Once again, the farm crew dodged thunderstorms and INSANE rainfall (TEN inches in July, almost six inches above the average for the month) to finish a good week's work.  Our fall broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, beets, carrots and brussels sprouts are safely in the ground and growing well, our garlic is almost fully harvested and beautiful storage onions and shallots are still to come.  Weeding and mechanical cultivation (killing weeds with tractors) are extremely challenging in a wet year like this one, and as you have probably noticed, we have one of the weedier farms in New England to deal with.  Our weed growth is generally tapering off by mid-August, but this season our August weather is more like our usual July weather, and the weeds are responding in kind, with vigorous August growth that is hard for us to keep up with.  Please feel free to pull a few weeds in the pick-your-own section as you move around the farm, or find your favorite crop and dig in for a few minutes.  Sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts particularly need your help this week, along with basil and beans.  

It's a race against the clock every semi-dry day to get fall crops in, keep sensitive crops weeded, keep up with the harvest (especially our crazy carrots and cucumbers, for which we are extremely grateful this season!) and feed and fertilize crops that have been in the ground for a long time (hello, celeriac and leeks).  Despite our best efforts with organically approved copper sprays, it looks like our third succession of tomatoes may succumb to late blight, the disease which farmer Dan Kaplan of Brookfield Farm calls "Old Testament bad."  I saw some conventionally grown tomatoes at the Waltham Farmers' Market last Saturday, so it looks like they'll definitely be out there for you, but many organic farms are seeing significant losses across the area.  We're waiting for some really good hot weather to ripen up the cantelopes and watermelons we see nestled among the vines in the field, and encourage our okra, peppers, and eggplant along.  In the meantime, we're keeping up as best we can between the raindrops.