Peaceful Greetings:
We had a great first week of the harvest season, wonderful weather and lots of nice people. Thanks to all who came out to help us harvest and wash vegetables, your help is very necessary and appreciated. Every week we have many volunteer opportunities for those interested in learning how your food is grown, come out and join the farm crew.
For the farmers here at Sweetwater, the summer has been a very busy and productive time. We have been working hard preparing all the fields for the new season, making hundreds of tons of organic compost, setting up irrigation at the new farm and building the new greenhouse. We are on track to start planting the first crops next week at our new farm site at the Children’s Home. I want to give a very special thanks to Casey, Alejandro, Phil and Noel for working so hard under such extreme conditions this summer. Without their dedication we would not have been able to accomplish so much in so little time.
So here is a little bit about what’s growing in the fields right now. The green beans are ready a little early this year and are delicious, expect them in the share for the next month or so. Green beans are a fairly easy crop to grow but a very tedious one to harvest, so please come out and help us pick, the more hands we have to pick, the more beans that will be in the share.
Sunburst Patty Pan is a type of summer squash, we trialed it last season with much success so have decided to make it a part of the share. Those of you who tasted it last season had many good things to say, also the plants grow very well in our soil and provide very high yields.
We are growing two kinds of cucumber that have proven over the seasons to grow very well here. One is the typical slicing cucumber, a hybrid variety called General Lee. The other is Suyo Long Asian Cucumber which is considered a ‘burpless’ cucumber. Very fresh taste, they are tender even when they get past one pound.
Another new variety that we added this season is the Pink Beauty radish, this heirloom variety grows very quickly and gets large without splitting. Expect to see it throughout the season with Sweetwater’s old favorite varieties like Easter Egg and French Breakfast radishes.
Hope everyone enjoys the shares this season.