Sharing the Harvest Farm
2009 Year End Report
Year in Review
In 2009, the Sharing the Harvest farm had another successful season
despite poor seasonal weather and sub-par production performance.
Ultimately aimed at 20,000 pounds, farm production fell short to 11,022 due to
several factors, primarily the wet first few months of the growing season and the
early and severe bought of tomato blight. (See Page 5 for weather, Page 6 for
diseases)
Harvest by the Numbers
Pounds by Month:
- April 91
- May 39.5
- June 806.5
- July 1493.5
- August 3976.5
- September 2832.5
- October 1782.5
Total 11022
Donations from area Farms:
Brix Bounty Farm Donations: 787 pounds. Donations included Leeks, Kale,
Chard, Lettuce, Squash, Herbs, Beets, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Carrots and many
other varities.
King Farm Donations: 634 pounds. Donations included Radishes, Peas, Green
Beans, Turnips, Carrots, Cabbage, Kale, Beets, Brussels Sprouts and Squash.
Misc. Donations: We also received a few handfuls of donations from Donna
Edberg, our Volunteer Coordinator, one of the farm camper’s parents, and three
boxes of Asiatic Pears from the Town of Dartmouth’s Souza-Lagasse Farm in
North Dartmouth.
Total Harvest by Vegetable: Crop Lbs.
- Basil 26.5
- Beets 211
- Broccoli 15
- Cabbage 42
- Carrots 541
- Celeriac 20
- Celery 36
- Corn 64
- Cucumbers 1855
- Eggplant 171
- Garlic 32.5
- Garlic Scapes 12.5
- Green Beans 231
- Kale 352
- Leeks 20
- Lettuce 720
- Onions 90.5
- Peas 19
- Peppers 179.5
- Potatoes 112
- Pumpkins 33.5
- Radish 412
- Scallions 112
- Sorrel 4
- Spinach 31.5
- Squash 1544
- Strawberries 294.5
- Sweet Potatoes 38.5
- Swiss Chard 133
- Tomatoes 655
- Turnips 1308.5
- Zucchini 11
Volunteer Information
Although our year in production was a tough one, in terms of volunteers our
year was phenomenal.
From the season’s opening to it’s closing, we had 4,121 total volunteer hours
from 2,133 total volunteers.
As the populace’s diversity is quite ranging in the southcoast, our groups also
ranged tremendously in their age, home and vocation.
School Groups:
In the spring we had nearly five consecutive weeks with two school groups per
day. With those groups ranging in age from nursery school to junior high
school, our tasks and abilities varied from day to day and group to group and
although it was a bit hectic (especially for Donna) we managed to get some
production done while hopefully teaching some valuable lessons.
For the future, as some of the groups were up to 50 kids in number, and I would
say it was often challenging keeping them all working together and orderly, we
will try to secure (by volunteer or another means) another person to work with
Donna during the groups.
In terms of there geographic location, it seems most groups were from New
Bedford, several from Fairhaven and a few from Dartmouth, but not too many.
We also had students from Old Rochestor Regional High School twice.
Additionally, we were also visited a half dozen times by the local Kiddie
Campus program.
From colleges, we had groups from UMass Dartmouth three times and we had
freshmen from Boston University visit for six hours on three consecutive days.
Seasonal Volunteers:
Throughout the year, on nearly every workable Wednesday we had normally
two groups of challenged adults, whose enthusiasm I must say was
outstandingly refreshing each and every week. Additionally, St. Vincent’s
School, a school for troubled kids in Fall River, came nearly twice per week for
much of the season. We also had the PAACA’s Green Youth Brigade (usually
about 15 kids) one day per week from the middle of July through the end of
September. We also had three young men from the Wheeler School in
Providence volunteer for several weeks to complete their summer volunteer
hours.
For the month of August we also had two farm employees from New Directions,
Jordan Rivera and Rasheek White. Jordan and Rasheek were good to work with,
and although one was a much harder worker than the other, both were fun to
work with and get to now. As they both provide a much-needed break from the
summer solidarity and a helping hand, were the New Directions opportunity to
present itself in the future, I would strongly suggest participating again.
I also cannot forgot those individual volunteers who came to visit us all spring
and summer on Wednesdays and Saturdays, they are truly priceless.
In regards to these folks, our regular volunteers, they are the volunteers with
whom I had the wonderful chance to work with continuously throughout the
year. Getting to know them and becoming friends while helping our community
all at the same time was certainly the highlight of my season here.
Single Day Volunteers/Groups:
As far as one-day groups, we’ve had bankers, realtors, a church, a bible camp,
boy scouts, community action groups, and the United Way Day of Caring twice.
We also had a few visits from YMCA staff who were very helpful and it was nice
to get know some other association workers.
Future Notes:
As mentioned above, regarding school groups I feel it will be both highly helpful
and increase production efficiency to have a third hand with the groups,
especially in the spring. Additionally, in terms of volunteer drop-in hours, I think
they’ll be revised to have longer time periods, and at the end of school for the
year, we’ll drop the Thursday afternoon time as not many folks came then after
June.
Weather:
Although the weather cleared up for August and September, the 2009 growing
season presented a wet and cold challenge for the Sharing the Harvest Farm.
Beginning with moderate temperatures in April, the weather fluctuated rapidly
until roughly June 1 when the average daily temperature virtually mirrored past
year’s average low temperatures. Beginning in mid August the temperature
began to climb to it’s normal high, but virtually overnight on September 1, it
dropped back to the average low again.
Coinciding with the lower than normal temperatures, we had more than average
rainfall throughout the spring and into the summer.
Month Rainfall ~ Average ~ Number of Days with 0.1 or greater
- April 5.98 ~ 3.7 ~ 9
- May 3.96 ~ 3.3 ~ 11
- June 4.34 ~ 3.3 ~ 11
- July 8.04 ~ 2.8 ~ 13
- August 7.54 ~ 4.2 ~ 3
- September 2.67 ~ 3.2 ~ 5
- October 5.78 ~ 3.3 ~ 7
The combination of cold, cloud-covered days and regular rain prevented the soil
temperatures from reaching many germination ranges as early as expected. The
poor germination, and lack of soil warmth to encourage growth left many of our
plants stunted or simply not fruiting.
The worst cases of stunting and poor fruit production I witnessed here were the
winter squash plants, some summer squash plants, and both the watermelons
and the muskmelons. Additionally, early in the year, when the ground was still
saturated, we had very poor germination from our peas.
The cold, damp weather also added to the potentcy and rabidity of the late
blight, allowing the fungus to thrive and spread more rapidly across our region’s
tomatoes.
Crop Diseases
This season, the single most devastating insect or disease pressure was easily the
tomato blight (Late Blight: a disease especially found in solanaceous plants
caused by the fungus Phytophthora infestans).
Of the roughly 900 tomato plants we grew, transplated and staked, nearly all of
them were infected, which effectively killed our tomato crop for the year. From
the 900 plants we donated only 655 pounds of fruit, most of which was
completely green and unripe.
However, on a more positive note, our 200 feet of potatoes were planted earlier
and did not show any real signs of the blight.
Newspaper Report of the Blight in the Northeast:
July 29, 2009
Northeast Tomatoes Lost, and Potatoes May
Follow
By JULIA MOSKIN
RIPE local tomatoes, keenly anticipated by growers and cooks, will be missing from many markets, farm stands and farm shares this summer. Although there are no official estimates yet on crop loss, a severe outbreak of late blight fungus in tomatoes, first noted in June, is sweeping through farms and gardens in the Northeast. John Mishanec, an educator with the integrated pest management program at Cornell University, compared the highly contagious and incurable disease to a “nuclear explosion” in the region’s tomato crop. “And unless the weather changes, it’s going to get worse,” he said. Consumers, he and others said, must be prepared to pay high prices to support local agriculture this summer. Organic farmers, who have only a few approved weapons in their arsenal of pesticides, are absorbing much of the damage. Other farmers, whose tomatoes are already coming in late and stunted because of cool, wet weather, are waiting to see if pesticides, sunshine and luck will cooperate to prevent the infection from reaching their fruit. The Hudson Valley region of New York, where the disease has jumped from tomatoes to potatoes and is wreaking havoc in both, has already experienced widespread crop loss. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Amy Hepworth, a seventh-generation farmer who is raising 20 acres of organic tomatoes in Ulster County, N.Y., for customers that include Whole Foods and the Park Slope Food Co-op. On July 25, she was burning affected plants to try to prevent the fungus’s spores from spreading farther into her fields.Keith Stewart, a farmer in Orange County, N.Y., who has lost much of his tomato and potato crop, estimates his loss so far at $40,000. Jay and Polly Armour, who grow about 40 different kinds of tomatoes at Four Winds Farm in Gardiner, N.Y., say that at least half their crop is gone. They sprayed their tomatoes for the first time in 20 years of organic farming, but the disease had already taken hold. “The fruit is rotting under the spray,” Mr. Armour said. Farmers and pathologists said that the fungicides available to organic farmers, mostly copper-based sprays used since the 19th century, are only intermittently effective. Many farmers say that tomatoes are their most important cash crop and that the blight will be devastating. “Tomatoes get me out of debt every year,” said Kira Kinney, an owner of Evolutionary Organics in New Paltz, N.Y., who has late blight on potatoes and tomatoes and expects that most of the crop will be destroyed. “I go into the season with credit card debt and I come out O.K.,” she said. “That’s how I cover my annual costs for the whole farm.” On July 23, Billiam van Roestenberg said that 11 of the 12 growers who participate in the weekly farmers’ market he runs in New Paltz had already seen late blight in their fields that was likely to ruin their crops. The next day, the 12th farmer — Mr. van Roestenberg himself — found the disease on his own tomatoes. Late blight, which caused the Irish potato famine in the mid-19th century, thrives in damp, windy weather. Its symptoms include white powdery spores, brown spots on leaves and open lesions, each of which can produce hundreds of thousands of infectious spores. Burning, spraying and deeply burying infected plants are options for farmers; home gardeners should pull plants out at the first sign of the disease. Rather than composting them, the plants should be sealed in plastic bags and thrown away. Every state in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic has confirmed recent cases of late blight, which normally does not appear in the region until August, if at all. The source of the outbreak is being investigated by pathologists. Home gardens likely helped spread the infection: Lowe’s, Home Depot, Kmart and Wal-Mart all sold tomato seedlings with late blight in their garden centers from April to June. All are offering refunds or credits to gardeners who must destroy their plants. But there is no similar recourse for farmers. Even those who have not lost a crop to blight are suffering financially because of it. To ward off the infection, which has been sweeping through farms in her area, Ms. Hepworth has been spraying all her plants with a covering of fixed copper, an approved organic fungicide that creates a physical barrier preventing spores from reaching the plant. Because copper, unlike synthetic fungicides, washes off in heavy rain and must be carefully reapplied, “It costs me $1,000 every time it rains,” she said. Dale Mohler, an agricultural meteorologist at AccuWeather.com, said that low temperatures in June and July broke records across the Northeast and that rainfall is running 50 to 100 percent higher than normal around the region. Mr. Mohler, who said he lost his own home-grown tomato plants to late blight, said August isn’t likely to bring the sustained hot weather — about 10 days with temperatures above 85 and dry conditions at night — that could stop the continued spread of late blight. Like other growers, David Hambleton, a farmer in Dutchess County, N.Y., whose crop is shared by about 250 members of the Sisters Hill Farm community supported agriculture program, is concerned that members who do not receive the vine-ripe juicy summer tomatoes they look forward to will not pay $500 to $700 for a share next year. “Last year was a bumper crop, one of the best ever,” he said. “This year, we’ll have to ask our members to participate in local agriculture in a more realistic way.” Farmers who do not practice organics, like Bill Maxwell of Changewater, N.J., are using pesticide sprays to protect their tomatoes, but still must worry about blight, weather and the state of the crop, which is running about a month late. “I have huge, beautiful cauliflowers, but I’m not going to make a lot of money on that in July,” he said. “People want their tomatoes.”µ
µ New York Times, July 29, 2009
Fertility
As part of our continued effort to improve the longevity and sustainability of our farm
fields, we added 2,000 pounds of soft-rock phosphate, 250 pounds of humates, and 1,000
pounds of high-calcium lime. Additionally, the fields and crops were regularly dosed
with topical fish fertilizer.
For 2010, we are also looking to include a pelletized post-crop-planting fertilizer to give
many of our crops a much-needed boost. The topical granular fertilizer will be applied as
an addendum to our normal fertility plans.
Farm Camp
Although I was not involved as much in Farm Camp as I was in the daily operations of
the volunteer-based farm, it seems that from an onlooker’s perspective, Ms. Szynal did an
excellent job keeping the campers active, engaged and interested in camp and the farm.
Hannah employed both a variety of games and farm activities to keep the kids engaged,
and despite the few sweltering days in August, kept them cool and happy.
Regarding the camp, my only comment would be that the half day of farm camp should
take place in the morning when it’s cooler and kids are more focused, rather than the hot
and tired summer afternoon when its harder to stay focused and work outside.
Summary
All in all, I believe the 2009 growing season at Sharing the Harvest Community Farm
was a successful year. This year we faced a bad New England summer, as many other
New England farmers have done, and rather than delve into the negative, we expanded
our volunteer core tremendously and were still able to produce more than 10,000 pounds
of fresh produce.
I know we all hope that next year will be a great year weather-wise, but at least as this
test has proven that Sharing the Harvest is a farm built to endure and withstand, a farm to
help it’s community the best it can no matter any adversity it faces.
Sharing the Harvest Farm
2010 Goals
The 2010 growing season will present entirely new challenges for Sharing the Harvest.
As an initiative to produce some revenue ourselves, we will be both growing and selling
our own hay and pumpkins. At this season’s end, Billy Viveiros (the previous hay tenant)
was notified that beginning next year the YMCA will be borrowing equipment to cut,
bale and sell our own hay.
Additionally, grown to coincide with the Fall Family Festival, we’ll grow pumpkins just
south of the shed and east of both the ‘BA’ and ‘CA’ field parcels. To hasten their
growing season they will be planted on black embossed plastic, much like our tomatoes,
eggplants and peppers were this season.
As mentioned above, ‘CA’ is a new parcel to Sharing the Harvest and will receive it’s
first crop planting next spring. Increasing our garden size by CA (3/4 of an acre), the
pumpkin extension, and the hay will really test our capabilities, but if it works out, our
horizons will be greatly expanded too. ‘CA’ also brings another challenge although it’s
not necessarily one for the farmer or volunteers. Being the furthest parcel from our well,
and adding nearly 33% to our production, the new plantings will test the capabilities of
our well to water the entire farm on hot summer days.
Another future project, as anyone who walks the farm will notice, is the replacement of
our wooden-sided raised beds which are in rough shape. Many have even rotten and
collapsed apart. That may be the 2010 challenge of the spring, both purchasing and
building 10 new wooden-sided raised beds.
Lastly is our production goal for 2010. As we noticeably fell short of our 2009 production
goal of 20,000 pounds, I’m instituting a bit lower number (albeit still higher than 2009
production) for next season. In 2010, we hope to grow and donate 18,000 pounds of
fresh, local and organic produce to aid our community in need.
