My kids have been glumly reminding me that this is their last week of summer. They have been working the farm in the mornings this season since school ended in June with breaks for hiking trips and preseason sports. As most of you transition out of summer mode we are also transitioning into fall which means big harvests. We have most out our onions in (about 8000lbs.) and this next week we start on winter squash. Both of these crops go into our greenhouse to cure where they sweeten up and dry down so that they will keep for the fall and early winter. Look for a few new onion options in this weeks offerings.
Competition
We have been struggling with pests a bit this year. Each season we have to manage insects that enjoy our crops but this year we have also been grappling with larger pests, mostly deer. For 15 years we have had very little damage from deer but this year they seem to have developed a real passion for our produce. Over the last few weeks we have lost about 800 heads of lettuce and they also like carrot tops, chard and radicchio. We added a few thousand feet of portable electric fencing to the fields this week and the last few nights have seen no damage. From experience we know there is no checkmate move here but hopefully we can protect the next round of lettuce long enough to get some into your boxes.
Labor on Labor Day
We invite all of you up to the farm to help us harvest the potato crop on Labor Day starting at 9am. This is a longstanding farm tradition and a great way for us to meet all of you while we pickup a few tons of potatoes. We have a vintage potatoes digger that will lift the roots and drop them on top of the soil where all of us can come through with buckets and bins to collect. Its a great time and for a few hours you and your family can get your hands dirty shoulder to shoulder with the crew. Here's a link to find the field.
