Harvest Season!

June is typically the beginning of the real harvest season for us. We do harvest earlier in the year, but in June, the vegetables really start to grow and at some point they seem to explode. We aren’t quite there yet. The last few weeks of cooler temperatures has slowed things down a bit, but the weather forecast seems to predict the amazing growth in the field is just around the corner. From now until October or November, our focus on the farm will be on harvesting. Sure, we keep planting all season to keep the  vegetables coming, and we’ll weed and water, and maybe even work on a project, and weed some more, but harvest takes center stage.

A few weeks ago, we took our first big harvest to the Kenton Farmers Market. This is our first year at the market and it was a lot of fun. We saw some old friends and met some new ones there. Getting ready for the market dominated our time the last three or four weeks, but after a few weeks now, we are settling back into the usual routine.

So, this week, we planted out some lettuce, celeriac and corn. We trellised the tomatoes, using the Florida weave for the first time. Some of the crops in the hoop houses are coming to their end and field crops are coming on to take their place.

Tomorrow is summer solstice and Kenton Farmers Market day. The market will be a good way to celebrate the longest day of the year (technically, the day with the most daylight). Even though I feel sad that the days start getting shorter again, it really is just the beginning of the harvest season. We have a lot of time and daylight left in the year!