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Latest news from True Earth |
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Dear customer,
What a winter we have had in the Hawke's Bay,
very cold and some lovely rain. However with strong winds and
unseasonable warm weather now we are drying out quickly. As much as
we like to think we quieten down in the winter, it just does not seem to
happen. It is a time for analysis, planning and of course constant
farm work and a lot of our staff have a well deserved break.
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On the
Farm
We are busy weeding the spring carrots and onions that have
been planted through winter. This is a tricky job involving being on your
hands and knees with a knife, cutting the weeds out and being very careful
not to cut the small carrot and onion plants. We have even had to get
out our traveling irrigators to irrigate the onions to help them
strike. This would be a first at this time of the year. Our
first carrots were planted in late March and early April, to give us an
early spring harvest. The rest of our carrot planting starts in mid August,
and we continue planting new beds every few weeks.
Our
blueberry staff are very busy pruning, weeding and doing any replanting.
Every year we lose a few plants due to disease; to mitigate this we run a
nursery block of plants, so we always have plants available. We have
started frost fighting in earnest as our blueberry plants are out in bud so
are very vulnerable to frost. We use overhead sprinklers to protect
the plants. This is an exhausting exercise especially when there are
consecutive frosts. But on the bright side there is always a
beautiful day to follow.
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Potato and Tomato Psyllid
You may have
read about this nasty North American pest that has recently established
itself in New Zealand (how did it get here we wonder, imported
vegetables?). It is incredibly destructive to potato, tomato and
other solanaceous vegetable crops e.g. capsicum. Across the country
both conventional, organic growers and home gardeners are battling with
this pest.
Basically the psyllid causes a disease that reduces
the yield and quality of the crop. On potatoes the foliar symptoms
are a stunting and yellowing of the growing tip, and after a while infected
potatoes develop a scorched appearance and plants collapse
prematurely. At the moment very little is known how to treat
infected crops. However in the home garden you are best to remove the
plant showing symptoms and dispose of the plant material in sealed rubbish
bags.
True Earth potatoes have not been exempt, and we have had
lower yields this season, and a reduction in the average size. This
has affected our ability to supply you all year around with potatoes and we
are afraid there will be no potatoes on the shelf during October and
November.
So what are we doing about this you ask?
Scott is actively researching organic control methods, and also
working with conventional growers and scientists to find a solution for all
growers.
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Thank you to our
customers
It is wonderful to note that the organic consumer
appears to be so dedicated to their health and the health of their family
that they are not compromising this, during these tougher economic
times. An acquaintance said to me not long ago. "I can't
afford to buy organic"! My answer was simple, eating and living
organically is a choice and lifestyle, personally I spend no more than the
average family on groceries. I just spend it differently. I
know the true cost of growing vegetables and I always ask the question how
was the cheap food grown? Food for
thought!
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