Hot!

The field is stretching out.

The heat out in these plains has been ridiculous lately. Just ridiculous. The first few CSA deliveries are supposed to be filled with cool weather crops. But we're in the Midwest, and we three Three Plaiders, being Chicago area natives, know that Spring can be ridiculously hot some years. As such, we decided we were gonna plant a bunch of cool weather crops, but we'd try to get some of them out a little later so they'd be available for CSA according to plan--the idea being that we'd take advantage of the early heat, which naturally helps the crops grow more rapidly, and at the same time try to avoid the problem of these cold lovers going to seed by having them out there too early and long for the conditions.  Well, we're pretty smart, but we can't really stop mother nature from giving us the finger.

Because, I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but it's been hot as hell. And the heat has given us problems by causing some crops to go to seed earlier than we would like and some to have a hard time even germinating.  Which is no fun for us farmers. But it is what it is, and we're rolling with it. CSA members are still getting their shares on time, perhaps a little lighter than we'd like, but if the heat continues, we will more than make up for it later in the season.

Because, right now, the tomatoes, okra, peppers, garden huckleberries, ground cherries, and squash we got out early are absolutely thriving in this weather. And we kept our cool weather lovers, such as lettuce, on a limited production schedule, so that we could focus on these more seasonally appropriate crops. So, CSA members will be getting some delicious open pollinated lettuce for a week or two this Spring, albeit slightly zingy due to the heat, and some other cool weather greens, but after that, our warm seasons crops should produce a bounty, and hopefully an early one at that.