Tag Archives: veggies

Crops Update: Vol. 25

Posted on November 1, 2017 by Heather

Last Farm Stand of the Season!

Yesterday we harvested from all fields for the last farm stand of the year. If you drop by Drumlin today you’ll be greeted by a colorful assortment of carrots, beets, radish, collards, kale and chard along with lettuce, cabbage, squash, potatoes and onions, and bags of spinach and arugula at the stand.

Thanks to all who have shopped with us throughout the season. And thanks to the volunteers and staff who kept the stand up and running and conducted Know Your Food programs (complete with samples) all season long!

Fall CSA Spots Available

If you want access to fresh Drumlin veggies year-round, it’s not too late to sign up for the Fall CSA. The program runs throughout month of November with the first pickup today. Get in touch with Farmer Sarah Lang if you want to join.

Root Veggies for Winter

We still have three more Saturday markets to attend in Somerville, as well as a Winter CSA and regular deliveries to our restaurant and school partners through spring. That in mind, we’ve moved more than ten thousand pounds of potatoes into the root cellar and have just begun bringing in the carrots, parsnips, beets, turnips, celeriac, storage radish and rutabaga.

Your Farmers

Drumlin Farm Crops Update Vol. 7

Posted on June 27, 2017 by Staff

By Drumlin Farm Crops Manager Matt Celona

Strawberries Continue to Thrive
The team is picking strawberries right now for restaurant orders and for the farm stand. Some people came out during Saturday’s rain and humidity to take advantage of Strawberry Day and were rewarded with what one chef has told us are “best tasting strawberries around this season.” Last week, we had lots of strawberries ripening in the patch, and volunteers from Net App helped us pick pints for the CSA. This is something we would not have had the people power to do on our own, so CSA members can thank Net App for the treat!

Volunteers Continue to Be Great
We are now scheduling a weeding job for each volunteer group because the weeds are really taking off with the rain and long days. Civil engineers from Green International Affiliates (one of our new Community Partners) weeded carrots, planted basil and picked sugar snap peas for Saturday’s market. Thanks for your focused work, Green International.

On Saturday, parents and children from Marathi Mandal of Boston volunteered in the field. We enjoyed weeding carrots, planting sunflowers, and harvesting peas with these volunteers.

And finally, we’re approaching the last big planting project of the year: One half-acre of pumpkins with the help of volunteers from Phillips Medisize.

Crops Team Continues to Plant and Harvest
Last week, Andrew, Josh, and Avril worked late to put the first line of twine on all the early tomatoes and planted the second succession of tomatoes. Thanks all for the extra time and effort.

We also have storage crops on our mind. We will soon transplant storage cabbage to the field and seeding carrots intended for the root cellar. Purple spring onions are just now reaching bunching size, and we will soon be harvesting the first summer squash and cucumbers of the year. Garlic scape season has ended, and the bulbs have a few more weeks to grow before we bring them into the barn.

See you in the field,

Your Farmers

Drumlin Farm Crops Update Vol. 6

Posted on June 12, 2017 by Staff

Heatwave #1

Looks like the first heat wave of the year has arrived. It’s 95 in the field where volunteers Anne and Shelia are crawling along over the hot soil thinning beets—amazing! The heat will push the strawberries and peas along, and we’ve moved Strawberry Day to June 24 because not enough of the berries will be ready by this weekend. We do plan to pick strawberries for the first time tomorrow morning and bring them up to the stand.

Google Volunteers Planting Dahlias

This past week we got lots of great help from three large groups. On Thursday, volunteers from Google planted dahlias. Their company made a donation to help us purchase the plants from a nursery. After planting the dahlias, the volunteers thoroughly weeded four beds of celery and celeriac. Thanks for the help!

Thanks, Camp Counselors!

On Friday morning, Zach and Emma brought the camp counselors to the field to learn about our crops program and to get trained for the upcoming “Weedouts”—the mornings when campers get dirty and pull weeds. Thanks counselors for making camp a rewarding first connection to Drumlin for so many kids and families, and thanks for pulling those weeds in the radicchio and peas!

Storm Volunteers

On Friday afternoon, Care.com brought volunteers to the field just in time to plant the sweet potato slips. A thunderstorm passed through, but the gang brushed it off and happily set 2,500 plants in about an hour. Thanks for all your great work and for the donation!

Summer CSA Countdown

The summer CSA opens this week just as many new crops are about to come in. We are close to our first harvest of chard, beets, carrots and garlic scapes. We’re excited to see what’s ready come Wednesday morning. If you’re interested in grabbing a last-minute share, visit massaudubon.org/drumlincsa.

Your Farmers

Summer Crops Update: August 30

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Staff

Crops Updates are written by Drumlin Farm Crops Manager Matt Celona

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Mighty Crops
It’s surprising that any plants are thriving under these hot and dry conditions. But the soil retains some moisture, and we’ve had a great melon and tomato season. We are reaching the end of our sweet corn harvest. We have white corn available at the stand today and perhaps for a few days more. We’re also beginning to harvest our last watermelon variety of the season—little baby flower. It’s red-fleshed and meant to be small or personal-sized. You can find a bunch at the farm stand.

The Greenhouse
During last Friday’s quick shower of .15 inches, we sheltered in the greenhouse and seeded the next round of lettuce while waiting it out. Lettuce and bok choi are the only crops we’re still starting in the greenhouse at this point in the season. The greenhouse is now primarily a place of storage for winter squash, pumpkins and sweet potatoes. Feel free to step inside and take a look during your next visit.

Keeping Up with Demand
Mid-August through September is the busiest time at Union Square Farmers Market. People are back from vacation and eager to buy all the summer favorites. Each Saturday, we mount an intricate and large display under three tents, including a whole table devoted to cut flowers. Farmers Sarah, Jessica, Katie, Cara, and Erin have been doing a great job keeping up with long lines of customers on some scorching days on the pavement in the city. Thanks to you all and to the market volunteers for doing such a good job representing the farm and Mass Audubon!

See you in the field,
Your Farmers

Summer Crops Update: August 4

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Staff

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Rain!
Hooray! The light rain this past weekend amounted to only 0.1 inches in Lincoln, so Monday morning’s steady rain was a welcome sight. It appears the rain has worked its way below the soil surface. We had been watering via bucket brigade and by raising the transplanter above crops and driving over the plants with the water streaming down. We’ll see how the crops hold up this week!

Bucket Brigades Brought To You By
Volunteers helped us water beans and chard last Tuesday between harvesting potatoes. Food and Farm Educator Emma led groups of campers in hand-watering flowers and string beans in the front field. The whole team, with help from many volunteers, has been working hard to water melons, strawberries, eggplant, and peppers during the drought and heat wave. Thanks to all of them for their dedication and good cheer during this stretch of extreme weather!

Living with New England Wildlife
Now it’s time to catch up on other pressing jobs like stringing tomatoes and battling pests. We installed an electric fence around our watermelon patch to keep the coyotes out. Last year, they damaged almost every watermelon! The deer have been swiftly eating sweet potato vines, too, so we’ve sprayed garlic oil on the leaves to keep them away.

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Flower Harvest
Farmer Jessica has been doing a fabulous job leading the Friday flower harvest and making beautiful bouquets at the Union Square Farmers Market. Many thanks to last year’s CSA coordinator Katerina for taking the time to give Jessica pointers in flower arranging. For those who remember Katerina, she is now the head flower grower at Allandale Farm.

Drumlin Farm on WBUR
Reporter Andrea Shea of WBUR is a fan of our produce and frequents the Union Square Farmers Market. It was there that she made a connection with us and reported on the effects of the drought in Massachusetts. It’s a great story to read and hear, and paints a picture of how farmers across the state are handling the dry weather.

The Farm Stand: Designed by Farmer Katie
Farmer Katie has been responsible for setting up an attractive veggie display at the farm stand, and today you can find white corn, melons, and heirloom tomatoes. Note the impressive size of the corn and tomatoes! We were never able to water these crops by hand, so all that growth is the result of minimal rain and healthy soil maintained by our sustainable growing practices.

See you in the field,
Your Farmers

Summer Crops Update: July 6

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Staff

Cauliflower from the greenhouse ready for transplant!

Weed-Out #1: In the Books
Camp Weed-Out #1 was in full swing on Tuesday! Campers are whisking weeds out of beds of broccoli, leeks, and fennel. Food and Farm Educator, Emma Scudder, and crops team members Cara and Katie are working with the counselors to direct the hundreds of kids. Fantastic job, all! Now that we’ve had about an inch of rain over the past ten days, weeds and crops will be growing faster, and the Weed-Out comes at just the right time.

The Importance of Hand-Weeding
We’re engaged in a long-term effort to reduce the size of the weed seed-bank in the soil. The bigger the seed-bank, the more difficult it is to establish direct-seeded crops like beets, carrots, and mesclun mix: You prepare a bed and seed it, only to find that weeds are germinating in a carpet ahead of your crop! This sometimes happens at Drumlin Farm, but the problem would be much worse if we didn’t devote lots of time to hand-weeding, hoeing, and tractor cultivation.

Straw: It Does a Tomato Good
Last week, volunteer groups helped us spread straw in the tomato patch, which will suppress weeds, help keep moisture in the soil, and prevent mud from splashing onto the lower leaves during heavy rain. The mud can spread plant pathogens into the tomato canopy. Straw is also an important part of our soil management practices. We’re always looking for ways to build soil organic matter, and plowing in straw at the end of the season is one way to do that. It’s the organic matter in the soil that traps moisture and helps our crops survive droughts.

Until Next Year, Peas and Strawberries (and Hello, Potatoes!)
Peas and strawberries are finished for the season. The spinosad spray for Colorado potato beetle, which we applied last week, was only minimally effective, so we’ll see reduction in the harvest as a result of foliar damage to the plants. On Monday, the crops team mowed a few beds of potatoes to prepare them for harvest. “New” potatoes come early in the season, often from plants that haven’t reached full maturity. The skin on these potatoes is very delicate, and sometimes flaky, because it hasn’t had time to toughen in the period between when the plant dies back and harvest occurs. We’ll have potatoes at the stand by the weekend!

See you in the field,

Your Farmers

Find Us at the Farmers Market!

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Heather

Looking for farm-fresh produce in the city? Look no further than our booth at the Union Square Farmers Market in Somerville. On Saturdays in the summer and in the early fall, we sell a selection of our sustainably grown veggies (and flowers!).

Right now you’ll find sweet corn, fava beans, lettuce, cut greens, radish, Swiss chard, beets, carrots, cabbage, summer squash, peppers, potatoes, onions, scallions, herbs (cilantro, dill, basil, parsley, mint, lavender, lemon balm), and the last of the season’s peas (snow and shell).

You can also grab fresh-cut flowers to create a vibrant table arrangement or bouquet. (Or, use them to add color to a dish—we’ve learned from our restaurant partners that many of our flowers are also edible!) Favorites include snapdragons, strawflower, sunflowers, yarrow, and celosia, among others.

New this year: Our booth at the Watertown Farmers Market at Arsenal on the Charles, Thursdays from 2–6 pm. Stop by and check out our new digs!

Can’t get enough farm-fresh goodness? We can’t say we blame you. Learn more about our CSA program, farmstand and restaurant partners, and food and farm programs.