The Gathering at Native

Good morning y'all,

It is August and it is of course hot but the temps have been fairly bearable as of late and we have been taking advantage by getting a jump start on our Fall veggie production. The picture above may not look like much but our greenhouse is filling up with tens of thousands of transplants that will populate several acres of our Fall production fields. Aside from the plants that we are starting in the greenhouse we have also begun the process of direct seeding right into our fields. Last week saw us pull the giant weed smothering silage tarps off around a 1/2 acre of raised beds, after the tarps get pulled, a very shallow (scurf) till with a power harrow kills off any lingering weeds and gives us a nice surface to plant into. We have been diligently running water to keep the tiny and tender carrot seeds moist and cool and with any luck we will see the first carrots begin to emerge towards the end of the day today. From this point forward we will be seeding in the greenhouse and in the fields most every week as we begin the magic process of ushering a new season of crops into existence. While the Fall planting is mostly fun and games we have also been working on the less glamorous job of cleaning up our spent summer fields, cutting down old tomato twine, pulling up stakes and drip lines. Historically these cleanup jobs have taken months to complete, thanks to the hard work of our H2A worker team we are well on top of the field cleanup and have already cleared out and tilled all of our high tunnels in advance of the soil steaming project that we are beginning this afternoon.

I have rented a diesel powered steam generator from a farming colleague in TN, we will be covering sections of our greenhouse soil with tarps and then injecting low pressure steam to bring the soil temp up to a high enough to degree to kill off weed seeds and pathogens, as this process may also kill off some of our good soil bacteria/microbial life we will be reinoculating with all of the good stuff once the steaming operation is complete. Don't worry about the earthworms, they are already burrowed down into the cooler temperatures farther down into the earth. So the farm is moving, cleaning up the past, planting in the present and working to increase our odds of success in the future. We are also harvesting some vegetables and bringing in a whole lot more from the mountains of Western North Carolina so we will have a full Farmstand this week. Expect the Farmstand to start the week with Native Son squash, zucchini, okra, cherry, Campari, Juliet and some red tomatoes. We will also have red and heirloom tomatoes from North Carolina, apples, peaches from Cherry Creek Orchard, sweet corn, purple and bronze muscadines, pole beans, cabbage, potatoes etc... As I am writing this email, a delivery of MS organic sweet potatoes has come in the door. Lots is still happening in the Farmstand and we look forward to seeing you this week. Our hours for August and September are Tuesday-Friday: 10-5 and Saturday 10-2. We are signing up for the ten week Fall CSA program, the price is $360 for the entire ten week season.

As I type this, I continue to realize that a LOT is still happening even though we are "in between" seasons. In addition to everything mentioned and the normal in and outs, we are also hosting a dinner in the Farmstand at the end of the month. The dinner is being put on by our Oxford friends Dria and Halima from Gambia's kitchen. Halima is originally from Nigeria and is an expert in West African cooking, the dinners are usually fairly high brow but we have decided to set up the event in the Farmstand to be more accessible and family style. Please see the flyers at the bottom of the email and look forward to hearing more info in the coming days. Space will be limited for the dinner and it may sell out fairly quickly, so if you are interested, check out the link below and get signed up.