CSA Update or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the corn

Hello CSA members, (and maybe other people who may be reading this for some reason)

The gardens are going. The rain has sped up the weeds but we’re managing.

Just a quick note on this week’s share. As some of you may know raccoons love corn. For the past several years we have used an indigenous (and ingenious) method known as the three sisters. Corn grown in a patch of winter squashes with beans planted near the corn so they can trellis up the corn. It has several beneficial functions – beans provide nitrogen for a heavy-feeder like corn, corn provide the trellis so the beans can get optimal light and the squashes cover the ground allowing the soil to stay moist longer. Another benefit is that raccoons do not like to touch the thorny stems of the various winter squash plants so they can’t get to their desired crop, the corn.

This week we noticed some raccoon damage on the outside rows of our corn where the winter squashes hadn’t been able to fully flesh out and protect the corn due to the wet weather and the cucumber beetle ravaging some winter squash plants for a few weeks in the early summer. At the risk of losing all that delicious corn to an imminent raccoon attack we decided to harvest the corn now, slightly earlier than ideal. Therefore you may notice smaller cobs than usual and perhaps slightly underdeveloped kernels. We have discounted this week’s corn greatly to make up for this, but wanted to let all of you know and give a little back-story to our planting strategy with these amazing and delicious vegetables.

For more info on the three sisters and which indigenous groups practice this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(agriculture)

Other news:

- Garlic is all harvested and curing in the barn. hoping in this wet season we have a drafty enough barn and dry August so it cures well.

- We've been experimenting with leaves as mulch in a few beds this year. So far, so good: less weeding, lots of moisture retention and I'm sure the trace minerals have helped.

Some pictures:

Rhubarb and mature Winter Rye