Growing and Adapting

June 16, 2022 / Elisa Lane

Greetings!

We’ve enjoyed another pleasant week on the farm, and once again managed to tackle a significant portion of our week’s to-do list. The majority of our overwintered flower crops have tuckered out, which means our harvests are a bit smaller for the time being. We sent out the last of our dry-stored peonies this week, and it is becoming quite apparent that summer is just around the corner!

With temperatures soaring elsewhere in the country, we’e feeling pretty fortunate to have had a relatively mild week, and it looks as though next week, while warm, won’t be too terrible. Extreme heat makes the already challenging job of farming even more difficult. Crops become stressed out and stop producing or bloom all at once, heavy irrigation is required, and the heat takes a toll on our bodies, too. Season after season, we recognize that weather is becoming more unpredictable and the summers are increasingly hot. As farmers, we know we have to adapt to the changing climate, and learn how to ease the pressure on both the crops and ourselves. We grow heat tolerant vegetable varieties in the summer, and we pay close attention to how our flower crops are affected by the heat, and use that to inform our crop plans in subsequent seasons.

One thing we have taken notice of this year is that our sweet peas drop their buds when the temperatures peak, making the harvest extremely unpredictable. If it reaches 90 degrees, they may drop all of their buds, but if the temperatures are mild, we’ll be surprised with buckets full of blooms on Monday morning. We have an extraordinary amount of demand for these fragrant blooms, but the inability to predict the subsequent week’s harvest makes them a challenging crop for us! Since we’re selling to florists who have specific ideas in mind for their designs, it’s important for us to be able to offer a reasonable prediction of availability at least one week before orders go out.

We’ve had similar struggles this season with other spring crops, like nigella and foxglove. Usually we’re able to cut from these crops for a period of several weeks (foxglove longer than nigella), but this year everything seemed to bloom and tucker out in the span of two weeks. Right now there simply aren’t as many flowers in bloom as we normally have this time of year.

Rest assured, we’re making it work— it’s just a new challenge!

*Dave and Karen, planting heat tolerant lettuces.*

*We’ve been sending out lots of fantastic bulk buckets lately! Here’s a portion of a large bulk bucket order from this week.*

We’re back at the JFX market on Sunday from 7:00-12:00.

This week’s market stand will feature bouquets, feverfew bunches, larkspur bunches, snapdragon bunches, sweet pea bunches, elderflowers, edible flowers, spring mix, and hakurei turnips.

Wishing you well,

Amelia and the rest of the Two Boots crew

*Spooky, who can often be found hunting while we harvest in the early mornings.*

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