Jersey produce is here!!

It is that time again when community farmers markets start and Jersey produce is more available.  For three years, my family's farm has been involved in the Haddonfield and Voorhees community farmers market (In South Jersey). It is a chance of the community to come out and buy from local vendors, like: farmers, bakers, and many more different vendors. Last night started the season of our farm participating in these farmers markets. We have our own market where we sell our produce, but we enjoy traveling and meeting people.
We sold some bakery goods from our bakery, Jersey asparagus, our own strawberries, Jersey greenhouse tomatoes, basil plants, parsley plants, our own spinach, and our own sweet potatoes. Since it was the first day of the market, there were not many people at the market but we still had a decent turn out.

Being raised on a farm, I worked in the farm market so I am always asking my dad about farming questions. It is crazy to hear how much farmers need to do, for example: deal with the weather, fix tractors, find the correct spray for a specific insect, pick at the optimum time, plant different varieties to have the product longer, document everything, and so many more jobs. I give farmers so much credit! Many consumers do not understand what really goes into farming, so I have included some things that are going on at our farm from April to May.

What we are planting:
-Sweet corn:

• Three different varieties, with our main type is called Mattapoisette that has a maturity level of 82 days (from planting to picking). The illusion variety has a 72 day maturity and sugar pearl variety has a 74 days maturity. 
• When it is warm we plant every 3 days. We want our corn to be not too old or not too young and so it is important to have different plantings to provide the best product. 
• Weather is so important and you may have to plant around wet spots or change the field. For example: the fields were frozen when we wanted to plant, so we had to wait for the ground to be warmer or change fields.
• Sugar enhanced product (SE) provides the corn's flavor and high sugar together to get the most favorable product. To keep corn's sugar from breaking down into starch, it is important to keep it in the fridge. 

-Tomatoes:

• Two varieties: Sun bright and Primo red. They have same size plant, eat just as well.
• Early in the spring, we plant them in the greenhouse first so they can be ready to be planted and we have an established plant to put in the field for our schedule. We are controlling the environment in the green house, to have a better chance of steady produce.
• We plant each in the field together, so if one variety does not do so well, we still have the other variety and we don't waste a whole field of plants/tomatoes.

-String beans:

• When warm, we plant them every 5-6 days to keep the product fresh for consumers. 

-Peas:

• Planted in April: They can't grow when too hot bc it causes bolting (a flowering of the plant).

-Squash
-Pickles
-Cucumbers
-Watermelon:

• Grow well in the heat

-Strawberries:

• Planting them now for next spring.
• The ones we eat now were planted in September and covered in plastic with row covers and straw on top. We have to take care of them all summer long with weeding them and making sure they don't get ruined by animals or the weather. 

-Cantalope:

•  5 or 4 plantings, they grow well in the heat

-Radishes:

• Planted at the end of april

Some fun facts about planting:

• For planting, we use either a tractor with a plantar that men sit on and plant as the tractor moves.
• Some plants don't need men, just a tractor.
• Some need to be planted by hand (ex: orchards, rhubarb).
• Some plants can be planted in the same field every year, for example: sweet corn.
• Rotation of fields is important for nutrition and diseases in the soil. 
• It was hard this year because the ground was frozen, so we had to use other fields that were not planned.

What to eat now:
-Strawberries
-Spinach
-Rhubarb
-Radishes
-Asparagus
-Greenhouse tomatoes
-Herbs