This Week at the Farm: Sweet Berries, Beautiful Flowers, Delicious Food
It sure feels like summer this week! Even though July is just around the corner, thanks to a late season we’re just now starting to harvest garlic scapes, beets, cabbage, etc.
As long as the weather cooperates, it looks like we’ll be picking berries past the Fourth of July! The strawberries are at their peak right now, so there will be tons of berries here for you if you can make it to the farm to pick this morning before the thunderstorms.
The PYO patch opens at 8am, but make sure to check our website or call us before driving over. We have a strict thunder policy and will close the patch as soon as we hear thunder or see lightning.
Summer Education
Our Summer Camp staff have been hard at work preparing for the first week of camp, and on Thursday we welcomed our Junior Counselors for an afternoon of training. If your child still needs something to do this summer, it’s not too late to put them on the waitlist. A spot could open up any day!
For the younger kids (ages 2–5), the Little Farmers class will continue through the summer! Classes are on Tuesdays from 10–11 am. Next time you attend, make sure to grab a punch card—once you get 5 punches, you can use it as a coupon to get a one-time 5% discount on Cedar Circle produce in the farmstand.
In the No-Till Fields
Our Research & Development team continues to experiment with no-till. This week, they planted four rows of our first-ever no-till corn into a cover crop mix that was winter-killed. In between the corn and rows of no-till broccoli and kale, they’re going to interplant a summer mixture of cover crops to build soil in the areas where a “cash crop” isn’t planted.
Update from the fields
In addition to berry picking and weekly plantings, the field crew spent a fair amount of time on maintenance this week—scuffle hoeing winter squash and razor hoeing corn.
They also picked the flowers off of next year’s blooming strawberry plants and removed the first peppers (called the “king pepper”) from the center of the pepper plants. The goal with each of these tasks is to direct the energy to a different part of the plant.
With the strawberries, removing the flowers allows the plant to focus its energy on growing strong roots for the following season. In the case of the peppers, removing the center fruit causes the plant to branch out and fruit instead of focusing all of its energy on that first fruit.
From Fields to Kitchen to Farmstand
When the farmers harvest veggies and berries, a portion is brought to the kitchen, where our kitchen staff make deliciously wonderful seasonal dishes, desserts, and more. This weekend, we’ll have a strawberry rhubarb roulade, a handmade pasta entrée, egg salad, and fresh salads (Hail the Kale and a Garden Variety), to name just a few. Stop in the farmstand and café to see what else we have to offer!
July 4th
The farmstand and café are open on the Fourth of July—we’ll close early, at 4pm. Stay tuned for more information about holiday weekend plant sales.
DIY Flower Arranging
In the meantime, our PYO Cut Flower Garden opens to the public on Monday! The garden is open 9–6 daily. We’re selling PYO flowers by the pound this year—click here for pricing.
If you don’t have time or aren’t sure what to pick, we’re now offering “Buckets of Blooms”. Let us know what types of flowers and colors you want, and our staff will pick them for you! Take them home and do the arranging at your leisure.
Gardening Tips: Cutting Flowers for Bouquets
Now that the cut flower garden is open, over the next few weeks we’re going to share tips to help you cut long-lasting flowers, make beautiful bouquets, and keep our gardens healthy.
Our first tip: look for flowers that have freshly opened buds and avoid cutting flowers that haven’t opened yet. Varieties of flowers that produce one blossom per stem (such as zinnias, dahlias or asters) prefer to be cut after the bud has begun to open. Varieties that produce multiple flowers per stem (like snapdragons, larkspur, and delphiniums) prefer to be cut when blooms on the lower third of the stem have opened. The remaining blooms will continue to open after cutting.
Click here for more tips like this one!
The farm has so much to offer in the summer—certified organic produce, delicious farm-made food, brightly colored flowers. Whether you feel like socializing or spending time on your own, this beautiful space is here for everyone to enjoy.
Upcoming
June 29: Norwich Farmers Market, 9–1.
June 30: Knife sharpening at the farmstand, 10–2.
July 1: Cut Flower Garden opens to the public!
July 2: Little Farmers drop in class for children ages 2–5, 10–11 am.
July 4: Farmstand & Hello Café close at 4pm; Lebanon Farmers Market, 4–7 pm.
