Two Feet in the Dirt

It’s been quite a week on the farm with a tornado warning, several heavy rainstorms, and multiple power outages! Because we have a well, when the power goes out, the water goes out. This is not only a problem (for obvious reasons) in the house, but is also a huge struggle on the farm. Water is, unsurprisingly, a fairly essential resource in farming. Even when we get sufficient rain for the outdoor beds, we still have the seedlings in trays and the entire hoop house which rely on water from the well. With highs earlier this week up near 90 and all of the summer seedlings out in the hoop house waiting to be planted, losing power meant quickly transporting all of the trays of peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini out of the hoop house and into a shaded area until the power came back on and we could water again. 

Earlier this week when my son was helping with some work on the farm, he told me, “This is boring.” My response was that, yes, farming is boring. You do the same thing over and over again and sometimes for uncomfortably long periods at a time. And, in a way, you want it to be boring, because the non-boring times when you have to shift out of the normal routine are almost always stressful- unexpected disease problems, catastrophic rainfalls like we had in 2018, or sudden power outages that cause you to scramble to find quick solutions. Fortunately, the power is back on, the plants are back in the hoop house, and we’re looking forward to summer planting starting next week!

We look forward to seeing everyone at both the Burke and Shepherdstown Farmers Market this weekend and we want to thank all of the Shepherdstown shoppers for making our first market last week such a success! Below is this week’s estimated harvest list. Please note that we don’t know exactly what or how much we will have until we have completed our harvest. As a result, we may have more or less than what is listed and all items may not be available at both markets, although we will try our best!

Thank you so much for your support! We could not do this without you.

Farmers Katie & Mike

Harvest List:

• Lettuce salad mix
• Arugula
• Hearty winter mix
• Lettuce
• Radishes
• Green Garlic (last week)
• Spinach
• Hakurei turnips
• Bok choi
• Kale
• Collard Greens