New Field Farm – Temple, New Hampshire

Happy September!

Greetings,

We’re adding curly kale and Lacinato, sometimes called dinosaur kale for the texture of the leaf.

We should have lettuce, despite the continuing heat, but no salad mix until next week.

The big surprise last week was to see four goats grazing in our field. We couldn’t corral them and when they started heading for the lettuce Meridian shooed them away and they scrambled off into the woods. We later heard that they’ve been wandering loose for days and no one can catch them. Hopefully, their owner will get them back soon before they get into trouble. It was fun to see them, but not who we want sampling our crops!

Thank you for your orders and enjoy the waning summer.

Tim

The end of August

Greetings,

School buses will start appearing this week and hopefully the storm tonight will drive out the humidity and make it feel more like the end of summer and beginning of fall.

Thank you for accommodating the change in pick-up day last week. We’re back to Fridays now.

We have carrots by the pound this week. The variety called Nelson that we’re harvesting now is getting a leaf disease called Alternaria due to all the wet, humid weather we’ve been having. The carrots are fine, but the tops are less suitable for bunching.

This same weather is also hard on lettuce. There’s no Summer Crisp this week and a limited amount of Romaine. I should be able to come up with Red Leaf and Boston, as well as salad mix.

We still have plenty of nice basil, which is a treat after two seasons of losing it to basil downy mildew by early August.

The cucumbers ended early this year due to another leaf disease. I’m sorry about that because they’re so good fresh.

We’re still setting out lettuce, sowing arugula, salad mix, and spinach, and weeding (!)

Thank you for your orders. I hope you’ve been finding the produce to be fresh and good-tasting.

Enjoy,
Tim

REMINDER: THURSDAY PICK UP!

Hello,

Just a reminder that PICK UP IS THURSDAY, AUGUST 20 AT THE USUAL TIMES HERE AT THE FARM AND AT THE UNION MILL.

PLEASE ORDER BY 8:00 TONIGHT, WEDNESDAY AUGUST 19 if you haven’t already done so.

Thanks,
Tim

THURSDAY PICK UP !!

GREETINGS,

PLEASE NOTE: PICK UP IS ON THURSDAY AUGUST 20 THIS WEEK.

PLEASE ORDER BY WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT 8:00.
SOONER IF POSSIBLE.

Sorry for the late notice about this. We have to go to a memorial service on Friday so pick up is a day earlier.

Thank you for your orders and enjoy the latest round of summer weather.

Tim

onions and more

Greetings,

Please note: I’m still hobbling around with a bad foot so it would be helpful once again if you could order by Wednesday night. But if you don’t, Thursday will work as usual.

We’re now harvesting Ailsa Craig and Tropea onions, as well as the first field tomatoes (if they don’t split in all this rain!). We’re also adding Banana fingerling potatoes

Both greenhouse and field tomatoes are now $3.00/lb.

For various reasons we’re still in a salad mix lull.

So far the basil has avoided the basil downy mildew and the second planting looks nice. It’s a somewhat smaller variety called Eleonora that is supposed to maybe, kinda have some resistance to the disease. But the first planting is free of the disease so I think it’s just luck so far.

The squash is also a bit sluggish, but there should be enough of one kind or another.

The second planting of cucumbers is slowing down prematurely. We should have enough for this week, but then who knows. There is a third planting and if summer returns we may get more in September.

Spinach and Bok Choy have been planted, and we continue to sow and set out lettuce.

Last night I chased a porcupine out of the cabbage and broccoli, but failed to catch him. Maybe tonight.

Thank you for your orders.

Tim

u-pick blueberry season is over

Hi,

This is just to let you know that the blueberries are now few and far between so the u-pick season is over for this year.

Tim

The order is on !

Hello again,

Long-time helper Madeleine has arranged to be able to do the order this week so we’re good to go. Much thanks to her!

As I mentioned before, if you can order today that will be helpful, but tomorrow is okay as well.

Thanks,
Tim

PLEASE READ !

Greetings,

This email is late this week because I have a foot injury that doesn’t want to heal, probably because I haven’t let it by continuing to work every day. I decided last night that I have to mostly stay off my feet the rest of this week to try to get better.

I’m getting in touch with a couple of experienced people to see if they would be able to harvest and put the orders together. I should know by later today if that’s going to happen.

Please go ahead and order and if I can’t get the help I need I’ll cancel the orders by tomorrow at noon or so. If I do get help I’ll confirm that as soon as I know.

I apologize for any inconvenience.

It would be helpful if you could order by tonight or tomorrow morning, but not essential.

We’re in an arugula and salad mix lull right now. The blueberries are still available for u-pick through this weekend, but we’re not picking for market anymore.

We’ve added green beans and Purple Majesty potatoes. These potatoes will probably be on the smaller side because the potato leaf hopper has been active this year, damaging the foliage which reduces the growth of the tuber.

Squash is in a slow period so we may have to give you what variety we have. This might not be the same as what you order. If you don’t want a substitute please say so in the comment section.

Happy August and thank you for your orders.

Tim

Garlic and more

Greetings,

Tomorrow is garlic harvest day so we’ll have it to order for this week’s market.

We’ve also added Sakura cherry tomatoes which are larger than our usual variety and well-received at farmer’s market this year. Later, we’ll also have Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes from the field, nature willing.

Pepper and eggplant amounts are a guess. Maybe now that summer is here they’ll finally be plenty before too long.

Like last week, if you want blueberries it’s helpful to us if you order by Wednesday night.

Blueberries are still abundant for u-pick.

We got sadly surprised by porcupines this week who got into the first planting of broccoli and much of the cabbage and largely destroyed it all very quickly. I’ve never seen that before! We’ll be diligent now about keeping them out of later plantings.

Enjoy the summer weather or keep cool, and thank you for your orders.

Tim

what's new

Greetings,

We’re adding red potatoes and a few eggplant and greenhouse tomatoes this week. Like the peppers, the eggplant and tomatoes are slow to come along. Hopefully next month they’ll hit their stride.

The blueberry picking is excellent right now. U-pick is Wed.to Sun. 8 to 5. It’s best to bring your own containers, but we do have quart boxes if you don’t.

If possible, please order by Wednesday night if you want blueberries as well as veggies to give us time to pick the berries on Thursday. But if you don’t get the chance to order them until Thursday that’s okay, too.

After a long break it looks like we’ll be dusting off the irrigation system this week. Hopefully, the dry weather will also enable us to make some progress on the weeds.

We’re still busy planting lettuce and fall crops like kale, as well as the last planting of squash and cucumbers.

The garlic harvest should take place in the next week or two, with the first onions coming in not long after that.

Thank you for your orders.

Tim