Second Box Notes

So second boxes have all been delivered, here are some of my thoughts on them:

Digging Deep
We really had to dig pretty deep to come up with salad greens this week. I’m pretty sure the plants haven’t yet fully responded to all the rain we’ve gotten. I’m hoping next week we can send more your way.
A second thing we really had to hunt for was radishes. This I was not terribly surprised by as radish season has just started. Most of you received a small bunch of a type of radish called Cherry Belle they are little petite things that are generally the first to produce. A few of you got some Easter Egg radishes which are quite a bit bigger (some even resemble turnips) and these should be more prevalent next week. It also appears as though the white radishes, which are a spicier kind, should start showing up next week as well. A handful of you did not receive any radishes and instead got extras of something else, I’ll be sure you get some rads next week.

It’s still Early
If you are thinking the boxes are a tad on the sparse side, you’re right. June is not the most productive month, even though it sometimes seems like it should be especially when the temperature hits 80 degrees. It’s a central Wisconsin/Minnesota fact that most vegetables can’t be planted until right around Memorial Day. As a result, the most productive months end up being August and September (July isn’t half bad either) so be prepared. In the meantime, please bear with us through these lighter weeks.

Weeds
Like all gardens right about now, we are getting slammed with weeds and have been working some long days to clear them. We’ve been getting lots of help from my parents and a few other relatives. Luckily Boyceville Elementary School is out for the summer so my 10-year-old nephew is available for weed picking (he’s really pretty efficient).

Other Farm News
Speaking of my nephew, he found a hen in my haymow with some freshly hatched chicks, very cute. This is the first time a hen has actually hatched out chicks as the brooding genes have mostly been bred out of chickens. I was really concerned about the health and well-being of this particular hen because I hadn’t seen her in a couple of weeks. I’m glad that’s all straightened out and hope the chicks do well.