Greetings from all of your Bayfield Foods veggie farmers! I finally got a pic of most of us together while we were packing veggie boxes this past week, before we all hustled back to our farms to keep plugging away. From left to right, there's Monarda (helping at Yoman Farm), Rob (Twisting Twig), John (Yoman Farm), Fred (Happy Hollow Creamery), Brian (Northcroft Farm), and Eric and Ryan (Great Oak Farm). Fall is the tired time of year for us veggie growers, as we're all worn down a bit from the sprint of summer, but it's always smiles all around (behind the masks!) when we reconvene each week to pack veggie boxes and catch up with one another at our Bayfield Foods aggregation building. It's nice to get recharged when we come together, because the heavy lift of fall harvest is right around the corner.
We've all been flirting with frost this week, or at least it's been flirting with us. As I write this, both Northcroft and Wild Hollow farms have reported some frost this week, and have been taking precautions to keep crops covered and protected. Above you can see a field at Northcroft Farm all tucked in with whatever tarps Brian could find, a patchwork quilt to keep tender heat loving crops - zukes, cukes, summer squash, herbs, peppers, tomatoes - from cold damage and hopefully eke out a few more weeks of harvest. Here at Great Oak Farm, our heat lovers are all growing inside of our hoophouses, so that gives them enough extra protection to keep them frost free.... for now. Last week was our final picking of green beans for the season, and we've since plowed those plants under. They are a frost sensitive crop that we grow outdoors, but we try to plan our plantings so that we're finished picking them before the first frost kills the plants. Still, the shorter day length and cooler, cloudy fall weather has slowed hoophouse production noticeably. In fact, we've even started removing some of our pepper plantings and planting more winter spinach.
The process of turning over hoophouse beds from one crop to another is pretty satisfying. In just over an hour, farmers Ryan, Eric, and I can turn a 100' bed of peppers to a freshly seeded bed of spinach, all by hand. After pulling out the plants and spreading soil amendments, we broadfork the soil with the big blue diggers you see above to loosen it, hoe out the weeds, rake it smooth, and finally Eric pushes the seeder down the bed. Just look at that gorgeous black soil! We picked all the green peppers on those plants before we pulled out the plants, and since they are a variety of shapes and sizes they'll be available this week in your veggie boxes as 1# bags of green peppers. John at Yoman Farm will still have the single green and colored peppers as well, but pepper season might be winding down soon, so enjoy them while you can!
In the outside fields, we've been busy digging down old plantings and seeding the last round of rye and vetch (nearly 2000# of seed this fall!) to keep the soil happy and alive through with winter and into spring. You can see the light colored rye, the dark round vetch, and the dusty black bacterial innoculant in the seeder before planting. The bacteria are added to help colonize the vetch (a legume) roots to fix nitrogen into the soil. As organic farmers, we use all the biological tools in our toolbox whenever we can to build better soil and maintain good soil health.
Still growing in the Great Oak fields, we have the final round of sweet corn headed for your boxes this coming week, as well as onions, carrots, winter squash, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and more broccoli to harvest before winter. There's still plenty of veggies to come despite the cooler weather, so get ready for hearty soups and roasted veggies in the weeks to come!
Finally, if you haven't signed up for a winter veggie box, don't delay! As a reminder, summer veggie deliveries will end the last week of October. Winter veggie boxes will begin the first week of November and run through March, with delivery twice a month this year. In addition to the regular variety of veggies, you'll also still be able to choose from a variety of value added products, all handmade and homegrown right here in the Northwoods by your Bayfield Foods farmers and producers.
Stay warm, and be well!
In community -
Farmer Chris
Great Oak Farm
