We are enjoying a bit more freedom this week!

Freedom from the routine we have been following since spring of seeding, planting, weeding, harvesting …

Amy completed her final seeding of the season yesterday – after more than 6 months of this weekly task.

I transplanted some lettuce, arugula, kale & mustard into the field this morning – that’s all. Next week I’ll plant those final trays that Amy seeded and then that job is done as well.

Weeding is a task we’ve mostly given up on. Certainly there are still plenty of weeds out there, but unless they are harming the crop, we will leave them be. Who has the energy to weed in October!

Harvesting continues, but with CSA pick-up only once per week there is less of that too. And only 2 more farmers’ markets – this year market ends at Thanksgiving.

So now we have a certain amount of freedom each morning to choose our work for the day.

It feels good!

What’s in the box?

Cabbage, carrots, beets, radishes, sweet peppers, green beans, salad greens, .

• Fall cabbage is here. These cabbages are small & tender, best eaten fresh. We enjoyed a coleslaw at dinner yesterday – our own fresh cabbage, sweet peppers, & carrots. Only the apple wasn’t from our farm. Yumm!!
• We’re coming to the end of our carrots for this season – just some little, round, orange gems remaining. These are described as having a “nuttier flavour with herbal notes.” I’m not sure about that, but they are delicious and the skin is quite tender – no need to peel them.

• We are picking a new patch of beets. It includes purple, orange and the red candy cane striped beets.
• Radishes are a maybe for the box this week. They are a little small to harvest, but could be too big by next week or the worms could discover them, so we’ll see how they are Thursday morning.
• Sweet peppers & green beans are also in the box this week.
• And salad greens – lately that has meant spinach which grows great in this cooler weather. While we do have head lettuce too, it is being enjoyed by little worms around the bottom. So we have been skipping it, or cutting it higher and using it as salad mix instead of heads. We’ll see how it is this week. Seems like worms are thriving now. We’re finding them not only in the lettuce but kohlrabi, turnips, and other salad greens too. Be aware – an extra wash or rinse may be needed!

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Around the farm this week …

The fall cover crop is coming up and should provide a nice blanket over this field for the winter. This is where we will grow vegetables next year.

We are harvesting pawpaws – a heavy crop this year!

The coyotes had a good time playing on the row covers the other night!