Saturday, August 1, 2009

CSA Update :: regarding worms in the corn and destroying the squash field




Hello Everyone,

It has been brought to my attention that the corn that went out last week had some worms in it. On one hand this is normal. As the growing season progresses it gets harder and harder to keep the worms from getting some of corn before it is harvested. On the other hand, we can keep the worms from eating the corn by spraying organically approved BT or Bacillus thuringiensis once the corn silks arrive. Here's more information on the product.

So technically we can avoid gross worms in our corn. But... rain washes off the BT so it must be sprayed after each storm. We have had so much rain lately that it has been nearly impossible to spray after each downpour The result is that the corn has more and bigger worms in it than my wife likes to see when she's shucking it; which means I'm shucking all the corn these days. I am sorry for the inconvenience of having to chop off the ends of the corn and having to come face to face with the worms. They aren't especially cute critters. Thanks for bearing with us.

On Sunday I'm going to destroy all of our squash and zucchini plants. I'm going to do this not because I'm tired of squash and zucchini but because they are done producing for the season. We have planted a smaller amount of squash and zucchini for the fall and truth be told it will begin to bear in a few weeks. But the field that has yielded all of the squash and zucchini so far this season will be put to rest on Sunday.

Before it is plowed under I will harvest from it one last time. You are welcome to join me. I will be doing this work from 1:30pm until 3:30pm at the farm on Atando Road tomorrow, Sunday, August 2, 2009. Please join me if you'd like. Also this is a great opportunity to get the kids in the field. They can't mess anything up- they can trample all over the plants and pull them apart and that's fine. And they can keep some of the vegetables they pick.

If you do join me bring long sleeves and long pants and gloves if you want. The plants are prickly.

If any of you are interested in coming out to the farm tomorrow please meet me there. Here are directions for those of you who haven't been out to visit us yet.

Best Wishes,

Aaron

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