Final pick up of the season

Thank you all for a great season.

The Farm Was Featured in The Globe Today. Thank You Again For All of Your Support!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/marinifarm

Scallions & Fall Strawberries

For tomorrow's share

Hurricane Irene

We were very fortunate that hurricane Irene’s path changed and our farm was spared. Our hearts go out to all the farmers in western MA.

This Week's Share

Melons

Our melons are ready for today's share

This Week's CSA Share

Today's Shares

Blueberries

For tomorrow's share all members will get a pint of local organic blueberries.

Tomorrow's Lettuce

Boston lettuce

Summer Lettuce

Growing summer lettuce is always a challenge. We water it during the day to cool the crop and keep it from bolting

Today's Fresh Share

Sent from my iPhone

Fresh Onions

Today we prepared our fresh onions for tomorrow's CSA pick up. They look exceptional this season.

Sent from my iPhone

Sweet Corn

Our first field of sweet corn is only a few days away from harvesting. We are hoping it will be ready for this weeks pick up making you the first to taste this seasons sweet corn. This will be the first picking of any locally grown corn in Eastern MA.

Beans

Marini farm hand picked green beans coming to your share this week.

Sent from my iPhone

Lettuce

This weeks lettuce is iceburg (Crispino). Grown special for you this year. Super tender and crisp.

Sent from my iPhone

Greenhouse Tomatoes

We started picking a few greenhouse tomatoes today. We hope to get at least one in all of your shares this week

2012 CSA

Thank you to all who have recently inquired about CSA membership. We have started a waiting list in the farm stand; however it will be available online soon. www.marinifarm.com

June Picture Update

Week 2

Just a reminder to all members tomorrow will be our second CSA pick up of the season. 

Update

According to our farm rain gauge, we have just been blessed with 1+ inch of rain. This timely rain could not have come at a better time.

Today Is The Start of Our CSA Season

Farm Update

Every growing season in New England is so very different. You can never plan on ideal conditions. We take one day at a time and adjust as we grow.  This May was a cold wet month with very little sun, these conditions lead to a challenging start to our growing season. At first we were concerned that we would have to push back the start date of our first CSA pick up.  However Mother Nature has turned around and the crops are now flourishing. After a slow start we are now full steam ahead getting the seeds and plants in the ground as fast as possible.

Strawberries

Today I picked my first strawberry of the season.  The field is loaded with fruit, and looks to be a bumper crop.  The heavy winter snow cover provided great insulation and gave the plants a great start going into April.  We also had no late frost so 100% of the blossoms where protected.  We are irrigating the fields for about an hour each day to cool the crop; our goal is to have even continuous production.

Tomatoes

We have planted about 20,000 tomato plants and our heirlooms will be ready to plant next week. This season we are experimenting with a few new verities of heirloom. They should add some great color and flavor to your shares.

Sweet Corn

The sweet corn has really taken off this week loving the hot humid weather. Our first planting is already about 24in high. Up to date we have planted about 75 acres of corn. We have also made two plantings of Miari  (our popular yellow corn) and a planting of white corn.

Seed bed

We are a little late on our second seed bed will re seed by the weekend and it should catch up fast with the hot weather and irrigation

Lettuce

So far it looks as though we have a nice continuous supply of lettuce, we are now planting on white plastic to help keep the crop cool and slow it from bolting. We will continue to make multiple plantings but it does get challenging as the temperatures rise.  

Summer Squash & Cucumbers

The crop is growing well and is still covered with row cover. If you are driving down linebrook road look past the pond on the kozaniski property you cannot miss the large white blanket. Next week we will take the cover off to allow the bees to start pollinating as well as get ready for our next planting.

Lettuce Will Be Ready For First Pick-Up

Kayla

Hi everyone! My name is Kayla Perry and I am really excited to be helping out with Marini Farms new CSA! I have lived in Ipswich all my life and Marini Farms has always been a part of my life whether it was when I was up here as a kid or when I started working here four seasons ago. When I am not working at the farmstand, I am a student at Assumption College in Worcester Mass. I am majoring in Human Services and Rehabilitation Studies in hopes of becoming a speech pathologist. Again, I am excited to start the CSA and I think it will be a great experience for all of us!

Seed Bed

We cleaned up the field of spinach today.  We did not use an herbicide on our seed bed so it is very important that we stay after the weeds while they are small. A push hoe is a very effective way of controlling the weed population if used on time.

Tomatoes

With the addition of the CSA this season we have decided to fill another greenhouse with hothouse tomatoes. Our early tomatoes always sell out fast but with the addition of 1000 plants you will all be sure to see some in your shares. We are also proud to say we have grown your tomatoes without using one drop of oil. We achieved this thanks to our new corn burning boiler.

CSA Pick-Up Details

	First Pick up:  Wednesday, June 8th Pick up location:  Pick up will be located adjacent to the farm stand under the yellow tent.  Time: 10 AM to 6:30 PM  On your first pick up all members will receive a CSA bag for your share as well as be given a tray and container, to be used to pick strawberries with your family at your convenience during the strawberry season. Late Pick up:  If you call ahead we will leave shares out between the hours of 6:30 to 9 PM. If a customer is unable to pick-up their share they may designate another party to pick up.

My First Post

FARM UPDATE:
Even though April was much cooler than last year we are off to a great start! Our first planting of peas and beans are up and growing well. All of our seedbeds have germinated and we are ready for another seeding.
Thanks to the snow cover from this brutal winter our strawberries were very well insulated and are looking very healthy. We covered a section of the field with row cover to help give us a jump on harvest time.
We have planted lettuce and onions with another planting ready for next week. Having lettuce available consistently can be a challenge especially in the warmer months. We try to over plant and plant often to secure a plentiful crop.
We are also growing on white plastic which is cooler and slows the plants from bolting.
We have planted about 30 acres of corn under plastic and another 10 acres on bare ground. The plastic corn is about 2 inches tall we will cut the plastic this weekend letting it grow through a small hole. We want to keep the greenhouse effect as long as possible so we will not remove the plastic until the corn is over 12 inches high.
This upcoming week we will prepare land for our first planting of broccoli, summer squashes, cucumbers, and pickling cukes.