The farm is in full swing now, with the recent rain and heat spurring lots of growth.

The crew accomplished a tremendous amount of weeding this last week, thanks to large groups of workers on Thursday (11 people) and Friday (13 people) – and a flat tire on the tractor that turned the focus away from pulling up tarps (and preparing the ground underneath for planting) and towards more weeding. Julie reports that the entire west and pond fields have been weeded, the back of north field is done, and the asparagus has been unearthed from an overgrown patch that “looked like a pollinator garden”.

This week also saw the beginning of a campaign against the Colorado Potato Beetle. The larva and adults feed on the foliage of potatoes (and other related crops) and can defoliate a planting to a destructive extent if left unchecked. At this point, Julie notes that most potatoes are looking good, though she noted with a laugh that “a few don’t have very bright futures”. At Many Hands, these pesky bugs are managed by knocking the insects into buckets of water, and providing lots of support to the plants in the form of more frequent nutritional sprays to maximize their potential for good health (plants have received three or four foliar feeds, up from their usual once a week feed). Insecticide is not applied. This approach of managing crop health – a focus on good soil health, setting up the conditions for maximum plant health and nutrition, and allowing the health and vigor of the plants to be their best defense against pests and disease – mirrors the approach that Julie takes to her own health. She centers on nutrition, doing work that she believes in, laughing a lot, and surrounding herself with good company as key tactics in building a strong immune system and ensuring continued good health.

Elsewhere in the vegetable fields, the team also planted three beds of brassicas (one bed of cabbage, two of broccoli) and put carrots in a now-spent bed of lettuce. Holes in the collard and kale beds (where some plants didn’t make it) were filled with new transplants.

In staff news, Leo ended his three-and-a-half month sojourn with us and has headed back to France. Julie and the crew saw him off with a celebratory supper on Saturday. Leo has been a helpful, positive-spirited, kind and thoughtful presence on the farm and he will be missed! He came to the farm with an interest in creating a farm on his family land, and is thinking seriously about doing so once he’s home. We also welcomed AJ to the farm this week, who has come to us with a desire to dig in to the important wok of raising good food right now. Welcome, AJ!

We worked really hard in this week’s extreme heat. Although there is so much work to be done, Julie feels that we have a good, strong handle on it all, and that we’re further along than in previous years.

In the vegetable fields, the lack of rain means that our veggies aren’t growing very fast. The silver lining is that the weeds are not growing very fast, either. 🙂 This week, we were able to clean up, mulch and plant the South field. The front of North is weeded and mulched too. The corn, chard, parsley, lettuce, tomatillos, celery, carrots, beets and sweet potatoes are all well taken care of. The watermelons and muskmelons have been tucked into the hoophouses.

For the coming week, our vegetable work will focus on the full season onions, leeks, peppers, eggplant, basil and broccoli. We’ll also thin the peaches so that the weight of the fruit won’t break the branches. First, the crew will give the trees a good shake, then they’ll pick off some of the fruits by hand. With thirty peach trees, this is a substantial task! The black raspberries will receive some attention as well – the bindweed and bishop’s weed need to be cleared, and the berries need to be re-mulched with more wood chips before the harvests start, which will be soon.

In staff news, Jerod (not “Jarod”, as I misspelled last week – sorry Jerod!) will be coming out to the farm from Medford each Tuesday-Thursday and camping out in the orchard. A new WWOOFer, Simon, will start on July 4th and will hopefully be with us through the summer. Simon is from Newton, MA. Our good friend Leo has begun formulating plans to return to France on July 12th. He doesn’t yet have a plane ticket, and Julie says “We are not pushing him out the door”! Finally, Cathleen and Shawnee both celebrated their birthdays on the farm this week, with seasonal fruit treats and serenades. Julie says “if you want to come to the farm and work on your birthday, we will make cake and sing to you too”. Birthday or no, do please know that if you’d like to come to the farm, we’d love to have you – we work hard, but as Julie says “we have lots of fun, with lots of singing, dancing and making jokes”, and as Pat Howe says, “we get there at eight and don’t stop til noon – except for the 10 o’clock break for peanut butter balls”.

The food is beginning to feel more plentiful, and so we will open the CSA for additional registrations, for a limited time – so please tell your friends! New members can pick up shares starting the week of July 6th. We’re offering pickup on Mondays in Princeton, Paxton or Barre and on Fridays in Holden or Barre (sorry, no Wednesday or Worcester share options at this time). Share prices and delivery fees have been prorated to reflect the July start. Large shares cost $540, Medium shares cost $365, and Small shares cost $270. An additional one-time delivery fee of $34 will apply for shares delivered to Princeton, Paxton and Holden. Read more and sign up at https://mhof.net/csa-share-options/.