Fall Rush

The rains are coming and that means lots of last minute details to attend to. Getting the grenhouses battenend down, stocking firewood and getting in the last of the cover crop and overwintering crops in. This week noted the first frost of the season. Not a killing frost but enough to remind us that winter is definately on the way. I'm actually looking forward to the rain. It's been a long, hot, dry season. Plus I'm just looking for an excuse to sit inside and watch it rain and contemplate the season and begin the planning process for yet another year. I'm still commited as ever to providing fresh and local produce

Our pigs are sizing up and I'm beginning to think it's getting close to slaughter time. We'll give them a little longer and see how they do.

Garlic is in and we are just beginning to take tomato plants out of the hoophouses and replace them with lettuce. Once again, just an amazing tomato year. I'm probably a little late for the lettuce but how can you just rip out a healthy tomato plant you've nurished for damn near a year? I can't, besides, the greenhouse's are great and all for growing winter crops but the reality is they are so small relative to what we actually harvest that it just does'nt make that big of a difference. Our outdoor plantings of winter hardy greens are much more practical and provide us with a much longer/larger harvest.

Although we put in our fall and overwintering crops slightly late this year, they are doing well and looking like they will produce. Broccoli will be on soon followed by cabbage and other misc. brassicas. Hopefully my late sowings of greens and Hakurei turnips will make it. I'm also sowing peas and fava beans for spring harvest. Just as a side note, we have been harvesting some nice sugar snap peas that I sowed on July 1st. Note to self, do that again next year only more.

Time to getty up. Biscuts for breakfast!

Farmer John