Daniel Hoffman of The Cutting Veg, the farm that is providing the produce for Temple Sinai‘s CSA, Pri Adamah sent the following report from the farm:

During April of the 2008 Farming season, the soil was too wet, and not a single crop was planted.  In April of 2009, the soil was again saturated; however, we were able to get a couple beds planted in drier spots: one salad-mix bed, one onion bed, one potato bed.  April of 2010 has been completely different!  Due to the lack of rain, the soil was super dry and thus we’ve been planting up a storm over the last several weeks.  It’s now May 6th, and so far we’ve planted: 18 beds of red and white onions (our beds are approximately 120 ft long x 3.5 ft wide), 17 beds of red potatoes, 3 beds of Snap Peas, 3 beds of Snow Peas, 4 beds of Salad Mix, 4 beds of Swiss Chard, 3 beds of Kale, 4 beds of Spinach, 5 beds of Beets, 2 beds of Turnips, 1 Bok Choi, and 1 Radish!  Not to mention the 16 beds of Garlic that were planted in the fall, and which are all now exploding with garlic plants!  Anyway, with the lack of rain, there was concern — “Will our seeds germinate without the rain to water them?”  Well, these fears have been put to rest.   Our soil is a very clay soil, which is excellent at holding moisture.  Plus, we add loads of organic matter (compost, straw, etc) to our soil, which helps with moisture retention, and we also use tons of row cover (white garden fabric), which helps to hold in moisture.  And so, all of our beds seem to be germinating happily, and we’re now starting to see salad greens emerge, small radish plants in abundance, pea sprouts bursting forth, etc.   So, it’s been a very different April indeed!  Dry enough to plant up a storm, and moist enough for our seeds to turn into thriving plants!  What a start!

Also, I just received word that we have 25 CSA MEMBERS!  Let’s keep the memberships rolling in!  Remember that you do not have to be a member of Temple Sinai to join the CSA and that it is an amazing opportunity!

Shabbat Shalom!