November usually feels like a good time to stop picking and packing vegetables, and with the change of weather this week, it does feel like a logical end point. We have just about put the farms to bed, with just a few fields still in production.
The Winter CSA starts up on both farms on the weekend of November19/20. We will have weekly pickups until the weekend before Christmas, then we take a six week break until the end of January and then we have biweekly pickups. If you have never been part of the Winter CSA before and you want to keep eating from our farms all the way into April, you can write to Hana or Becky for details.
Looking back on this growing season of 2022, I would say it was a success, with some disappointments. The spring was bountiful. Tomatoes were later than usual and they ended early. Potatoes were the best we have ever grown. Garlic and onions were okay but not amazing (tasted good, just not enough of them). Beans were basically a disaster, with all the bean beetles hard at work. Summer squash was not very prolific, but the winter squash was incredible. No two years are the same. Last year we were buried in sweet potatoes, this year we grew just the right amount. I would say that across the board, the flavors were excellent. The soil did its job. We got enough rain.
After we finish the last CSA day, we will celebrate with a big farm dinner. And then we will take off the week before Thanksgiving, visiting with friends and family. We are grateful to all of the hard-working people who grow this food, we are thankful for the CSA customers who keep on cooking and eating week after week, and we feel truly lucky to be farmers in this region, with so many who appreciate the fruits of our labor.
Have a healthy winter and we hope that you will decide to join the CSA again! Registration for 2023 opens on February 1.
