June
Entering the sixth month of the year with peas blossoming, tomatoes fruiting, and peonies popping. The transition of late spring to early summer is a delicious time of year, come see what we’re working on!
Flower Update:
As May comes to a close, Ranunculus are slowing down & coming to an end. These beautiful bundles will be missed but alas, we will see them again next spring.
We can not be too sad because we have an incredible variety of upcoming flowers to welcome in. This is what we have in store for the coming weeks:
Peony
Dianthus
Clarkia
Euphorbia
Bells of Ireland
Poppy
Stock
Sunflower
We are happy to share that the beloved Dahlias have officially been planted... Now we wait. These beauties will be ready to greet you in late August/September. One great thing about farming is there is always a new crop to look forward to! Today, we have Peonies, in late summer we will have Dahlias!
Upcoming Flower Events:
Kent Flower Market - June 10th
Come meet Alisa, our flower farmer as she will be at the Kent Flower Market the 2nd weekend of June —> https://www.kentflowermarket.com
Alisa will be at the Kent Flower Market with Maitri Farm Flower Seedlings, including:
Zinnia
Cosmo
Hyacinth Vine
Ornamental Oregano
Pansy's
Painted Tongue
+ More
Featured Artwork:
Lucy Commoner is one of our loyal CSA members and this season, our fresh cut flowers have been her muse for a series of drawings. We show up every day in the hopes that what we grow will add beauty and sustenance to your lives, and to know that artwork is one of the amazing things that comes out of this work makes it all worth it.
Thank you Lucy!
Check out our new Fertilizing System!
Part of managing a farm is recognizing when our current systems and technology need to be updated. Sometimes we've upscaled a portion of the operation and need to devote more resources accordingly - early season production meant that we built additional covered growing spaces that we could prepare in the fall and overwinter for spring harvest; and, sometimes the old ways are just too slow for what we're doing and we need to upgrade.
We are expanding our production acreage we needed to bring our fertilizer applications in the field to a new level. This year we are incorporating a Dosatron Fertilizer Injector into our field nutrient management program. This nifty system requires no electricity and will incorporate liquid fertilizer directly into the water flow headed to the crops. Because our irrigation is by drip lines, the plants get water and feed applied directly to the ground, where they can use it most readily. It's a simple, portable system that we can move from field to field and we can administer nutrients as needed.
Vegetable Update:
To close out May and get us into June, the big focus has been on getting plants into the ground as fast as we can prepare space to put them. Flowers and veggies are being planted at an astounding rate and the veggie fields currently have sugar snap peas, onions, leeks, spinach, swiss chard, head lettuce, beets, green onions, basil, chives, broccoli, cabbage, chinese cabbage, kohlrabi and lots of garlic! Nearly 5000 seedlings have gone into the ground in the last week and soon it'll be time for sweet corn, celery, celeriac, cucumbers and summer squash to go in and sweet potato slips arrive this week too! Our tomatoes are setting fruit and the peppers are just starting to bloom. Radishes, turnips and carrots are all happily enjoying the warm soil and I'm especially looking forward to introducing folks to ground cherries and what good okra tastes like! Looking forward to sharing all of this with you this year.
Ask a Farmer:
One of the wonderful things about working on a farm is the knowledge of how to care for the land and the plants that grow here. We believe strongly in sharing this knowledge with you and would like to encourage everyone receiving this newsletter to write in with questions for us. These questions can range anywhere from best practices for planting herbs to fertilization to watering and more. We are going to include questions and answers on a designated segment of our website so that everyone can see what is being asked and the information that might be helpful to them. Please email info@maitrifarmny.com to submit questions to us.
Here are some example questions:
What's the difference between cool & warm season annuals?
Do flowers benefit from bi-weekly fertilization? What do you use?
To pinch or not to pinch? - What flowers benefit from pinching their buds and why?
What is pinching?
Turtle Talk
Here at Maitri Farm we have an incredible variety of wildlife that call this land home. We share this farm’s abundance with all those who live here and it is paramount that these critters remain happy and healthy. If you find yourself coming to the farm for CSA pickups or any of our wonderful events, please drive with caution as the turtles tend to cross the drive lanes. We all must look out for each other, and that extends to the animals as well!
Upcoming Events
Tomato Session #2: This is the second installment of an ongoing tomato series we have ongoing this year. Join us on Saturday, June 24th at 10 AM for a workshop that covers pruning, fertilizing, trellising and harvesting tomatoes. Join us an hour early for a farm tour
Kent Flower Market- June 10th
Alisa the Flower Farmer will be at the Kent Flower Market with Maitri Farm Flower Seedlings. We will have Zinnia,
Cosmo, Hyacinth Vine and much more!
Vegetable CSA 2023
Quick! There is still time time to sign up for our vegetable CSA! Maitri Farm is thrilled to be able to offer our first Vegetable CSA with the 2023 crew. We have been hard at work to provide the highest quality of certified-organic, New York grown produce. To be a recipient of our vegetables, sign up through our website linked here or click the button below.
