Newsletter: We Loved those 80-Degree Days

Working on the farm has been warm lately!

Welcome to your second installment of Foxtail story hour with your host, Cody, aka Farmer Fitz. I really enjoy having a semi-weekly writing assignment. It's helpful for me to take perspective of the weeks as they're flying by, and just as fulfilling to read through them again during the winter months. Hopefully y'all find some value in my essays as well...

I must admit, Emmalyn and I have been having a hard time keeping our heads down and focusing solely on the farm these past few weeks. There's a part of us that feels disingenuous promoting a plant sale when the National Guard is occupying our hometown and another young black man had his life taken from him prematurely by those that swore to protect him. Like many of you, I'm sure, there is a feeling of powerlessness that has seeped into our minds and our spirits. We have and are continuing to send as many resources and fresh food to folks in need in the cities, but it doesn't feel like enough. Can it ever feel like enough?

All the same, we still have work to do, and we find some satisfaction and, indeed, love from doing it. The plants don't take a day off, as they say. We are continuing to work in and on the hoop houses. While Emmalyn, Ashley, Andy, Marlee, and our newest farmer Allie continue to weed, water, harvest and wash the produce, I've been busy on the outsides. When we started this year, none of our four hoop houses had sides that roll up to let out excess heat. After the stretch of 80+ degree days earlier this month, we moved that to the top of my priorities list. Now that I've gotten roll-ups installed on three of our houses, naturally we're only seeing high temps in the low 40s.

Emmalyn and crew have also been spending lots of time tending to our plant starts. Up-potting, fertilizing, continuing to plant more and more to meet the high demand, they've been plenty busy! We'll be prepping our outdoor beds for transplanting in the next few weeks, which means my big irrigation installation project is next on my docket. The best way to ensure a rainy year is to spend lots of time and money setting up a new irrigation system, eh?

Another fun (or not) farm activity this year has been pest control. Last year, our peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants were decimated by moles, and we spent countless hours pulling our hair out trying to get rid of them. This year, it was deflating to see that there was even more activity than last year! Thankfully, Chris was able to pass on the number of "The Mole Guy", who came out to the farm and showed us the right way to trap these destructive and frankly, hideous creatures (Seriously, don't Image Search "Star-Faced Mole" before bed). I hesitate to say we've gotten rid of them entirely, but let's just say that our feet don't sink into the hoop house soil the same way they did a month ago.

Other upcoming goings-on include the afore-mentioned online plant sale, the beginning of our farmers market season (May 1 at Midtown Farmers Market is our kick-off), and something new: we're partnering with some of our neighbors for the first ever River Road Farm Crawl on Mother's Day (which I'm sure we all remember is Sunday May 9). We'll have plants for sale and will be showing off our farm, and I might even get convinced to strum out a couple songs at the end of the afternoon. Given that it's an all outdoor event we feel good about safety, but will require masks and limit the number of visitors on site at one time. Of course, if you want to visit another time, drop us a line! We're happy to show off our farm (and put our members to work...).

Thank you all again for the support, and be good to each other out there. See y'all Thursday.

-Cody

Newsletter: We Loved those 80-Degree Days

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