Field Update: Cooler Temps, Cover Crops, and Persimmons!
Week 29, September 24-30, 2012, Week 39 of the Year
We are about 25 days from the average last frost and only six weeks from the end of the program. All plantings – except for 100′ of arugula for Farmer’s Formal, November plantings of garlic and shallots, and cover crops – are in the ground. I mean it, we are done planting, staking, weaving, etc. now we just tend and harvest. I am going to put a little time into the tractor today to see if we can get it going. I would like to get the yard field planted as soon as possible with our cover crops of oats and vetch. We will likely begin pulling some crops out and planting oats and vetch in their place too. In narrow areas or in the event the tractor refuses to work we will be lightly tilling the ground and planting the cover crop. Again, oats need to be planted before October 1st which is a short week away! Vetch can be planted up to two weeks later, but will perform better if a fast growing nurse crop (oats) can help keep weeds down while it picks up speed. We plan cover crop seeding around a rain if we can and this week it looks like we will have chances for rain especially in the earlier parts of the week which may put some strain on our time constraints. Commercial growers would have long since pulled out their first succession of tomatoes, but they are still producing so I have a hard time culling the herd. Evan and I will be deciding if some crops need to come out for the betterment of the farm via cover cropping or if we are going to wait it out for the benefit of the harvest. Luckily, vetch can be broadcast on the soil surface and not worked in and will still germinate but as I said in an earlier post, there is an advantage to getting a good stand started this fall versus it taking off next spring.
The farm is looking really good. Cool season crops (spinach, choi, broccoli, raab, cauliflower, arugula) love this cooler than usual weather and warm season crops (tomatoes, beans, peppers, and squash) slow down. The night temperatures are going to heat up a little this week, which for overall harvest will be great because we can get the best of both worlds. We planted carrots for over wintering earlier this week and once they come up we will weed them, top dress them with manure and compost, and mulch them with straw to overwinter. Grass and weeds have generally slowed although cool season weeds, such as henbit, are on the rise. It is so nice not to have to drag out the irrigation hose and mow every week!
Our ‘Sun Gold’ tomatoes have begun showing signs of a disease called Septoria. This disease is characterized by spots on the leaves and stems, beginning at the soil level and spreading upward. Eventually the leaves turn black and fall off. This fungal disease does not live in the soil but easily carries over in debris (fallen leaves) and it isn’t the first time we have seen it in the fields. This fungus is more common when plants are fruiting, and in humid and wet conditions. It is easily transferred from one plant to the next by splashing rain, harvester hands and clothing, insects, and cultivation equipment. Unfortunately, we will need to remove the infected plants and they cannot be composted as the fungus will live on. This is the disease I have personally seen most commonly on tomato plants. There are pictures and more information at the link above and you can read more and see more photos in my disease book at the farm.
I thought some of you may be up for a fermenting adventure. I have decided to make some kimchi (spicy fermented cabbage) later this week with my Pac Choi and radishes from the farm. I make it almost every year and I usually wait for the Japanese turnips to be done to put them in there, but this year I am not going to wait. My aunt is Korean so I have had a special place on my palate for kimchi and kimchi pancakes since I was little. I remember my parents making venison bulgogi, kimchi, and collecting wild fiddlehead ferns for gosari with my mom. I think my mom was the first person I knew who made Kombucha too – hip before her time! Fermenting foods was commonplace before refrigeration and it is very safe. Dangerous bacteria grow in the presence of oxygen and fermenting vegetables are kept submurged in brine and therefor are without air (anaerobic). Fermented foods are very good for you and present a boost of enzymes and good gut stuff we don’t get from raw or cooked veggies. Pickles and sauerkraut (“sour cabbage”) were traditionally fermented. Here is a website that describes what you need and how to go about the process. It is very easy to do and safe. All you need is salt, a crock made of glass, food grade plastic, or ceramic, a weight (I use a growler filled with water) and a lid (I use a plate) that fits inside the crock opening so it can move as the veggies shrink and brine increases. If veggies are not super fresh and may lack natural enzymes and starters you can use unpasteurized apple cider vinegar as a starter.
Wildlife of the Week- American Persimmon Diospyros virginiana
“Diospyros” translates from the Greek as “Wheat of Zues” and it in this context translates as “Divine Fruit”. American Persimmons are producing delicious fruit about three weeks early this year due to the drought. American Persimmons have imperfect flowers and are dioecious. In other words, American Persimmon flowers only have one sex (like squash) and each sex flower is on a different plant (unlike squash, but like holly), so a tree is either male or female and only the female produces fruit. Persimmon cultivars are often parthenocarpic which means they can set seedless fruit even without pollination. Trees reach 30-80” tall and produce fruit at age six. This native plant has been cultivated for it’s fruit and wood since prehistoric times by Native Americans. Unripe fruit is so astringent it will make you pucker and may scare you off of trying another. Fruit is usually considered ripe after a frost (although not needed), this year if we wait that long the wildlife will do doubt get them all. So if frost is not on the horizon, you can tell if the fruit is ripe because the skin will be wrinkled. This tree does not produce heartwood (darker circle) until it is 100 years old but when it does it is black, which is quite desired by wood turners and instrument makers. Persimmon is in the same family as Ebony. While camping in southern Illinois this past weekend their persimmons were very delicious and ready. We were told that all the catfish were under the presimmons and fishing with a bobber would imitate the fruit and bring us a “big one”. While we didn’t catch the big one, we did enjoy handfuls of the honey sweet persimmons. The persimmons in the yard at the farm are a little hit or miss. I am not sure if this is because of the tree is a cultivar, because southern IL has a few days on us, or maybe because they are younger. There are several persimmons on the farm on the western edge of the yard field. Ripe fruit pulp can be put through a strainer or food mill and the remaining pulp can be frozen for later use. Traditionally settlers of the midwest made a steamed pudding of the fruit or a beer-like brandy. I do want to mention that the persimmons you see at the grocery store are Asain and there are two main types one which is ripe when firm and the other must be soft, ask the produce manager if you are unsure what is ripe.