Cooler Weather & Finalizing Plans for Fall

Village Farm Team,

We hope you’ve been enjoying the unseasonably cool weather this past week like we have! When the temperatures are pleasant it makes less stress for our plants, animals, and humans alike. Our goats in particular have been enjoying the weather and have been spending a lot of time on their truck. They enjoyed a pedicure this week complete with scarlet oil to protect their hooves and deter any bacteria. Every three months our girls get to enjoy a pedicure so that their hooves stay healthy and bacteria-free.

The farm team has been working at finalizing crop plans for the fall. Since the entire south farm has to be tilled under post-hurricane, our harvest schedule will be pushed back. Once new transplants go in we will be working with a 60-90 day plant-to-harvest window. We’re planning on having a delicious variety of root vegetables, leafy greens, and brassicas.

One of our main priorities other than preparing for fall planting has been working on depleting the weed seed bank. Luckily the cooler weather allowed us to progress farther with it this week than we typically can during the summer. One of the biggest challenges has been the Johnson grass. In order to make sure we address the problem long term, the team has been digging it out in order to remove both the grass and the rhizomes (roots).

Though we would have preferred to keep it growing for another month, our sunn hemp cover crop was mowed down this week. Since it wasn’t looking the best post-hurricane, the team made the decision to mow it down earlier than scheduled. While it was growing the sunn hemp worked to fix beneficial nitrogen into our soils. Once it is mowed over it is left in place on the soil to become what is referred to as “green mulch”. This will help to improve the carbon levels in the soil.

On Saturday we will be continuing with our farm stand only set up versus the full blown farmers market. The farmers market will return once more infrastructure is in place. In the meantime, you can enjoy the locally grown goods available at our farm stand every Saturday.

Happy Harvesting,

The Agmenity Farm Team

Words & Photos by Courtney West