This has been an eventful, unpredictable growing season, whose end finds us more grateful than ever for the farm bounty, the friendships, and the sense of shared purpose and community we have cultivated and enjoyed.

Two weeks ago we said goodbye to our trusted, hardworking, positive, kind, and much appreciated fulltime employees, Ryan and Melody. We are very lucky that they're both returning for another year of work and pleasure at Anchor Run. Hopefully we can teach them enough about farming and running a CSA that they'll eventually want to be permanent, forever helpers.

We've completed most major outdoor projects by this time of year, letting most of the fields settle into the winter slumber. Some tasks that remain (besides harvesting for one more week) include finishing a winterized chicken yard, mowing buffers and a few crops, and hopefully finishing an electric tractor project started more than 2 years ago. Our annual survey was just sent out, so pretty soon we'll read through your ideas and reflections and plan for next year. As far as produce goes, there are a few new items we're planning to try next year: husk cherry, a sweet, wild tasting member of the tomato family; radicchio, a bitter and somewhat spicy member of the chicory family; escarole, another green in the chicory family; pea shoots, a nice spring treat; traditional American turnips as well as another variety of the tasty Asian ones; and some new varieties of winter squash, summer squash, radishes, eggplant, bell peppers, beets, cucumbers, among others. Certain crops we want to increase production of include cherry tomatoes, winter squash, summer squash, cucumbers, okra, tomatillos, beets, watermelon, parsley, radishes, turnips, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts. We're also planning to expand the experimental asparagus patch and plant berries.