The July 4th weekend has come and gone, leaving some of us longing for those hot summer days of 2023. The stretch of warm and dry(er) weather that we are having this week is a welcome change! We always say that no two seasons are the same.
It’s been just plain wet around the farm, making it difficult to get much of anything done. The crops are in need of some warm days and sunshine, and that would do our team a little good as well. It’s truly remarkable to see the amount of growth that takes place on a sunny and 80 degree day vs. a cloudy and 70 degree day.
The Crops Keep Growing
Though it has been cooler than normal, the crops do keep growing. That is, the crops that haven’t been washed out from all the rain.
- The first of our Minnesota sweet corn has been harvested and is available at the Minneapolis Farmers Market this week. By this coming weekend, it will be available at ALL our retail locations!
- Our fabulous tomatoes are ripe and ready to eat, although they are ripening a bit slower than we are accustomed to. Our patience is getting a good test this season!
- Green and wax beans have been delightful, although their availability is short lived because the ones planted in the field rotted out due to all the rainfall. Not to worry, we have additional plantings, there will just be a couple week gap in production.
A Berry Good Season
We’ve wrapped up our June-bearing strawberry production and want to thank those of you that made the trip out for our first venture into the U-Pick world. We learned a lot, and it’s definitely something we are exploring for next season. Stay tuned as we develop that plan in the offseason.
Even though June-bearing strawberries are done, we’ll continue to have homegrown strawberries until frost. As we move into the everbearing and day neutral varieties of strawberries, all of our retail locations should have fresh picked strawberries on a daily basis. There may be points that berries are limited as production is less with these varieties, but there is nothing like a fresh picked strawberry, so we hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
We’ve also added raspberries to the mix, starting that harvest just last week. If you haven’t tried locally grown raspberries, you are truly missing out. Go pick some up and give them a try!
There's No Challenge We Can't Handle
The weather has made this season interesting to say the least, but it wouldn’t be farming without a challenging season of some sorts. One year it’s hot and dry, the next year it’s cool and wet. We work with what we have and use the myriad tools within our toolbox to do the best we can. The goal is always producing as many fresh fruits and vegetables as we can for you, all of our wonderful customers.
The growing season is never long enough, so get out and enjoy all of the fresh produce while you can!
