Farm Visits August 10, 2012

I took a day off this week to regroup so am a day behind checking farms. I decided to stay close to the office today and only make two stops.

I was in Parkville last week but just ran out of time so headed back that way this morning. Mike Pearl was a vendor at the market quit a few years ago but due to a transfer with his job had to stop farming. Mike has a small farm located at what use to be his parents house many years ago. He had quite a few rows of tomatoes which looked like they were doing fairly good; I think the fact that his garden is surrounded by shade trees probably helped a little this summer. In addition to tomatoes he also had a few rows of pepper plants that were still producing. Across the street Mike had another plot which had more tomatoes, a row of cucumbers which were still producing a little and a nice watermelon patch. Mike will be selling at the market on Sundays only on the daily waiting list. He is in the farmer 100% category which means he is only allowed to sell what he grows.

If you have been following my BLOG you might remember a plot of land in Kansas City, Kansas which I visited in early May. This is a large section of land that runs along I-70 and is divided up among at least 7 different families. Much of the produce had not started producing when I was there since it was a little early in the season for some items. I had planned to revisit these farms but I think I waited a little too long. Almost everything was dried up and done producing except the eggplant, okra, Asian peppers, zinnias and sunflowers. It is so sad to know how much hard work and planning goes into farming and in a short few months it can totally be destroyed due to the heat and lack of rain. I spoke with one of the ladies working in the field pulling up dead plants; she said they will just try again next year.

Next week I am headed towards Warrensburg, Higginsville and Odessa and will check 5 farms. I sure hope the weather is as nice as it was today; I hated coming back to the office it was just too nice out.