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IL specialty grower happy with season so far

An eastern Illinois specialty grower says it’s been a productive summer.

John Williams, manager of Sola Gratia Farm in Urbana, says the rainy July has been a mixed bag.

“Definitely put us a little behind in terms of weeding and we’ve had some issues disease wise and that’s, you know, another reason why we do multiple plantings.”  He says, “But we fortunately haven’t been also near drought conditions. So, I’ve been pretty happy weather wise.”

He tells Brownfield they’ll continue harvesting, as well as planting vegetable crops well into fall.

“We grow about 50 different crops trying to go to market as much as 12 months of the year that we can, so we’ll do multiple rounds of spring and fall planting,” he says.

In fact, Williams says some of the best tasting produce is fall-planted.

“It’s easier to grow them going into the fall, actually, because we’re able to control the moisture and then better control the weeds.”  He says, “And then the fall plantings after the first frost, many of those crops will sweeten up.”

He says the past two years they’ve been able to harvest field produce into December.   

Sola Gratia Farm currently markets its produce through several farmer’s markets; a CSA program; and donates crop to various food banks and missions.

AUDIO: John Williams – farm manager at Sola Gratia Farms