Farm Notes is online! This edition is in praise of our favorite things. Enjoy!
We have reached the time of year when all the students leave to go back to school. The end of August is one long farewell—the last potluck, the last flower picking, the last tomatoes, the last beans. For those who are leaving, it is a bittersweet time. For those who are left behind to continue wrangling vegetables, it is a source of some worry as well as sadness. How will we get all the work done without them? Will we have to work until dark?
But, for those of us who have been through these fall transitions many times, we know that we will adjust and learn to work with a smaller crew. The weather will get cooler and everything will seem so much easier. We have about three more months to go, months of constant change. We know the folks at school will miss their dirty fingernails and their tomato-stained hands for a little while but then they will be immersed in their classes and friends.
We have started to weed again in earnest. The carrots are looking really good. The beets in Loudoun are growing well while the beets in Vienna have decided not to germinate. In a month, we will have a lot of kale again. And by this time next month, we will be digging sweet potatoes. Nothing stays the same for long around here.
Goodbye to all the college students and the youngsters who help us at the stand, goodbye to August-flavored tomatoes, goodbye to most things in the cucurbit family (squash, melons, cucumbers), goodbye to impossibly hot days. Hello September!
