Author: Rachel Olsen

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Slowing Down and Feeling Grateful

Autumn has fully arrived: the cool temperatures, colorful leaves, and even the first frost. The plants are slowing in their production of food and I feel myself slowing as well. At the farm, the first frost means a forced final harvest for many of the “summer” crops: squash, beans, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, tomatillos, and husk cherries. All of these fruiting plants die when their leaves first freeze, so their fruits must all be harvested one final time. 

Then, the work shifts to the tubers. The potato and sweet potato foliage is also frost-tender, so our next task is pulling these sweet gems from the earth and letting them dry and cure in the sun for a while so that they can be stored for winter enjoyment. This year we had the gift of help from the hardworking students at Sweetland School, who arrived for their weekly hour and a half of farm education the day after the first frost. In that short amount of time, the cheerful group took care of all of the above harvesting including this week’s portion of the potatoes!

Once this scramble has passed, the number of remaining crops left to care for has decreased by about half. I’m grateful for the feeling of abundance that having crates full of vegetables on the stand brings. There is still plenty of work to be done, from continuing harvests to cleanup tasks, but the sense of urgency and the pace of it all has notably slowed. I find myself taking more time to reflect back over the season and all its ups and downs. A cup of hot tea made from our own milky oat tops and other herbs from my garden give a sense of the fullness that comes from a season of hard work and good food. I hope that you, too, can welcome the slowing of autumn after a full and beautiful summer. We are grateful for each of you and your presence in our community this season!

~Rachel

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Full Circle (and Welcome Back Tom!)

Tom’s welcome party cheers him up Morse Road as he arrives home at last!

September 15, 2022

Here we are on the cusp of another seasonal shift. The endless heat wave has at last cooled to breezy fall-ish days and cool nights. We are once again watching night time lows and closing up the greenhouses for cooler nights. Small seedlings are attentively watched and cared for and certain crops are kept covered to protect them from hungry deer and small animals. 

Perhaps the biggest shift this past week has been Tom’s celebrated return! A small crowd gathered on Morse Road last Wednesday evening and cheered as Tom rode up the drive on his bicycle. It was a happy homecoming and we all stood chatting until the sun had fully set. An exhausted Tom probably had the best night’s sleep he’d had in months that night.

A few days later, many of the sheep and lambs returned to the farm. On their first night home, they managed to find their way out of the barn and into the lush fields where they happily gobbled up the chard we had recently nursed back to health. Every. Single. Plant. Alas, the CSA will not see a return of chard to the shares this season.

Sadly, the much beloved Rutabaga, one of the oldest of the ewes, passed away just a day later after an illness. My daughter, who had befriended this sheep early on in our farm days, has been mourning the loss alongside Tom. As Tom has often said, farming teaches you about death, as it is an inevitable part of life, which cycles through the farm constantly. Full circle.

On the joyful turn of the circle, we’re excited to share the bounty of autumn with our farm community. We’ve got carrots in the ground that will soon reach their full sweetness as the nighttime temperatures cool, our fall kale is lush and delicious, and the scallions that had yellowed and wilted in the heat have perked up and grown beautifully after Jason’s application of comfrey tea. We’re harvesting storage onions, winter squash, and soon potatoes and are looking forward to plentiful shares over the final 6 weeks. I’m savoring the cool breezy workdays and looking forward to enjoying pumpkin pie and hot soup as the weather continues to cool and the leaves begin to change. Are you ready for autumn? What seasonal shifts are you feeling this week?

Friends are reacquainted as we await Tom’s arrival at the farm
The bicycle gets a rest at last as Tom greets family and friends of all ages