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 …
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 …
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
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! …
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 …
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. …
Each year as Ken harvests onions, we place them on racks to cure. Here is the rack of curing onions. Once we need the space for winter squash, I pull dried tops and rob off dirt, and sort onions by size. The dried tops go to compost or chicken bedding Empty racks ready for squash …
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, garlic, potatoes, peppers, radicchio, a mustard green mix, kale or chard, parsley, and grapes Field Notes. As I draft this Monday morning frost is forecast. Frost signals the end of a few crops – basil for example. This afternoon I will close up the greenhouses and it will be a question of how cold for how long. Frost also signals …
Ken keeps bees. Yesterday he suited up and was working with bees. At one point he walked near me, and I heard the sound of an unhappy guard bee. Bees usually have a sweet humming noise, but guard bees under stress sound insistent and rather like a dentist drill. The bee stung me just under the eyebrow. I yelled, and Ken came over and found it and pulled it off my hat and suggested I …
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, potatoes, salad turnips, red radishes, beet thins, carrots, cucumbers and/or zucchini and herbs Field Notes. No frost yet! Usually by this time we have had at least a nip of frost. Soon we will start the “big dig” and getting roots in the root cellar for the winter. Ken is still picking all those summer crops and clearing space. Once we have …
