Special Farmers Market Event and Preparing Beds for Fall

September 7th, 2023

This weekend at the Farmer’s Market, the Harvest Green Lifestyle Team will have a grounded hot air balloon on site from 8:30-10:30am for some breathtaking photo ops. You’ll be able to stock up on organic produce, watch a talented balloon artist twist up some amazing creations, and get some awesome new photos! Then, at the beginning of next month, we’ll be hosting our Fall Season Kickoff at the market. This celebratory event will include a seeding station, a chance to visit with our farm animals, and much more. We’re just finishing up the plans for this event so stay tuned for more details!

We’re beginning to prepare our beds for fall crops! The rows that you see in these photos were previously planted with a cowpea cover crop. We mowed the cover crop down and left it in place on the tops of the beds to act as a layer of “green mulch”. Then, we broadforked each bed in order to aerate the soil and help break up compaction. After broadforking we added organic fertilizer and compost to the tops of the beds which is mixed in with our harrow implement. Lastly, we will plow the furrows in between each bed to allow for efficient drainage. We can’t wait to fill these beds with plenty of delicious fall crops!

Remember the Swiss chard that we planted a couple of weeks ago in the greenhouse? It’s time to thin them down to just one plant per cell! Since the seed clusters of chard contain several individual seeds, we have to do what’s called “thinning” by removing all but one plant from each individual cell in our trays. We prune them rather than pulling them so that we don’t disturb their delicate root systems. This process allows us to ensure each plant has access to the nutrients it needs without any competition. Since this is a rainbow mix of Swiss chard, we can select for specific colored stems while thinning!

Upcoming Farm Events:

• Next Farmers Market: Saturday, September 9th from 9am-noon

• Meet the Farm Tour on Saturday, September 30th from 10-10:30am (sign up here)

Currently in Season at the Farm Stand: Zucchini, Eggplant, Okra, Armenian Cucumbers, Tasty Green Cucumbers, Long Beans, Assorted Peppers, Bitter Melon, Korean Melons, Sweet Potato Greens, Malabar Spinach, Roselle Greens, Callaloo, Butternuts, and Herbs.