Fall News

LAST CHANCE FOR WINTER CSA 2024/2025 sign ups....
http://www.thefoothillfarmalliance.com

The first real frost of fall came last week.  It's been coming late for several years now. So regular in its lateness that it feels unsurprising and expected.  It was fun to walk into the garden early the next morning after the frost, hearing the frozen long green blades of grass crunch softly beneath my feet. I looked at the remains of the flowers, eggplants, and tall kale plants all wearing beautiful transparent sheets of sparkling ice.  The fall greens next to the tunnel looked frozen stiff, bent over heavy with the extra weight.   I briefly second guessed my decision to leave the unharvested Chinese cabbage uncovered overnight, but decided it was a for fun experimental planting anyway. In contrast to outside, a quick peak inside the greenhouse revealed happy perky rows of greens and the interior thermometer read a balmy 42 degrees.  The dogs ran back and forth wild in the chilly air as I walked the field, sniffing the tracks of all the creatures that visited the farm in the night.   I took in what has now come to be a sign of mid-fall, the frozen gardens making me feel strangely peaceful. As I was snapping photos of frosty plants, I got several texts from other farmer friends sending pictures of their fields. It seems for all of us farmers it felt good to see the frost, a signal to the end of a long season, an end to certain bugs and weeds, and a sure sign that we are winding down into winter. The early frosts we haven't had in several years now used to send us into a panic of mad dashing to cover tender plants with plastic and any other long sheets of fabric we had available, hoping to eke out a few more weeks of harvest profitability.  The first year we did our cooperative winter squash planting we had to harvest all of it in Mid-September ahead of a predicted 30-degree night that would have damaged the fruits.  We got what we could out of the field in one day and left the rest stacked in boxes in the field protected by tarps to keep the frost out until we could come back the next day.  Now the delay in frost has us all relaxed in our harvesting and planting late rounds of greens, and peppers and tomatoes into late October.  
The Chinese cabbage and other greens easily recovered once the sun warmed their leaves. I harvested some last week, and now with a week of warmer temperatures again, it has more of them heading up nicely.  The greens and carrots in the greenhouse are still sitting without their row covers, although we did set up the hoops as a mild attempt to be prepared for the eventual colder temperatures.  Our storage areas are full to the brim for winter, the walk-in cooler, potato room, and odd places around our house.  It's fun in a way to see all the boxes of winter squash living in our mudroom but I look forward to them slowly disappearing over the next few months so we can get to our shoes and coats again with ease.  

We will be attending the Bridgton Winter Farmers Market at the Masonic Lodge, until we run out of food, every Saturday starting November 9th.  

Our Cooperative Winter CSA the Foothill Farm Alliance starts November 9th and pickups are every other week for 7 weeks through the winter.  There are four pickup locations to choose from.  Go to the website to sign up.  www.thefoothillfarmalliance.com