The Storm

It got wet on Tuesday, and Wednesday, and even thursday (a little bonus surprise!).

We were expecting it.  Actually, we were expecting a lot more, although 2+ inches at a time is enough.  

The unexpected thing, and this points to my nascent experience as a farmer, is that the strawberries all pretty much rotted (the fruits, not the plants).  Bummer, but not really a surprise.

Logan and I are going through a crop by crop audit and making sure it’s worth it to grow all these things.  It looks like green beans (absolutely not growing those) and cherry tomatoes are at the top of the short list of items to go.  Winter squash and melons are at the top of the list of keepers. 

We are trying to develop a system of planting, maintenance and harvest that anyone (or almost anyone) can fit into.  We want to be able to plug in any worker into the daily flow and still get about the same amount done.  Just as an example, crops like cherry tomatoes and green beans are only worth it if you have a harvester (or a machine, for that matter) that can really crank out the produce for us.  Now, most people just can’t do it, and I don’t expect it.  I personally hate harvesting both of those, and I’m using my dislike as a litmus for ditching these crops.

Anyway, we’re just thinking about how to make this farm more of a well-oiled machine, without becoming part of the industrial monoculture machine.

Andrew