Tomato Love & Waitin' on Weeds

Village Farm Team,

This past Saturday at the Farmers Market was La Tomatina Padre – our tomato festival. There were plenty of tomato-themed activities from learning about ways to cook them to our infamous tomato toss. Kids had the opportunity to pelt overripe tomatoes at their dads to show a little love and appreciation just in time for Father’s Day. The Renegade Food Truck served up some awesome tomato based dishes including roasted tomato chilaquiles and grits with a tomato gravy. It was a wonderful day to celebrate the humble yet tasty tomato.

A lot of preparation has been going on this week in advance of some major ground work that will be occurring soon. About half of the South Farm had new drip tape installed. Drip tape tends to last about a season around the farm so it was out with the old and in with the new. This entire process was mostly done by hand as the ground was rather compact. The drip tape will help deliver water and nutrients directly to the soil and roots of our crops. It will also allow us to decrease overall water use as it operates at lower levels of water pressure.

In addition to having new drip tape installed, the majority of the South Farm was tilled and re-bedded this week. The next step is to wait for a good rainfall that will encourage plenty of weeds to start growing. Once the weeds pop up, we can knock them down. This effectively depletes the soil seed bank by knocking the “babies” down before they can spread more seeds. New, un-managed farms, have about 3 years’ worth of weed seeds in the soil not counting whatever blows in. This is why it is so important for us to stay on top of weeding at the farm. The hope is that by next season at this time, we’ve been able to eradicate another years’ worth of weed seeds.

Last Friday the East Fort Bend Human Needs Ministry hosted a dinner and our very own farm provided the produce. The East Fort Bend Human Needs Ministry is a non-profit organization that serves the basic needs of families in financial crisis. They provide a food pantry so that individuals and families in need have the meals and nutrition they need.

Happy Harvesting!

The Agmenity Farm Team