Now we're starting to see why we call this the winter CSA. We definitely experience the four seasons here in the midwest, but for us it sometimes feels like we only have two because spring and fall tend to get squeezed pretty short by summer and winter. That's why we call our 6 month main season the "summer CSA" and the 6 month off season the "winter CSA". What we grow, how we grow, are pretty different between the two seasons and we are really transitioning right now.
We are grateful for the abundance of rain we have received this week. Very little ran off. Most soaked in to replenish the soil moisture that was extremely depleted deep down. Our spring fed irrigation pond had long since dried up because of the drought conditions, so this replenishment of groundwater was a welcome blessing.
The wet weather has made it hard to prepare for the impending cold snap (A cold snap we could see coming almost a week in advance thanks to fairly reliable long-range weather forecasts). We've been out in the wet and cold getting final harvests of green beans and peppers for this week's CSA boxes and prepping to cover the frost hardy crops in the fields to help them survive for a few more weeks. We've been continuing to plant in the high tunnels replacing the warm season crops little by little so that we will have something to eat in the dead of winter when even the covered frost hardy outdoor crops inevitably succumb to sub zero temperatures.
The outlook for the winter season is good as we make the radical transition toward winter preparedness.
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