Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has salad mix, braising mix, stuffing tomatoes, peppers, carrots, beets, winter squash, salad turnips, onions, garlic, and herbs       Field Notes.  The “Big Dig” as I call it is well upon us.  Spring and fall are the busiest times for a farm.  In spring it is planting and in fall it is harvest.  This year we have some help.  Last Tuesday it was beets, carrots, …

Continue reading

Root Cellar Progress

Last week we had harvested the bulk of the carrots.  This week we harvested the rest of the carrots, beets, and celery root.  Today I got the celery root in sand in the tubs in the root cellar and the rest of the carrots sorted and in tubs over the barrel of carrots we harvested previously. Tomorrow I will get the beets in the next barrel.  Then we will bring in the kohlrabi, rutabagas, and …

Continue reading

Extending the Season – Hoopettes

Each fall there is a period of frost, but days with enough heat  so plants can survive and remain alive.  Ken erects what he calls hoopettes over crops that will take some cold weather.  The season can continue for quite some time.  It all depends on the weather!     If the snow falls and covers the soil like a blanket, and the frost does not creep in and freeze the soil in the hoopettes, …

Continue reading

Bringing in More Crops for Winter

This fall has been warm.  The root cellar is now cool and the crops need to come out of the fields and into the yard.  We cover them with tarps as I fill the root cellar for winter. Here is this year’s winter kohlrabi, rutabagas, and cabbage.  Thank you, Suzanne for all your help.

Continue reading

Onions and Squash Still Outside.

The onions and squash are still outside curing.  Ken has created an insulated space for the onions using hay bales and the ground heat.  We then covered the onions with plywood and tarp.        The squash is in the racks with a tarp to keep it out of the wind and a light to provide heat to maintain temperature above freezing.         Once it gets really cold and the house …

Continue reading

Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This week’s CSA box has tomatoes, lettuce, braising greens, salad turnips, bok choy, onions or leeks, garlic, squash, carrots, and herbs Field Notes.  The forecast looks like fall is finally here.  The wide temperature variations have presented challenges for all farmers.  Temperatures in the 80’s and rain make it tough  to bring the onions and squash into the 75 degree house!  Now we will harvest the end of the more tender …

Continue reading

Fall and the Woods Open

Each year as people bemoan the falling leaves and frost, Ken and I are happy to see how much the falling leaves mean our woods open up to us       Oscar loves running through fallen leaves almost as much as going out snowshoeing or cross country skiing with one of us

Continue reading

Getting in the Squash

Each year near the first frost I get the onions that have been curing on the racks off the racks in time to put the winter squash on the racks to cure.  Ken picked all the squash up, stacked in piles and got into tubs.  He hauled the tubs by the racks for me.  He looked tired!     Then I teased him for a photo and he perked up!           …

Continue reading

Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This CSA box has lettuce, mixed mustard, salad turnips, carrots, winter squash, onions or leeks, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs       Field Notes.  The big dig has begun!  Each year we await a light frost and then Ken gets digging and harvesting.  Carrots and winter squash taste sweeter if they have been in the field for colder weather. While Ken is harvesting from the garden, I am cutting tops …

Continue reading

Root Cellaring

Yes, we can eat local produce year around!  Our grandparents had root cellars.  They stored fruits and roots and jars of preserved food so they could eat what they grew throughout the year in a cold climate.  We have a root cellar.  In addition to things like jars of tomato sauce, applesauce, and pressure canned soup stock, we store vegetables in a barrel in sand.    We have found the vegetables keep better in sand.  …

Continue reading