Well, another busy week accomplished around the farm! While we're still spending the bulk of our time harvesting the usual weekly list, we managed to harvest all of the winter squash and get it out of the fields before the rain over the weekend. We also have managed to keep on a decent schedule for clearing out hoophouses and getting them replanted for the late fall season.
The cooler than usual weather is throwing our harvest schedule off a bit (we're pretty used to warm September weather - our average high in September is 70 degrees). Luckily, it's still pretty early and it just means some crops are going to take a little longer than they typically do.
We're working our way through projects around here. The chicken coop has made it's first move from where we built it - it'll be moving every two days from now until it gets too cold, at which point it'll be moved into a hoophouse for the winter. We also finished up another little side project on Friday - a hydroponic lettuce system we plan to use for winter sales. Between all of the plumbing and wiring, it tied up a lot of our usual down time for the past couple weeks, but it's up and running with it's first test batch of lettuce. One of the biggest complaints we hear every year is when we're out of lettuce for the season and the grocery store is the only option - we're hoping to solve that! Hydroponic systems have a lot of merits to them like consistent, year-round production, 90% less water use, high fertilizer efficiency, no pests, etc. and are something we've contemplated for a while and finally decided to give a try. We're pretty excited at the prospect of harvesting some lettuce in January and February!
With those projects down, we're onto some bigger building projects. The new 34x72 hoophouse arrived on Friday morning (major props to the driver that managed to get a full-sized semi truck backed through the gate and down the driveway in fog so thick we couldn't see the truck on the road from the barn). Over the next few weeks, we'll be assembling as much as we can of the frame to start building as soon as the crops that are growing where the hoophouse is going are harvested. We'll also be clearing out two of the four cherry tomato hoophouses this upcoming week so we can relocate them from the old location and get them rebuilt before snow arrives.
Next week will also begin our field cleanup for the season, so we can get some cover crops growing on areas that we won't be planting again for the year before fall really sets in.
So, now that I'm exhausted thinking about that to-do list, it's time to tackle some smaller projects before we kick off another week!
Have a good week!
-Brendan & Greta
PS - You'll likely notice that we are offering apples that can be purchased as extras to be added to your box. They're grown right here in Cheboygan by Golden River Orchards. Varieties will change as the season progresses.
