This week in Farm Notes we are talking about SOUP... And winter CSA!
Even though every week is much like the last one, we are always getting ready for something—a holiday on a Wednesday, a big rain that will stay for the whole weekend, a frosty night. We keep on picking, we keep on washing and packing, and we fit in as much farming as we can around the edges. The CSA marches on, week after week.
We had an extraordinary day today. First of all, the weather was delicious: October perfect. As the sun cleared the trees at 7:30, we got ready to dig the last sweet potatoes of the season. This year we grew a much more reasonable quantity (veteran CSA customers will remember last fall when we instructed everyone that each household would need to consume 40 pounds apiece in order to get through our inventory), and we dug them a few times a week from the middle of September until today. The last beds were astounding in their vigor.
Then we moved on to digging carrots. To my dismay and frustration, I found that the entire northeast end of the patch had been eaten down by groundhogs. Okay, then, we were going to take them all now. Change of plans. All hands to the carrots. Many of the carrots were tiny because the tops had been chewed off, but our motto was "no carrot left behind" and "every carrot matters."
The crew had a staggered lunchtime (not as much fun for everyone, but we had too much to do) and we descended on the sweet potatoes. We gathered up 5000 pounds, and moved on to the next task.
We planted the first garlic in beautiful, fluffy soil. It will take us a few weeks to get all 600 pounds planted, but it is one of the last big jobs of the fall. Then, for good measure, we all planted one bed of onion sets so there would be spring onions in April.
Meanwhile, on the Vienna farm, a tiny crew packed the CSA delivery before noon and set up the market style display. Then they went out to pick lots of greens before the rain, and they cleared space in the coolers for the big loads that were coming in from Loudoun in the late afternoon.
While most of us were picking and planting, Casey was doggedly getting the fields ready so he could plant cover crop. When the rest of us went home, he was just heading out with the no-till seeder to plant before the rain.
It was an October day for the ages.
For more recipe ideas you can find us on Pinterest!
