Monday, September 24, 2012

Autumn and Reflections

Autumn is here, and two days later we've had our first frost. We still have some sweet potatoes in the ground, so the next couple days we'll be digging them like crazy to get them all out and in crates to start the curing process in the hoop house. Leaves on trees around the farm are beginning to turn, and each morning we can see our breath on the air as the cold nips our noses. It is a beautiful season we are heading into, full of reflection on the busy summer months as we bring many things to a close on the farm. However, there are always new beginnings as we plant in the hoop houses for the winter—kale, chard, spinach, brassica salad mix, radishes, turnips, and lettuce. The fields are getting cleaned out, and following that we slowly move the chickens in their portable coop and fencing through the fields to clean up and add some natural fertilizer. Later this fall they'll start laying. The turn of seasons is what keeps us farmers sane, gives us a sense of rhythm in our lives, and brings us closer to the land which sustains us.

-Shannon

Digging sweet potatoes
Nikola Tesla (left) aka Tesla and Eleanor Roosevelt aka Rosie, our new farm cats and dutiful mousers.
Last succession of corn being harvested.
Pavilion for distribution and market going up near the front of the farm.