Sprout Farm Stand & Greenhouse

We are closed Labor Day.  Thank you

We are open every day from 9-5 

​Sprout Farm Newsletter             September 17th 2022 sproutfarm.net    open 98-4 Sept. 17th        after the 17th 9-5 daily

Hello Everyone,

Happy Constitution Day,  This is a day worth of celebration. If you are at the Bourne Bridge between 4-6 pm you can give a wave to the people celebrating Constitution Day.  While looking for the old School House Rocks version of 'We the People" I ran across this original composition of "We the People"  enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIf7uFAKkJc

We will be closing an hour early today, Saturday the 17th , for a family gathering.  We don't do these often enough so when we get together we need a little extra time for family.

September arrived yesterday morning wearing a sweater  when the temperature just before dawn was 43 degrees.  The new plantings of zucchini and summer squash were not happy.  They sulked until the temperature warmed up a little.  Jay says the cucumbers are over for the year.  He plants rows of seeds in hope of a late, late frost but the daylight hours are so different from high summer that even if the frost holds off any late plantings have to struggle to produce anything.  We have beans, lots of beans and not enough time in the day to pick them.  This is perfect weather for growing lettuce and beets.  The lights in the tomato house are on early in the morning and late evening.  As long as we remember to tie up the tomatoes plants with the vine clips, they will grow closer and closer to the lights and keep producing.  They won't produce as much as they did this spring but fall tomatoes are very difficult to find.  The apple supply continues to be an issue.  We get the apples  the Big Apple Farm has to offer but we aren't always able to get the specific apples you want.  We will keep trying.  Macoun apples are a late variety and won't be in stock for a few weeks.  I know fall is here when I pick up bags of winter rye seed for Jay to plant.  The turkeys continue to roam the garden but since the rain this week they are finding it hard to take a dust bath.

We have large and small decorative gourds and we are planning on getting sugar pumpkins and jack-o-lantern pumpkins this week.  We have to bring these in one bin at a time to save stress on the truck.  The greenhouses are almost empty of mums so make your selection early.  We still have Montauk  daisies but we do not have ornamental cabbage or fall asters.

The kitten report.  We have found a home for thirteen kittens this year.  That is a record for us.  That's a lot of kitty litter.  Jay continues to charm the last two that will be with us for one more week then they will be off to their new homes.

That's all for now.  We'll see you soon,

Jay and Phyllis Sprout

 

Sprout Farm Newsletter       sproutfarm.net         open 9-5 daily  August 6, 2022
Hello Everyone,
  Is everyone done on this side and ready to turn over?  You would think this is the hottest and driest summer we've had on the Cape but I know for a fact it isn't.  The summer we took the roof off of our ranch house and added on a second story, there was no rain for eleven weeks.  We were happy about that because we stayed in the house through the renovation.  I think we're through with house renovations for awhile but I'm sure Jay will come up with something for the farm.  He will be replacing the plastic on two of the greenhouses pretty soon.  The plastic has held up pretty well but anything over four years is a gift and I think we are well beyond that.  The plastic just has too many holes, thanks to cats that like to climb the plastic walls.  Last year's project, the high tunnel, has worked out very well.  The doors are large enough that we don't need fans and the plastic seems to give the tomatoes just enough shade so we don't see any sun scald.
         White corn lovers, rejoice.  White corn will be available starting Sunday 8/7.  80¢/ear.  I get to the farm before eight in the morning.  The truck comes rumbling in piled up with bushels of corn.  The smiling young men who have picked the corn are riding along and they back up to my truck, carefully, and swing the bags from their truck to my truck. Scott and I finish the paperwork and most days I'm back on the road in less that five minutes.  I always enjoy my trip to Sauchuk Farm and Plympton is a beautiful town.  I like it best when I am early and don't have to lift the bags of corn.
  We still have no word on peaches from Wrentham.  In a summer like this everything depends on irrigation.  If they have it, we eat.  If they don't, well, we adapt.
  I was pleased to see the seeds from the Eastham turnips we grew two years ago germinated well.  We are planting those fall crops now.  More broccoli, and turnips.  I saved a lot of butternut squash seeds from last fall.  It is too late to plant them and expect a crop but it is always the right time to try and start a few to see if they germinate.
  Sunny has just joined me on the computer desk.  He's been exploring a few tight spaces and it looks like my housekeeping isn't too good judging from the cobwebs and sawdust he is busily cleaning off.  I think he discovered how to get down the basement stairs into the workshop area.
  We are doing our best to harvest everything but this heat is punishing.  The turkeys don't seem to mind it and as long as they stick to eating bugs and weed seeds I will welcome them into the garden.  The hens and toms are very protective of the goblets because my cats love to stalk anything that appears to be slow moving.
  That's all for now so stop by soon for some of the best fresh produce on the Cape.
Jay and Phyllis Sprout