This week, much of Northern California is not just Sheltering in Place, we’re Sweltering in Place too. Despite starting off at a cool, almost chilly 53 degrees Monday morning, this week turned into a real scorcher. It was 101 here yesterday and will get hotter today. A quick look at the weather map shows that very few areas are escaping the heat.
For a first heatwave of the season is coming a little early, but it’s not that unusual in the Sacramento Valley. However, it’s been breezy and cool for much of May, so few people are acclimated to the temperatures. Given that we work outside here at Terra Firma, we have to be careful to allow everyone to get used to the weather without suffering heat-related illness. We’ve adjusted our work schedule to start at dawn — 5:30 — to take advantage of the cooler mornings. And we’re quitting work by 1 pm at the latest.
The cool morning on Monday allowed us to pick strawberries and lettuce one last time, but since then it’s been too hot. On the flip side, our early summer crop production jumped dramatically with the hot weather. So we have quite a shift in items between the boxes were are delivering today (Weds.) and the rest of the week. I couldn’t figure out a way to post the two different box lists here elegantly, so instead you can find it on the website.
This type of heatwave often ends our harvest of most spring crops at Terra Firma. But this one might not, as the weather looks to cool fairly dramatically afterwards and stay pleasant for a while. So it’s possible we will return to harvesting strawberries, spinach and even kale next week along with all the summer goodies. It’s pretty rare for you to get tomatoes and berries in your box the same week, but it might happen a few times this year.
Thanks,
Pablito