It's always hard to say goodbye to summer, especially for the younger members of our crew. Back to school means no more days in the field picking beans and removing spent beds of salad mix. No more sweating in the high tunnels harvesting cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. No more washing dirty bins and packing orders. (Hmmm, maybe that won't be so bad for Evan and Henry after all!) But anyway you slice it, back to school means a shift. We are definitely experiencing a shift at the farm, with less daylight hours, less hands on deck, and fall on the horizon. The vegetables and I are going to write a song together called Back to School Blues...
Speaking of feeling blue, it looks like our corn is taking longer than expected to size up. Like a lot of other growers, we are seeing a delay in maturity due to the cold, wet spring, though we did not plant any later than we normally do. Some ears are sizing up, but they are much more staggered than we've seen before, with small, underdeveloped ears showing brown silk, which would typically indicate readiness. Last year at this time we were already harvesting hundreds of ears, but something is slowing their development, so we are a bit perplexed. We are still holding out for the sweet, plump, juicy ears that we all love, but for the moment, we have no choice but to wait and see what they do.
And so it goes. We must appreciate and enjoy what we do have, and try to let go of the disappointment over what we don't. In a way, it's like saying goodbye to summer...it can definitely be bittersweet!
