This time of year, we start to get a lot of questions at market along the lines of “how long are you here?” and “how many more weeks does the membership go?”
It seems important, now, to send out some reminders, even if brief: We are still here (at market), through the very last Saturday in October, and still providing for members in two more weeks of feedbag fill-ups. We have, still, so much food for you. As the cold nights came earlier this week, we pulled in the very final harvests of tomatoes and hot peppers (and holy moly, if capsaicin is a thing that keeps you warm for winter, come by market to load up on hot chilies!), marking the official end of the “hot crops” for the year. It’s always bittersweet, but in this particular fall it also just felt like time; it felt all right to switch, to encourage you to enjoy those last peppers and tomatoes, and to also now dig in and embrace the roots and winter squashes, the frost-sweetened spinach and kale.
We are here, but also we are looking forward to the other seasons. Seasons of snow and wood stoves, of the return of a type of day that includes is this magical time called “evening” that happens when dinner is not the very last act before crashing into bed, and we remember how to do things like read books, or have conversations.
We are looking forward to that, though there are some big projects and things that need taking care of before those “evenings” appear: 5 more carrot beds to dig, some storage cabbage and cauliflower to whisper daily encouragement to, as they need to bulk up a little bit in these last precious days of sunlight. Three caterpillar tunnels to move over plantings of greens intended for your tables on those cold dark evenings of the true winter. As usual, we are not entirely sure how we will make it all happen, and walk the fine exhausted line between detailed plans and leaps of faith.
But the mountains of food we have stored in walk-in coolers, the four tunnels filled with baby winter greens, the other spaces awaiting winter protection to move over them, all make clear that farm-eating season is very much continuing even as the days shorten. We finally sat down yesterday to settle details of our winter membership, and will share the sign-up link with members first, and then everyone, by the end of this coming week.
In the meantime, there is the glorious fall eating to do, and we’ll be bringing the supplies to market for all kinds of comforting, filling meals for you, whatever your days are like in this time of the season. As we wash and pack, we picture you eating savory-sweet baked winter squashes, pureeing the leftovers into soups. Maybe a creamy potato chowder flecked with carrots, sweet onion, broccoli, and some of the last sweet peppers. A slow-cooked chili with tomatoes, hot peppers, garlic and onions from the farm. A roasted root medley. Spinach salad served in the warm bowl of a roasted Delicata squash. Colorful farm fajitas.
Come see us at market today, and through the very last Saturday in October. Or come to the farmstore, which continues right on past, and the whole year round.
-Mary and Noah, SweetRoot Farm.
Red Kuri winter squash are making their market and farmstore debut this week. Bright orange, sweet, and sustaining, they are one of our (many) favorite varieties.