Hello Friends!
As the light turns to dark on this equinox, the farm is also in full transition to a quieter time. Plenty more work awaits us in the fields and the barn, but the rush of endless fruits and the race against the sun has transformed into a patient labor of filling the larder and preparing for cooler and shorter days to come. This includes turning under spent crops to plant cover crops - a mainstay of our soil health and fertility strategy. We are also busy pulling the last of the onions (despite the rain), digging potatoes (before the gophers), and seeding a handful of beautifully composted, fertilized, and raked greenhouse beds for fall/winter greens. We are still busy tending tomatoes, trellising cucumbers and roasting peppers, but the summer crops are waning and we are once again thinking about how to maintain a supply of fresh vegetables during the February/March "hunger gap." This requires seeding and transplanting into covered beds from now through October. Though the CSA ends the week of Thanksgiving we will continue this grand experiment at the winter market, hopefully with cabbage, kohlrabi, boc choi, lettuce, spinach, turnips, parsnips, chicories, kale, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, dry beans, winter squash, onions, garlic, and a few more...
Hopefully making a strong appearance in the CSA shares this fall will be: lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, celeriac, cauliflower, kale, turnips, spinach, carrots, beets, potatoes and a few mustard greens here and there. We'll continue to offer all of the fruits of summer (tomatoes, peppers, green beans, cucumbers), as long as they hang-on amidst the onslaught of moisture and mildew.
The transition seasons, with their shifts and movement and transformations, always bring a welcome change of pace to the farm and to the minds of your farmers. We once again start to feel space for projects and planning, as this is the time we start to formulate our vision for next season. The garlic is planted in early October, much as a commitment to another full rotation around the sun in this place, doing this work that we love. But before we lose ourselves to warm fires and endless cups of coffee, and even more endless machinations on the planet and our purpose here, we are excited to relish in the gifts of a bountiful fall. Happy equinox to you and yours. May we all find some peace and gentleness in this slow turn away from the sun.
Your Farmers,
Conner and Sarah
