It's Just Too Hot!

.Yesterday (Tuesday), it was so hot I felt like my skin hurt. I made the mistake of picking some ripe tomatoes and some big green ones at 9 a.m. I got a little overheated and paid for it the rest of the day. It seems like everyone at the farm finds excuses to go hang out in the walk in cooler...
Heat of this kind is difficult for the farm on many levels. First, we can't keep up with irrigation. Secondly, retail sales are halved because no one wants to be out in the heat. Finally, our wholesale sales come to a screeching halt because other stores are dead also. Our best pickling cucumber field has become a burden as sales have stalled. Do I walk away from the field? Do I cut pick half of it and then abandon the other half? I have to figure something out because a new field is about to overlap. When pickling cucumbers get big you can sell them as "nickel pickles" (an old term for selling large cukes at a nickel). I seem to be getting some wholesale interest in these. But then I have to drive around in the heat to the wholesalers. Is it worth it? It might be worth it if it keeps the fields going and sales pick up again. This is when the farming gets tough.

On more positive notes:

• We are picking great corn. Our first ever in July.
• Beans are plentiful -- Romans, Blue Lakes, Yellow and French.
• We picked our first shell beans yesterday.
• Tomatoes are beginning to ripen. Garden tip: Stop watering if you want ripe fruit. I have not watered my tomatoes for 2 weeks. I am not going to water them again.
• Picked 8 flats of a great ever-bearing strawberry variety that I am really excited about. They sold quickly. Next year I have planted five times as many. This means next year I'll have about 50 flats of these berries that are just sooo good.

Thursday night's concert (www.krugersfarmmarket.com/summerfun.html) will be hot, but not as hot as the last couple of days. It should be around 98 degrees which will feel cool compared to 105. We'll have the big sprinklers going and have brought in a big tent for shade. The concert will go a little later until around 10 p.m. when it's a little cooler. Come on out and have a great summer night...