July 25, 2024
Warmer days, and a break in the rain, have moved our crops along and made the second half of July truly feel like summer. We aren’t experiencing the extreme heat of last year, but we’re getting enough to keep the crops that survived the harsh rains advancing.
It’s a different landscape as we drive around this summer. The past few years we saw fields that were dried up because of extreme drought or were barely hanging on, but this year it’s a different story.
We're seeing fields that haven’t even been planted. Fields that have been completely washed away because of all the rain that we received in late May and June. Fields with crops that are extremely uneven because rows sat submerged in water for weeks, drowning them out completely. We’re seeing fields that have been taken out by hailstorms and strong winds. It’s heartbreaking, but in the world of farming, farmers keep moving onward and upward.
At Untiedt’s we aren’t any different. We’re fortunate with our high tunnels, but because we received so much rain, we even had tunnels flood out when the rain had nowhere else to go.
Planting and Replanting
We have fields that have been planted and then replanted.
- There are fields with crops like broccoli and cabbage that have been close to a 75% loss this season because they sat submerged in water for weeks.
- Green beans are another crop that have struggled due to the extreme moisture this season. With so much rain, the first few plantings barely came up, making picking extremely difficult.
- The sweet corn fields had wash outs like we haven’t seen in years, making plantings and yields uneven.
We don’t say this for sympathy, but rather to educate. It’s important to take a look at what’s available at the stands or in the grocery stores and think about how it made its way there. It wasn’t produced in a factory, so the fact that it’s not 100% perfect might be ok.
Certain crops are slightly later this year due to the weather, but that also means fresh produce may stick around longer into the fall. Only Mother Nature can tell.
Moving Forward
Even with all the challenges we face, we keep moving forward! We strive to bring you all the best of the best, and we feel like we have finally found our rhythm now that it’s dried out a bit and it’s finally warmed up.
- We’re into some excellent varieties of sweet corn.
- Tomatoes are flourishing and available in all sizes, shapes, and colors.
- The melon crop has started off slow, but has started producing some of the sweetest Sugar Cubes and cantaloupes we have ever tasted. We will only continue to pick up production as we work our way into August.
- Watermelons are slowly, but surely coming along, with our first planting hopefully ready to harvest within the next 10 days.
- We’ve dug the first of our homegrown baby red potatoes and they are oh so delicious.
- Cucumbers and zucchini continue to produce an excellent crop.
It's hard to believe that we are already looking ahead to apple season, but the apple crop looks healthy and strong. We are just about a month away from the first apple harvest which will begin with First Kiss!
Halftime
So, as we close in on the end of July, we focus in on bringing you all the best of the best for the next 3 months. The end of July is halftime in our world, 3 months in, with 3 months to go. Now is the time to get out and enjoy the best of the best when it comes to locally grown produce.
