Bringing in the harvest in June

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June started out sunny and 80 degrees and we actually had a week without rain, and then… rain 5 out of 7 days. We started the month picking strawberries and peas, and finished the month with peaches and corn! Truly a complete transition from spring to summer.
Our bonus crop for June has been our tomatoes. We started harvesting the end of May, and all through June we have picked beautiful and flavorful slicing tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. What a treat for our CSA and farm market customers. Great flavor!
Once summer starts, everything seems to happen at once—cucumbers, zucchini, pie cherries, sweet cherries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, corn, eggplant, gooseberries, currant, green beans—and suddenly we have lots of fruits and vegetables from which to select! 
After six months of just one fruit (apples all winter and then strawberries in May), it is pure pleasure to have apricots, cherries, raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries, peaches, currants, and plums all at the same time. Our Methley plums started a few days early to make it into June’s harvest. Methley plums are small, snack-sized plums that are very sweet and very juicy. Our black raspberry plants have produced an abundance of berries this year. The red raspberries are a little scarce. We had to plant a new patch of red raspberries this spring, since last year’s rains drowned many of the plants. The new plants have only a little growth at this point, but we hope for a good fall crop. Fall, in raspberry-speak, means mid-August. We shall see!
The hot weather that has been creeping up in temperature has hurried the peaches and corn to delicious readiness. What a treat to have so many fresh options!
Asparagus and rhubarb actually kept on going through most of June, much to our surprise. The overnight rains, cooler night temperatures, and moderate day-time temperatures kept these two cool weather crops going. Now that we have had a week of near-90 every day, both rhubarb and asparagus have gone to seed quickly, storing up energy for next year’s production. Peas are another crop that benefited from cool, rainy weather.
Bedding plants and vegetable starts are mostly gone, and native perennials have taken their place. We are increasing the number of native perennial flowers that we offer, because they are so helpful to our natural pollinators—honey bees, butterflies, and the dozens of native bees that are in our area. The natives are tough plants, withstanding weather extremes and coming back reliably year after year. Since the honey bees have had many difficult years with unexplained colony collapse in many areas, we hope that gardeners will provide welcoming habitats for our beneficial insect friends. Email or stop by with questions—we are happy to talk about good stewardship of the land!
The hydroponic house has provided the best basil we have grown in years, in addition to salad greens, parsley, lettuce, baby bok choy, watercress, and arugula. The Swiss chard in the high tunnel is still doing great and provides us with enough for the market and for CSA shares.
Outside (we still like dirt!), the squash plants looks fabulous and in addition to zucchini and yellow squash, we started harvesting patty pan squash. And eggplant and beans and cucumbers and peppers… summer is great!
The long daylight hours have all the crops growing quickly. I think we, as well as the plants, are all solar-powered!
Thanks, again, to all of our great customers. You keep us motivated to keep growing. You are what farm-to-table is all about! Eat fresh—eat local—eat well!


For more about the farm or our CSA program, go to 
www.HighlandOrchardsFarmMarket.com.

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