Nearing 100 hours of operating the BCS walking tractor, Noah's starting to look like a pro. Here he is using the rotary plow to throw soil from pathways up over mowed crop residue on our permanent beds, to help the soil biology break it down for spring plantings.
It must be fall cleanup time if I'm sitting at the desk to dash off an email in full raingear--from the blue polka-dotted kid-size Bogs boots, Dutch Harbor rubber overalls, to sweet hooded hand-me-down rain jacket (thanks Russ and Maureen!). We've been deep into late-season cleanups here, trying to get some of the bed-prep and soil work done now that can help set us up for a smoother spring next year, even if we end up cold and wet like this year.
But we wanted to send you out a few updates and bits of news, too.
First: there's good stuff in the farmstore again! We were often short on greens this past week as we made huge cleanup pushes, getting garlic in the ground and field gear and old crops out, plus an annual farmer meeting on Saturday. BUT we took some time Sunday and Monday to cut and wash in the milder weather (when the spinner is thawed, and the hoses are flowing, we make the most of it!). The fridges are currently loaded with spinach, asian mix, kale bunches, and arugula, as well as some cabbage, lots of carrots, potatoes, and beets. Garlic, winter squash, pie pumpkins, farm-roasted coffee, and a ludicrous number of mini-pumpkins and decorative gourds are piled on the farmstore tables.
Even though we are no longer hosting on Tuesday afternoons, since our membership season wrapped up last week, it will be a good day to come out to the farmstore and load up. And 2019 members, please remember you can take you member discount of 10% off all produce, whenever you shop at the farmstore, through the rest of the year. We had sweet visits with many of you last week, but we hope it wasn't the last time we see you till next spring! We can never say "thank you" enough to farm members, and our dependable regular customers, so here's one more...thank you for being a part of our farm, helping us grow, and for your role in our productive season!
Some of the final farm-member visits last week were the sweetest. Almost the entire Watters clan climbed the stepladder to visit the chicks at bedtime in their new barn, settling in all cozy under the heat lamps. I snuck a photo through on of the windows, of everyone entranced by the sleepy layer of chicks.
In other farm news, we've been doing a lot of work shaping beds for next year, and are starting to strategize already, based on the condition of blocks in the field, where different crops will go, what treatments they might need. We'll start pulling some of our big silage tarps on, to encourage over-winter worm activity, early soil warming in the spring, and early spring weed suppression. As Noah pointed out this morning over coffee, "we've already started spending money on next year, but that's a good thing." A few truckloads of fall-spread compost, some additional tarps to order, soil tests to send out....it's still a busy time, but so much of what we do right now feels like good steps towards setting up for success next year.
And finally, the chicks, what we like to call the class of 2020 laying hens, are settled in and loving their new barn. When people ask me "when will there be more eggs?" at the farmstore, I am often tempted to just say "February!" as we expect these girls to start their laying in the end of winter/ start of spring. Please have patience. We have finally had the drop in production from the oldest of our two currently laying flocks, so we are down to 6-8 dozen eggs a day. I estimate that we have 10-15 people still hoping to find eggs daily, so we're sorry if you find the shelves bare, but you are not alone.
If you stop by the farm today you'll probably see us wet but working hard...likely to wave a muddy hand to you in thanks. We'll be cutting and bringing in greens as often as we can over the coming weeks, so stay tuned to emails and facebook posts to know when pulses hit the farmstore. Unfortunately, our lettuce beds in the caterpillar tunnel succumbed to a leaf mildew before reaching a harvestable size, so there will be no more salad mix for a while. But, the baby spinach is prime, the tatsoi is sweet, and there are carrots of all colors, so salad season isn't over yet!
with rainy farm love,
Mary and Noah, SweetRoot
Almost 6 weeks old, still a long ways from laying eggs, but learning to roost up like big girls.
The winter greens tunnel, two views: this is where the boc choi, tatsoi, and soon next week's spinach come from. It's one of my favorite places on the farm these days.