Our first harvest is almost upon us. For two years I have tried to start the farm harvest of fresh veggies to our members before Thanksgiving so that our produce could be included on the menu of the festivities. Unfortunately, we have had problems with seed starting soil and have lost our seedlings two years in a row form different causes. We almost had that happen again this year but I was able to catch it in time so things weren't pushed back too far. It appears that saving the bale of leftover soil over the summer causes pH changes that are not conducive to plant growth. I made a quick change and bought fresh soil and things grew the way they were supposed to.
Two hurricanes didn't help things out either. Besides rotting a few seedling trays down and killing most of our pepper plants when the plastic mulch blew off, we escaped major damage. The eggplants were injured but appeared to have recovered.
I have adjusted our nutritional program this year and the plants have responded remarkably. I have never grown such a beautiful crop of vegetables as I see in the field right now. Everything looks amazing! TBTG! Our squash plants (zucchini, yellow squash, and patty pan) are ten days earlier than expected and we have been picking bushels of cucurbits already. Turnips, diakon, broccoli raab, and green bean plants are also looking tremendous and should be close for the picking this Saturday (Nov. 12) a full two weeks ahead of schedule! Goal #1 accomplished!
I have a few other harvest goals I would like to meet this year. Goal #2 - Have lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and scallions ready at the same time for a delicious salad. We usually have all of this ready throughout the season but we never have it all at once. Goal #3 - Have carrots, cabbage, and potatoes ready for St. Patrick's Day. A good Irish Catholic tradition for our family has been to have a pot of corned beef and cabbage for St. Paddy's Day. Whether or not this is truly "traditional" is up for debate, but it is traditional in our family, and now has passed into the second generation. I would like to supply our pot with Steed Farm's, fresh produce, for the feast day. St Patrick pray for us!
So the harvest forecast for this Saturday (Nov. 12) is lots of squash, turnip greens, diakon radish, broccoli raab, sweet potatoes, mint, and Thai basil. Green beans are really close but may show up on next week's menu. We will also have as a bonus avocados from the tree at the house and starfruit from the tree at the office. This should make for a nice basket of produce to plan some meals for next week.
Just to round out the news from the farm, the tomato transplants are planted in the house along with the cucumber seeds. The carrots have been sown this last week along with a fresh crop of broccoli raab and cilantro. We should be transplanting to the field, bok choi, kale, collards, cabbage, lettuce, mustard greens, broccoli, and kohlrabi. The strawberry plants are almost rooted and will be transplanted shortly as well. Lots of work ahead.
