Farm Updates for June 16th, 2010

The latest from farmer Zaid:

Just as summer appeared it has now disappeared. We had some night time lows in the 40's. But this is NY weather and we are used to it. We had 2.5 weeks of no rain and the dust bowl seemed immanent; now it is muddy again.  Cucumber Beetles made there appearance so we are all nervous now. Over 35 people visited from mainly [Harvest Astoria]. They toured Evans Farmhouse and our farm. All had a good time and I rode back with them on the bus to NYC. We are very busy now between CSA, Markets, planting, weeding, preparing, and being rusty and training new people. So keep us in your prayers please.

"Yo-Yo" weather at the farm, but crops generally doing well

The latest from Zaid on temperatures, rain, and pests:

The yo yo weather continues: We had a good dose of summer over  the last 2 weeks which advanced our crops so that we had to start CSA early. Now we are back to high 60s and 40s at night with rain (that was much needed). Upstate NY weather is just so unpredictable and that leaves us guessing as to what is next? Crops in general are doing well and we hoped to not have any cucumber beetles but they too showed up. Cucumber beetles are our worst pest because all stages of the life of this insect effect the cucumber family (cucumbers and squashes). The adults feed on plants and infect them with viruses and bacteria. and the larval stage feeds on the roots.