Farms Reach Update – 14 July, 2019

Alexa Macaulay

Things are going pretty well at Farm’s Reach. I don’t have the numbers with me, but as of the beginning of June I had brought over 250 lbs of veg to the Tri-Area food bank so far. My goal this year was to try to bring in more early season and later season crops with a bit of a slow time in the middle to hopefully balance out the abundance that Swan Farms brings in the peak of summer! Things are a little slow now with the greenhouse taken up with tomatoes and peppers. Chimacum Corner Farm Stand donated a bag of Nutri-Rich OMRI-certified fertilizer, and a neighbour donated a truck full of aged horse manure, so soil fertility is slightly better than last year, but still seems like there are some huge deficiencies happening. A soil test and another huge load of manure would be needed for next year in my opinion. Tomatoes are looking much healthier and greener than last year, but all the crops in the raised beds outside still seem kind of stunted and slow. The rabbits have also been a bigger pest this year and stunted all the peas and decimated cauliflower starts! I have row cover on a few beds now.