Lousy weather means late start to summer produce in N.J.
It appears as if the weather has finally stopped being a jackass. Have you taken a peek at the extended forecast for next week? Warm. Sunny. Practically summerlike.
It’s about time. I don’t know about you, but these last few months have been downright brutal. If it wasn’t raining, it was snowing. If it wasn’t unseasonably cool, it was freezing. Just one lousy day after another.
And while the above paragraph certainly “seems” true, there’s a surefire way to find out if it is indeed true, a single question that will answer, for sure, whether the weather has been as lousy as we think.
And that question is … “Where the strawberries at?”
“We are definitely off the regular schedule,” said Judee DeFiccio, the owner of Pineland Farms, which sits dead center of the Trenton Farmers Market. “At least ten days, probably closer to two weeks, and with some stuff, longer. We’re definitely going to be late as far as apples, peaches and strawberries go because its been so cold with so little sun. The soil is far from warm, and so these items won’t produce and ripen as early.”
DeFiccio — whose farm is in Hammonton — said in most years, the first strawberries would be arriving in the first week of May. But this year?
“We’ll be lucky to have them by May 15,” she said. “Probably closer to May 20.”
And these are strawberries being helped along by cotton fiber “blankets” of a sort that sit on top of the crop to keep it warm. For farmers not using the blankets? “Probably late June,” DeFiccio said.
So yeah. Just when you thought this lousy weather was in the past, it’s rearing it’s jerky head and keeping me out of strawberries.
“Same thing with apples and peaches, delayed bloom because of the weather,” DeFiccio said. “They’re going to be late. Sometimes we’ll get stretches of warm weather and kind of catch up but I don’t think it’s possible this late in the game.”
So peaches, which normally come in late June, probably won’t be ready until around July 10. Apples can catch up quicker, DeFiccio said, but also noted those tarty treats will be tardy as well.
But at least we’ll have that delicious sweet corn for our July 4th barbecues, right?
“That’s going to be a stretch,” DeFiccio said. “In most years, yes, the corn would be in by then, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
All this cruddy weather does more than just keep fresh fruit from my gullet; it also hurts the wallets of New Jersey farmers.
“It backs things up,” DeFiccio said. “Anyone who put seeds in the ground too early this year definitely lost that first crop, and that’s money lost. It’s a big hit. And you have to remember, being a farmer means there’s a lot of expenses you need to pay first before you actually start taking money in. So if you’re counting on May crops but now you’re looking at the middle of June, and you have bills coming in, next thing you know you’re at the bank looking for a loan.”
She said as a result of the continued wacky weather of New Jersey, more and more farmers are building greenhouses in an attempt to keep Mother Nature at bay. But it’s an expensive process, and not something many farmers can swing.
So … I’ve given you all this bad news on the farm front. There has to be some good news, right?
Well, some crops are coming in. DeFiccio said a few greens are coming out, fresh parsley, oregano, mint. Also, asparagus should start showing up later this week.
And then there’s the tomatoes. The Jersey tomatoes. Is there hope?
“There’s hope,” DeFiccio said. “It remains to be seen on the tomatoes. No one attempts to plant tomatoes until right about now, so provided it doesn’t rain a lot, and provided the temperatures are normal … they might be right on time in the middle on July.”
OK. Phew. Breathe. We’re getting through this. Light, meet end of the tunnel.