Farm Update: Blenheim Organic Gardens

The farmers at Blenheim Organic Gardens not only pick produce every day, we typically have to find time to plant. In a normal year this type of ongoing rhythm keeps the production cycle going. It assures new crops stretch into the growing season. It provides a continuous harvest and allows for transitions between one crop and other.

But this is not a typical year: Late cold, early heat, a mini dry spell and, then, six-plus inches of rain have kept the crops and the farmers scratching their heads.

Example: Somehow the tomatoes have found the season to their liking even though they were kept in the greenhouse longer than normal this spring in the wait for warmer weather. They look healthy and Cameron spent a day driving stakes down the rows for future trellising as they grow. Radishes, though, always an easy, dependable crop, hunkered down. Here at Blenheim they refused to develop roots and then quickly went to seed. And the radishes have company: Corn, zucchini, squash and turnips are all giving us trouble and requiring multiple attempts to establish them.

Somehow, we try to not let these setbacks bother us. But sometimes, we think it's important for the folks who eat our food know about the daily challenges. And don't get this message wrong--it's not a complaint. This is the kind of stuff that happens when your work is part of the miracle of nature!