Greetings!

The Raindancing seems to be helping folks, so keep it up! We've gotten a bit of rain here and there with one storm last week delivering a much-needed inch of rain. We could use much more, especially for that sweet corn.

In this week's market bag:

• speckled bibb lettuce
• oakleaf lettuce
• romaine
• red salad bowl
• black seeded simpson lettuce
• French breakfast radishes, the last of the season
• garlic scapes, the last of the season
• Chioggia beets
• horseradish greens
• "City Lights" Swiss Chard (with the really pretty stalks)
• citrus thyme
• thyme
• rosemary
• tarragon
• dill
• basil, the first of the season
• purslane

Business:

Just a reminder about the shift in our Monday Open House hours : 11am-3pm.

"Extras Hour": We're introducing an "Extras Hour" here at the farm on Monday between 7 and 8 pm where we're selling extra harvest and any unclaimed shares, so feel free to tell local friends about it. If they're interested, they can email us at news@touchtheearthfarm.com to get on the mailing list, and each week I'll let them know what's available for extras hour that week. I'm optimistically hoping we'll be swimming in beans and squash very soon!

I've started a new blog feature, "Farm to Table," to demonstrate how we use our shares here at the farm. If folks want to send in some recipes involving CSA shares, I'd love to feature those on our blog as well.

Several folks have indicated an interest in both chicken and duck. Please let us know specifically how many you would like when you email for pricing and availability so there are no surprises.

News:

Real dirt and real bugs! Because we don't use synthetic chemicals here at Touch the Earth Farm, our soil is alive and healthy, and so are the bugs—both the good and the bad. You might find slugs, earwigs, the occasional green worm. While we try to shake off these hitchhikers, some make it through, letting you know for sure there's no pesticide residue on your produce.

As I've told several folks already, our produce is not washed, though much of the big stuff has been rinsed off. Greens can be a bit gritty if not thoroughly washed, and here, I swear by my salad spinner for delicately rinsing, drying, and crisping our greens.

Someone asked whether we had an integrated pest management program here at the farm, and I wiggled my fingers at him. IPM is a fancy acronym for how farmers deal with pest pressure, and while we're not really big enough here at Touch the Earth to have a formal "program," I'm always happy to talk about what we do and why.

Our first line of defense is rotation: we're already seeing the advantages of rotating the entire garden plot as opposed to rotation within a static plot. Of course, there's more work up front, but the pigs are doing a wonderful job of plowing up and fertilizing next year's garden! The advantages are that there are few bugs or diseases over-wintering in the plot because it hasn't been used for crops. Eventually, we'll be on a four year rotation plan with the CSA garden.

Our second line of defense is knowledge: knowing what we've planted and why, what it's strengths and weaknesses are, what we're looking out for, which bugs help and which hurt, which plants companion well or lure pests away from a susceptible crop. Of course, we're always learning and experimenting, but knowing what to look for when we're out in the field or choosing seed is crucial.

Our third line of defense is time: time spent in the garden observing, time spent hand-picking the pests in their several different life-stages before they overwhelm, time spent preventing pest pressure through hand application of oil, herbal and compost teas, and row covers. Much of what we do here at Touch the Earth Farm we can do because we're small.

Sometimes still these defenses fail, and crops like our first round of eggplants succumb to flea beetle pressure. When this happens, we plant another round and try again, an advantage with the succession planting method. After that, we fall back on diversity, knowing that when one crop fails, there will be others that thrive, and we chalk it up to learning what we need to do next year.

Happenings:

We've had some rain over the past couple weeks, which has helped tremendously. The intense heat we've been experiencing, however, has been hard on spring crops and animals alike. We've seen the last of the peas, spinach, strawberries, radishes, and garlic scapes, though we have a second round of beets and lettuces coming in that should take us through a couple more weeks. I'm looking in to buying some shade cloth to help extend our lettuce season, and the second round is now being shaded some by the tomatoes, another advantage of companion planting.

The next couple of weeks are transition weeks, as we move from spring to early summer crops. We have green tomatoes ripening on the vine and squash setting flowers. The first basil is in your market bag this week, and soon, we'll be swimming in beans, some of which are setting some lovely deep purple flowers.

Soon, I'll be calling on those with the work share option to come help out in the garden as the weed pressure intensifies.

Pitch In!

Don't forget, we recycle used pulp egg cartons, so please return them rather than throwing them away. While Maryland law doesn't allow us to reuse egg cartons for our eggs, we can use them for making homemade paper. Thanks to all who've brought theirs in!

Happy Eating!

Danielle at Touch the Earth Farm