Market today and crossroads

Hi Friends,

Our market today will be open from 4 to 6. I have tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet peppers.

Our farm is at a crossroads in terms of where we go for our fall season. I have plenty of transplants in my propagation house, but I am reluctant to set them out because of our drought situation. Most people have no concept of how much water is required to grow quality crops, so here is a little education. Our fall crops of broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, kale, brussels sprouts, etc. require about an inch of water per week, either from rainfall or irrigation. That amounts to over 27,000 gallons of water per acre per week, about the area that we plant for fall. With the minimal rainfall we have had over the past 10 weeks, that has meant that most of the water to irrigate our summer crops has come from our well. Since we have no appreciable rain in the forecast for the foreseeable future and no surface water in our stream I am reluctant to tax my well further to keep transplants going. Another factor is that if I don’t transplant in the next few days, the plants won’t mature before it gets darker and colder resulting in a stunted harvest. We likely will not be doing fall crops this year.

I do have winter squash and potatoes for the fall, but perhaps not much else.

Please pray that our drought breaks. Statistically July is our wettest month here, followed by our driest month in October. Things at this point don’t look promising.

Blessings,
Bob and Lynnita