Hello from Pitchfork & Crow~

Hey, guess what?!  It’s time for the Salem Saturday Market tomorrow!  Here’s what we plan to bring to market:

• Basil
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Bunching Onions
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Chard
• Collards
• Cooking Greens Mix (Kale, Chard, Collards, Parsley)
• Cucumbers (pickling & slicing & lemon!)
• Dill
• Kale (Red Russian & Lacinato)
• Lettuce (Romaine, Butter, & Crispleaf)
• Parsley
• Peppers
• Salad Mix (a mix of lettuces)
• Summer Squash (yellow straightneck, zucchini, & pattypan)
• Tomatillos

After a winter of planning and a spring of planting, it seems like August should be a culmination of months of hard work.  We should have warm, sunny days, promoting rapid vegetable growth.  Harvests should be extreme events, as we bring in the literal fruits of our labor.  Unfortunately as we head into the second half of the month we’re a little disconcerted with what we see in the field.  Our successions of some crops are off.  We’re crossing our fingers that our lettuce holds until the next planting is ready and we have to skip a week of green beans simply because we’re between plantings.  Our pickling cucumbers are already looking ragged and we’re hoping they’ll continue to provide for us.  The eggplants are just barely beginning to set fruit, and the peppers and tomatoes are taking their sweet time ripening.  We lost some fall broccoli and cabbage plants due to an irrigation issue a couple of weeks back.

It’s hard not to focus on the problems in the field.  Why didn’t we plant beans sooner, or another succession of lettuce?  Maybe if we’d experimented with drip line irrigation, our eggplants would be happier.  But there are certainly bright spots out there too.  Our semi-experimental open-pollinated corn plantings are coming on and though the ears are on the small side, they taste better than expected.  Our bulb onions and leeks are sizing up, meaning a fall full of sweet allium goodness.  The lemon cucumbers and slicers are both prolific.  The winter squash are right on schedule.  And the basil, dill, and parsley are all plentiful!

As we near the second half of our season, we’re feeling pretty solid about where we stand.  Sure, there are things we’d like to do better next year and things we’d like to get a better handle on going forward.  But overall, we’re still having fun on our little farm!

We hope you’ll make it down to the Saturday Market between 9am and 3pm.  The Salem Saturday Market is located at the intersection of Summer and Marion streets NE in downtown Salem.

Thanks!
Carri Heisler and Jeff Bramlett