Hot cold hot cold wet dry wet dry. That pretty much sums up this past spring. As a result the strawberries bloomed all at once, which makes them ripen all at once, so the season was much shorter than normal. We've been talking to the cherry growers at market, and it's the same thing -the cherry season will be short. And the weeds, they're coming on all at once too! Yes, Mother Nature sure makes farming, shall we say, "interesting!"
* Raspberries
"David, I have never seen a better looking patch of raspberries" said our crop consultant a few days ago. It sure was nice to have good news about a berry crop this year, we knew the raspberries were looking fantastic, but our consultant has seen a lot of different raspberry patches over the years, so that really means something. The canes are absolutely loaded with berries. Right now we've got enough berries for a steady supply of "ready pick" berries at our store.
* Pick-Your-Own
We are all set to have a fantastic pick-your-own raspberry season, and it will begin in a few days -depending on the weather of course. We're checking the patch each day, and as soon as there are lots of ripe berries for easy picking, we'll open up the patch for the pick-your-own. The best picking will be over the next two to three weeks. Please note, picking starts at 9:00 in the morning this year, an hour later than other years. In the photo, Rebecca is enjoying an evening walk through the patch -what a great dessert! By the way, the currants are ready to pick right now.
* Seascape Strawberries
If you missed out on the main season of strawberries, don't worry, you can still enjoy our "day neutral" summer strawberries. This is experimental for us this year, so we only planted four short rows, so that we can learn how to grow them best. They are just starting to ripen, and we like them -the flavour is very good. We'll be picking them every Sunday (we don't have enough for every day). We had our first taste last week, they were good, tasted just like strawberries should, but it was an unusual harvest. We picked a few from the field, but most of them came from the hanging baskets and small pots that we had planted up!
* World Cup Fever
Did you notice Rebecca's jersey? With four Mexicans living on our farm, we are, of course, rooting for the Mexican team. As I write this early on Sunday morning, I'm looking forward with great anticipation (and trepidation?) to this afternoon's game against Argentina. Any sensible fan would just close the farm so that we all can watch the game without any interruptions, and you customers would be out of luck. But we are also devoted to providing you with that "just picked" freshness, so of course we will be open, and we're recording the game. As it turns out we won't be able to watch the game until Monday night, and we want to watch it without knowing the outcome. This is where you come in: If you are coming to the farm Sunday afternoon or on Monday, please please please don't mention the game! Thanks!
You'll be seeing more summer crops coming in over the next few weeks, everything is growing very well, and I'm keeping a close eye on those heirloom tomatoes. We'll do our best to keep ahead of the weeds!
Bye for now,
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