Strawberry season is here!
We started harvesting a trickle of strawberries last week from our field; mostly too late to get them into your CSA boxes. But we knew that with summer-like temperatures coming this week, the numbers would jump dramatically and they did. The first berries of the season are in your boxes today.
As things often work on the farm, our other short-season spring crops also jumped into the fray. After teasing us for over a month with a small amount of spears, the asparagus went full steam ahead. We have been harvesting it twice a week; now it’s a daily activity.
The pea field has also gone into overdrive. Like the strawberries, the field has been a sea of white flowers for almost a month. Now, those flowers are pea-pods that must be plucked one by one as they size and fill out. There are both Sugar Snap and Shelling peas in the Medium and Large boxes today (seen note below).
None of these spring crops likes very hot weather and we are always watching for signs of intense heatwaves that will cook the fruit and end the season for us. It has certainly happened in the past. It’s been pretty toasty this week — definitely warmer than we’d like — but our fingers are crossed that everything will pull through.
The only crop on the farm that is really enjoying the hotter weather is our early tomato field. After sitting in the ground for over a month without growing noticeably, the plants have taken off, greened up and starting putting out tons of flowers. With any luck, we could end up harvesting our first tomatoes in late June — about the same time we did last year.
In the meantime, we’d like to keep sending you berries and asparagus. Spring got a late start in 2019, and we’re hoping it makes up for that on the flipside by sticking around a little while.
Thanks,
Pablito