CSA Newsletter #20

Well, that seemed to end abruptly. After getting my wish of some unseasonably warm and dry weather, things came crashing back to the fall that we know and love.

I was able to work ground where we plan on planting next year's garlic once again. We try and do something called "stale seed bedding" before we plant. That means that we work the ground for a few weeks prior to planting and try to knock back as many surface weeds as possible. Weed seeds are always getting ready to germinate and this technique allows for germination and then we kill them by working the soil at a shallow level. If we're lucky we'll get to do that one last time before planting.

We also concentrated our work once again around the greenhouse and hoophouses by continuing to pull plants that don't have any fruit left or are severely diseased. Additionally in the greenhouse, the paste and beefsteak tomatoes began getting topped to speed up the ripening process of the remaining fruit. Even though I won't let it freeze in their, I still want to be conscious of how much we heat we use relative to the production we are getting. We also want to be able to start planting in the beds before 2021 is over and the cleanup and bed preparation takes some time.

The small group of interns have been absolute troopers this fall working hard and really well together but they got their first dose of the "other side" of farming during Monday's harvest. The "other side" of farming is the side none of your friends or family talk about being jealous of. I've had so many folks throughout the years mention to me how awesome it must be to work outside when the weather is beautiful. No one ever talks about how awesome it is when you're out there in the cold, windy wet weather. We were all bundled pretty good while the wind was whipping the cold air around us. I even heard the first talk of long johns, which I refuse to acknowledge until we have consecutive days in the 30s. There were a couple of nights in the upper 30s but not days yet, so the long johns will remain buried in my dresser until then.

I was hoping that there were going to be a couple of new crops ready this week but it looks like it will be at least one more week for them, so the CSA share is going to look similar to last week. The summer crops are seriously slowing down but still producing. There are still beefsteak and heirloom tomatoes this week. The cherry tomatoes had a great week of ripening. Since most of the fruit is near the greenhouse roof, they really enjoyed last week's weather. They are almost a strictly ladder harvest crop now. There will still be hot peppers and sweet bell and fryers to choose from. There are a bunch of "sun tan" peppers among them. That means that they are in between green and the color that they end up being. There will be more rutabaga, big kohlrabi (with their greens still) and the mini cabbages. I'm hoping that their big siblings will start being ready next week. Lastly, kale and garlic will be a part of the choice.

Have a great week, 

Farmer Todd