July 2011 Crop Mob (Sweet Land Farm)- Recap & Photos!

It is better to irrigate all seeds, for you do not know which one will bear fruit first. - Burundi proverb

Water has been the theme of this season- either too much of it or too little. In the past couple of weeks we have had rain relief -- a couple of inches in one particularly generous day, and ample showers throughout for most of the area -- but this summer's drought isn't quite out of mind. Katie, one of the crop mob coordinators, sent this email to her CSA members that summed up the situation well:

"As you may be aware, this growing season has been more challenging than most so far.  We started off the season with sooo much rain, too much to plant things in, meaning that direct seeded crops went in the ground later than usual, and the transplants carefully tended in the greenhouses got leggy and stressed before they could go in the ground.  Many of the Spring crops (hakurei turnips, radishes, spinach) as well as some of the summer crops (first plantings of beets and carrots)didn't make it.  The wet ground dried hard and crusty and the baby roots couldn't stretch out (sorry to make it sound so dramatic!).  And of course, until just the past couple of days, we've had so much heat and so little rain.  Turns out vegetables need water, steadily.  The farms have been able to keep on on irrigating some of the crops, but some of them aren't set up for irrigation and/or the water supplies aren't able to cover everything - choices have to be made."

Our July crop mob at Sweet Land farm happened right at the end of the drought, and we got to see how our organic farmers deal with dry-weather woes.

July Crop Mob at Sweet Land Farm- Recap!

Unfortunately there are no pictures from this event- but please visit Sweet Land's website to see photos of their beautiful farm!

July's oppressive heat and humidity came to a cool, breezy end last Saturday morning. The 70-degree temperatures, along with mostly sunny skies and a cool breeze, welcomed 15 crop mobbers to Sweet Land Farm in Trumansburg at 9 a.m. for some midsummer crop maintenance fun!

Paul, one of Sweet Land's farmers, began by giving us a tour of their CSA distribution site and a quick description of their farm. Paul Martin and Evangeline Sarat and their two children take care of 34 acres on Route 96, just outside of downtown Trumansburg. Their CSA-only farm currently has 400 members for its summer CSA; Sweet Land also has a winter CSA during the colder months. A third of their tillable acreage is devoted to growing a great diversity of annual vegetables, and they also have strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and flowers, which, along with some vegetables, are available as U-Pick options for their members. Sweet Land adheres to the NOFA-NY Farmers Pledge, a document that advocates principles of moral integrity and environmental and social sustainability.