other day! May could best be described as wet and cold. Our sump pump worked fine the other night when we got 6.5 or so inches of rain but it died on us last night and I guess the ground is still saturated because we had a few inches of water throughout our basement this morning. So we went out in the rain (yes, again) and bought a new pump and cleaned up water all day. Guess we have to have something to do while we can't be in the fields! :)

May Flood 2008

When we got the big rain storm we had two lakes and the water running over 24th street in 2 places as well. One lake had sweet corn under it and one lake had tomatoe plants under it. Our neighbor told us that the field that the tomatoes were in had not had water in it since 1993.

May Flood 2008 - Tomato Field

We still have a lot of plants that are doing just fine. We've been working hard inbetween raindrops. Plenty of tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, zucchini, broccoli, cabbage, green beans, sugar snap peas, peppers, cantaloupe, watermelon, sweet corn, onions, and strawberries are out in the fields. There is also some lettuce, radishes, and beets. Due to the cold weather we didn't get any germination on the carrots and spinach. We also are doing some oregano and basil and maybe some other herbs this year. Scott says that everything is probably about 3 weeks behind normal schedule due to all the rain and such cold weather. As soon as we have some more dry weather we'll be planting pumpkins, squash, gourds, and other later crops.

Even the strawberries are behind. Usually we have a few quarts to share with our families for Memorial Day weekend but not this year. The first strawberry Jade and I split in half and she said it was "the best strawberry she ever had" which is pretty amazing considering the amount of strawberries she's had. Drew had the second strawberry we found and he said it was "as good as the strawberry swirl ice cream cones" that he gets at Cutty's campground. We thought about moving the date of our first CSA share back a week due to the delay in all the crops but after inspecting the patch we are sure that we should have enough strawberries. If the baskets are lighter in June we will make up for it with extra goodies in July.

First Strawberry of 2008

The wildlife is amazing to observe out here. I believe the momma fox and family moved further away from civilization but I've seen a fox roaming around in another field which makes me feel good considering the amount of rabbits I've seen this year. We've NEVER seen a deer in our 14 years here and the other day Scott found deer tracks out in our field.......luckily the only damage was holes in our plastic mulch. He probably left it all and went home to get his whole clan to come back and join in on the feast!! There must be a Killdeer nest somewhere in our strawberry patch or near it because every time we go out there we get a pair of those birds sqwaking at us and carrying on so bad we can hardly talk to each other. Click on this link http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?recnum=BD0188 and click on listen to hear what we get to listen to while we are picking strawberries.

The first Boone Farmers Market will be this Thursday if it is not thunderstorming. We will sit out there in the rain but not storms. :) It will be good to get the season going and see everyone again. This will be a month of watching and waiting....watching and waiting for the plants to grow that are already out there and watching and waiting for good weather so we can get out there and do some more. Scott got 1000 canteloupe and 500 watermelon plants out in the field yesterday with help from a couple friends. Pray for good weather conditions so that these and everything else will grow good and we can eat it all someday.....it's just so hard to wait!!

Julie