Farmer Kurt’s Field Notes Week 5 (July 20, 2024)

I started out the week irrigating the farm for two days. Then the farm got 2 inches of rain from the hurricane. Luckily I planned ahead and had our crew preharvest for the CSA boxes a day earlier than usual. That kept us from slogging through the mud and messing up the fields. Corinna always likes it when it rains, because it forces me to come inside and rest. I was so physically exhausted after my Sylvania CSA pickup site. I slept half the day on Wednesday.

I put Glen on the cooler project this week. We’re installing a new cooler in the red barn, which will replace the unit that is currently sitting next to the garage. (Urban Wholistics will be inheriting our old cooler, and they are anxiously waiting for it to arrive). If you recall, my buddy Nick came out to frame it in a few weeks ago. I got a guy coming any day now to spray foam it with insulation, so I really need to get my act together and finish it. Glen cut out a window in the barn, and we’ll be installing a Cool-Bot AC unit to cool the space.

The crew washes and bunches golden beets.

I’m still waiting to hear back from the insurance adjuster about the Hino truck repair. I’m guessing that they’ll declare the truck a loss and write a check. Just the hood alone is gonna cost $3K. And that doesn’t even cover the damage to the brakes and brake lines. So I should find out any day now. Ugh, what a mess. But I trust that God is going to work it all out.

You may not fully appreciate this little improvement we made at the farm this week (but our CSA packers and harvesters will!!). Here it is:

This is a float pump that keeps water from overflowing in our wash tanks! Over the years, we often forget we’re filling them, and then come back to find the wash bay flooded with water. Now we can fill our tanks, walk away, and trust them to turn off when full. Josiah got this installed for me, and he did a great job.

I drove out to Michigan to buy some used steel “flower carts.” These are going to take the place of our U-boat carts that hold our CSA bins. I decided I just can’t use the U-boats to load into our truck. Last week, one of them tipped over while being lifted by the forklift into the truck, and I cracked 5 totes. Once we get our lift gate installed on the truck, I need something more stable. These flower carts are perfect. They have a square base and are on caster wheels — real sturdy.

Garlic is curing in the greenhouse!

We continued to transplant more fall crops this week: fennel, cauliflower, cabbage. We hosted an inner city group of teens from Grace Community Center this Friday. That was really fun. I always enjoy showing students the story of the farm, because so many of them don’t know what goes into making our food.

I used my flame weeder for the first time this week. Yeah, we bought a flame-weeder! It’s pretty cool. This is a series of 3 units that mounts on the back of steel frame and blasts hot fire onto the beds to burn the weeds. I just drive my tractor over the bed and voila! This will take the place of my backpack flame-weeder, which took forever to use (and scared Corinna to death). This Flamewerks weeder is like driving an F-18. It’s awesome!

We found out this week that we were awarded a sizeable financial grant from Chipotle as part of their Local Farmer Grant initiative. We were nominated by Local Line (our e-commerce platform) for being a farm who is using innovative solutions to build a more sustainable food system that protects the environment. We will likely use this money to pay for part of this flame-weeder.

More mushrooms are in the online store this week. Last week, they were our best-seller!

I’m looking forward to taking a vacation! We’ll be leaving NEXT Thursday morning, flying to Edmonton, Canada –which is in Alberta. One of Corinna’s mastermind members offered us free VIP tickets to the Cold Lake Air Show, and a free stay “glamping” vacation in their geodesic dome. Our boys love air shows, so it’s going to be a great memory. Their second time to Canada! It will be a quick trip — back by Tuesday, but I’m hoping I can release the farm from my thoughts for a few days and unwind. It’s pretty rare to see a farmer feel like he can take a week off in the middle of the summer. I tell people it’s because I have a great team and understanding customers who support us! (Thank you).

Amaranth is a heat-tolerant summer green for your salads.

BTW, sweet corn is coming. My dad picked the first batch for his roadside stand today. You’ll definitely have it for the week 6 box. Tomatoes are turning in the high tunnel! Peppers are forming on the plants. And watermelon is ripening… summer crops are almost here.

Remember, we’ll be taking the week of July 22-26 off. There will be NO pickup on July 23 or 25. And my next newsletter won’t come out until July 26th.

Farmer Kurt