Preparing for Chef Fest & Succession Planting

Village Farm Team,

With Chef Fest coming up this Sunday we’ve been doing a lot of work around the farm to prepare! In addition to our regular farm tasks we’ve been ensuring everything stays neat and tidy so that the setting up process goes as smooth as possible later in the week. In continuing with the theme of efficiency, we measured out and demarcated where every tent will go with pin flags. Have you had a chance to snag your tickets yet? A general admission ticket gets you access to each of our 10 chefs’ dishes in addition to craft cocktails, live music, and farm tours led by yours truly. We can’t wait to see you out there on Sunday!

Though our tomato transplants coming out of the greenhouse this year are incredibly healthy with beautiful, dark green leaves, they can’t withstand temperatures below 44°F. Since we’re in for a late season freeze this week, we’ve had to cover the tomatoes we’ve already planted with frost cloth. As for the ones in the greenhouse, we will be able to keep them warm enough with the addition of heaters. Our hope is that the hardening off process will benefit our tomatoes in the ground and enable them to withstand what will hopefully be the last freeze this winter.

We seeded sunflowers this week along with more summer squash and zucchini in the beds on the North Farm. By planting crops like summer squash in succession, we can spread out the harvest time rather than being faced with an abundance all at once. As for the other crops we have seeded, we’re seeing great germination with our peas, beans, and melons. Unfortunately, these crops may not fare well with the freeze this week and we might be re-seeding them soon. Sometimes part of farming is taking a gamble in order to get things in the ground early. Lucky for us, seed is incredibly affordable in case we have to re-plant.