News from the Farm, Monday September 28th

The farm is moving on from last weekend’s four consecutive frosts (Friday-Monday). Between the excessive heat of midsummer and the early coming of frost, it’s been quite the season. “Under the circumstances” Julie says “I’m modestly pleased that we are still in business and we’ll have some interesting stuff” left to enjoy over the rest of the CSA. “It is what it is, and you move on”.

A snapshot of the farm, coming into October: all of the annuals have been weeded and mulched. The old mulch hay, some of it two years old, has all been used up to good effect. The barn is full of this season’s new hay. The last of the potatoes have been harvested – a remarkably small volume of them, in the end, but of nice quality. The hoophouse greens are germinating well, and Julie is proud of  how well the hoophouse act has come together this year. The winter squash, onions and garlic are curing. The turkeys are growing big and beautiful. The fall CSA is sold out once more. We could use some rain.

Food preservation also continued this week – applesauce, peppers, tomatoes, peaches and swiss chard. Jack and Julie purchased a new freezer this week to hold more bounty. The goal of the season is to preserve all of the vegetables, meat and stocks for the entire year – no small feat (or volume of space) when you regularly cook lunch for a crew of twelve!

This week, the crew will continue weeding the strawberries and start to populate two new beds with the young daughter plants, for next year. Mulching the asparagus with wood chips is also on the docket.

In staff news, Eric and Sam’s WWOOFing time has come to an end; Gavin and Davida continue on. Lindsy has moved her residence over to Earthlands, and while she is missed on morning chicken chore it’s wonderful to have her over in the afternoons. Julie was also happy this week to hear from Stetson graduate Mario Mendes. He’s been involved with the farm for four or five years; he got in touch with an interest in working on the farm again. There are some transport logistics to figure out, but hopefully we’ll welcome him back to the crew soon.