Harvesting more every day even in the wind

May is a time when there is a lot of rapid change on the farm with plants going from being far from ready to harvest to need to be harvested in a matter of days.

The tables at the market are now overflowing with all the spring veggies and the first few summer veggies coming in.

For the spring veggies we need to stay on top of harvesting as if we wait to long in this hot weather they will go bad while we try to be early with the first of summer veggies at the same time.

The successions of each crop of spring veggies will be coming in one after another and we may be picking multiple of them at the same time so that nothing goes bad.

Weeding the cucumbers and melons we see lots of flowers on the plants along with the first few very small melons formed.

Melons take some time until we get to harvest them while cucumbers and summer squash grow very quickly.

It is starting to feel like its summer with the temperatures in the low 90s and the sunny days. All the summer veggies are enjoying this heat to grow quickly while the spring veggies are needing plenty of water to reduce their stress.

Coupled with the heat was a big windstorm over the weekend that the plants did not enjoy. Luckily for us most of our crops are low to the ground so they felt less effects of the wind but the potato and tomato plants were knocked over a little bit from the wind.

The wind dried out the plants even more so we had to make sure that all the plants got the necessary water while it was windy and after the fact.

Three years ago the walnut orchard north of the farm was removed and since then we have felt like the winds have been stronger.

Many farms plant rows of trees at the edge of their properties as windbreaks to lessen the harshness of the wind but that is not possible on this property and the neighbors walnuts were doing that until they got pulled out much sooner than expected.

To keep the tomato plants growing upright instead of like a bush we are trellising them so they become easier to harvest.

Last week we added another string to the plants and they grew so quickly yesterday we had put another string on them higher up to keep them growing vertically.

With three plantings of tomatoes in the ground and the fourth one going in tomorrow we can see the different stages they are at and compare how the plants look.

There are lots of flowers on the tomatoes and even a decent amount of green tomatoes. Hopefully they start ripening up soon that we are able to bring them to market.

We are adding another market to our weekly schedule beginning next Thursday, May 28. It is the Marin Civic Center Farmers Market that takes place every Thursday from 8 am-1 pm in San Rafael.

With the new property and growing more veggies we were wanting more places to sell but only if they fit into what we are doing already. This new market fits in perfectly as it is during the week so we don’t need to have a second vehicle and it allows us to access a lot of different people.

It is known as the ‘Chef’s Market’ because so many restaurants go to it to stock up for the weekend and we will be able to do some of that in addition to all the regular people doing their weekly shop at the market.

If you live in the Bay Area or know people that do let them know we will be at the Marin Farmers Market on Thursday with lots of fresh, delicious veggies.