And the seasons, they go 'round and 'round...

We started digging up our first attempt at sweet potatoes this week. The quantity produced by our small test plot was impressive and we even unearthed some rather large specimens. Unfortunately, we were not the only ones interested in the harvest. Many of the sweet potatoes had mole nibbles so we decided to harvest all of them, insuring that the damage didn't get worse. Luckily, there were enough nice ones that everyone is getting sweet potatoes this week! We have not cured them (let them dry in a well-ventilated area for about a week), so they should just be used in the next few weeks. Since we harvested all the sweet potatoes, many of the leaves are still nice and green. The leaves, sometimes called sweet potato spinach, are edible, and can be eaten fresh or raw like spinach (many of you will find these in your share too). 

The first tastes of our winter squash will also appear in your baskets this week! Although it doesn't feel like it yet, fall is officially here, and we are grateful that the farming season is winding down. Although there is still plenty to do, there isn't the pressure of getting everything planted like there is in the spring and summer, and the respite that accompanies winter is palpably around the corner. For now, we are harvesting, weeding, and starting to prep the beds for the winter. We like to spread manure and a thick layer of mulch on all of our beds, so they too can rest and be ready to go in the springtime. That is no mean feat; it usually takes a couple months to finish all of the beds. Then there is planting garlic, harvesting more winter squash, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, choosing which greens to protect so that they will over-winter, and pulling out the dead plants and trellises from this season. Our markets continue through December, so January is really our only time of rest. After taking that little breather, we are once again able to look forward to February's planting with another year's worth of excitement! Part of what we love about farming is the rhythms. The excitement and planning of the new season in spring; the full-swing, long-day hard work and bounty of summer; and the sigh of relief and thanksgiving as fall rolls around.

Of Mice and Melons

We have been figuring out the challenge of working-in-the-field-with-two-kids, and so far Quin has been pretty good at sleeping for an hour or so at a time, enabling us both to have free hands! He is also sometimes happy hanging out on a blanket with Mira, and sometimes happy in the carrier (though usually only if he's asleep). So far, so good.

We have hopefully outsmarted the mouse, and are finally starting to get a few groundcherries!

We are excited our melons are finally coming on! Of course, you can never grow enough melons,  but everyone will get a taste! We are cutting most of them in half so that everyone will get to try more variety. We have large yellow Lilly melons with orange flesh, and then smaller cantaloupes, as well as a few watermelons.

We also checked on our potatoes, and all the leaves have died back, which means that the potatoes are ready to harvest. We have blue and red fingerlings this year, and everyone will be getting some soon.

Our Dickinson pumpkins are also thriving, and about ready to harvest--we picked one to check, and it weighs 15 lbs! These tasty pumpkins are great for soups, curries, pies, and baking, and if anyone is interested in getting one in your share, let us know!

Late Summer Bounty

Our cucumbers are finally in their full glory! After several successions of our plants getting eaten or dying, we finally planted a late crop, and now they are quite prolific! So, everyone will be getting cucumbers this week, as well as our purple green beans, which are also continuing to flourish. One night we picked 19.5 pounds of beans! We've been putting beans in our pasta, omlettes, and stir fries, but one of our favorite ways to eat them is roasted. To roast them, just trim the ends, toss with olive oil and salt, and put on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Also, if you are at a loss for what to do with basil (our basil is still going strong too, so everyone will be getting some), just hang the whole bunch upside down and let it dry (takes 3-4 weeks depending on humidity), and then crumble into a jar, and voila! you've got your own dried basil!

The cover photo was actually taken by Mira, lately she loves to grab my phone whenever it is unattended, and takes tons of pictures, and sometimes she gets some good ones!

Eclipse

The last few weeks we have been busy planting fall crops--broccoli, kale, cabbage, pak choi, salad mix, radishes, chard, and more! We've been lucky with the cooler weather; many of these plants won't germinate if it is over 85 degrees, but with the mild summer, we have been able to get quite a bit planted.

We enjoyed being the in the path of totality for the solar eclipse! It was quite spectacular, watching the sliver of sun get smaller and smaller as the light got dimmer and dimmer, until it looked like twilight. Mira got into it a little, we tried to explain it to her, and she wasn't quite as awe-struck as we were, but she did think the darkness was pretty wild (like most things, Quin slept through it). On our way back inside after watching the eclipse, we noticed that the leaves acted like a pinhole box, showing the eclipsed sun in the shadow (see cover photo).