Here comes the sun --- Thank goodness!!! We are more than thrilled to finally see the sunshine again. The farm is drying out and we can successfully drive the tractor in the fields again. We're slightly behind on our planting because of the record moisture this month. This week, however, we should be able to catch up to still include our last round of leeks, lettuces, green onions, fennel, collards, kohlrabi, bok choi, and chinese cabbage in your shares.
It's been tough to get motivated on the last two mornings with the temperature hovering around 32F when we get to the farm. The only thing moving slower than us now are the plants. Plants grow much more slowly when it is cold. We plant different things for this time of year that enjoy the slow growing season.
The farm has begun it's fall facelift and the transition into the winter months. We have recently been removing the last of the summer crops. The fruiting summer plants we hadn't gotten to were destroyed by the last two mornings of frost. We've learned over the last few years that the farm here at Serenbe is in its own microclimate. When any weather prediction service claims 38F as a low, we know we'll be frosted in the morning.
Scientifically, frost is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air. To us farmers, it's the one distinct measure of season change and the one date that governs all of our crop plans. To the artist, frost is quite beautiful as it glistens on the fields. It's only when the sun comes out and thaws the cells in the leaves that the plants cannot photosynthesize and are left wilted and die. Luckily there are many plants that can withstand frost.
In preparation for the frost, we harvested like crazy. We first harvested all the peppers that were left on the plants (as the fruits are useless post frost). Against our philosophy that red and yellow peppers are better than green, we filled many bins of green, partially colored, and both large and small peppers (which you'll see in your share today).
Fall is the time when several root veggies that were planted months and months ago take center stange. We've been watering, weeding, and tending to these plants without harvest up until recently.
These veggies are sweet potatoes, peanuts, and sunchokes. They were planted in May, June, and last October (respectively).
We had a great peanut harvest from our first of three beds. Natalie, Paige, and I successfully tied them up and hung them all in a dry place for curing. You should see them in your shares shortly. We have some great heirloom varities of peanuts that I'm sure you will be pleased with.
We also have dug two of our four beds of sweet potatoes. The harvest has been exceptional, almost 800 lbs per bed! Hopefully the last two beds will prove to be as productive. The lack of rain in the last few days has given us the abilitiy to use the tractor to dig one of the two rows. It is amazing the difference modern machinery can make in efficency.
The sunchokes actually sweeten with frost so we'll leave those until a little later into the fall until they are nice and sugary. I know we're all looking forward to these roots!
Justin
