Beautiful days have brought on a bounty of vegetables including the much awaited fruits of the season. Here is what we have been up to.
Watermelons tend to be my favorite and this year the quality is next to none. The first variety we pulled was the Early Moon Beam. A yellow flesh, ice box, watermelon bred by Dr. Alan Kapular. Kapular was formative in teaching my mentor Rich Pecoraro at MASA Seed Foundation and the two of them were instrumental in founding Seeds of Change. The actual seeds came out of an adobe seed vault on the Tesuque Pueblo in New Mexico. A special crop that we are excited to have isolated for seed this season continuing the process of regional adaptation!
Chiles are a crop I look forward to every year. The Anaheim peppers are coming on strong. This traditional roasting chile makes large fruits perfect for the flame. We will be hauling our roaster to the Larimer County Farmer’s Market this weekend to cook up some organically grown goodness.
I am thankful for this opportunity as I am sure many other markets with more than one roaster would have denied our access. A farmer’s market only benefits from hosting extra growers. While we might be hyper competitive in the beginning, in the long term Fort Collins is building a stronger community of local food producers and consumers.
As the farm transitions into fall and winter, cover crops are growing across many of our beds. The largest among these is a 4 foot tall stand of Sudan Grass. Planted in mid July this grain has skyrocketed from the old garlic beds. Buckwheat has been another favorite cover crop this year. Known to unlock phosphorus, we are growing several successions on ground intended for the 2023 garlic crop. A mixture of radish, vetch, peas, wheat, and oats has just germinated on about ¼ acre. Diverse mixtures of crops ensure complete access of nutrients to soil microbes. This stand will be photosynthesizing deep into fall.
Cover crops are an investment filling up our soil carbon bank. Instead of pushing more cash crops through the system I have found it refreshing to rest the soil for the next season. Many of these beds have not seen a cover crop since we started farming at this location. Imagine not taking a vacation in 3 years! By growing these crops we will hopefully sequester carbon, minimize weed pressure, and grow soil organic matter making for more nutritious crops come 2023.
As we move into next week we brace ourselves for the entirety of harvest season. So much abundance to look forward to, and so much to enjoy now.