September Already

And just like that, it's fall. Or not quite, but with the return of cooler season greens, the start of pumpkins and winter squash, the continuation of potatoes, and leeks just about ready, it sure feels like summer may be waning. But hang on, sweet peppers are going bonkers, tomatoes appear to be stable, cantaloupe cranks, and basil continues to bang. So, it's quite a nice mix, a good time of year to eat fresh and local.

It's also a good time of year to farm. Shorter days, longer nights, less humidity, cooler temperatures, smaller footprint to manage. Every 2-3 weeks another acre or two is put to sleep for the winter by establishing an oat and buckwheat cover crop after spreading compost. Since June, ample rainfall (too much in July) has been falling, alleviating our need to irrigate outdoor crops (huge time save). Almost all fields have now been planted with crops. We're down to the final parcel, perhaps a 1/2-acre piece of the pie. Half of this will be devoted to the 2024 garlic crop in early November while the other half will accept the final few rounds of outdoor crops, including arugula, bok choy, radishes, turnips, mustard greens, and lettuce. In about three weeks time we'll pivot to planting our tunnels for a November harvest.

Speaking of November harvests, we're taking a break this year from our long running Late Fall CSA, mostly because of the way our kids' school schedule falls and our need to take a break from the farm in mid-December. Also adding two weeks to Main Season will help us (hopefully) deplete most crops from fields, tunnels, and storage. We may host the occasional Flash Sale like we've done in the past in December, January, and February.