Slowing down?

Fall is certainly in the air! This is the time of year when people tend to ask whether we're "slowing down" for the season, and the answer is a definitive "no." Our crew is hard at work bringing in the heavy harvest - in the next few weeks, thousands of pounds of winter squash, potatoes, onions, carrots, and beets will be transferred from the fields to the coolers in our barn to be stored for the fall and winter, and even into the spring. (We were still eating last fall's onions in July, this year.) The tomatoes are being pruned hard, so that they will put all their energy into ripening the fruits that are left, and half the eggplants have been pulled out of the greenhouse to make room for winter greens. We're just starting to harvest Brussels sprouts, and the other fall brassicas - broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage - are looking pretty good. Beets, spinach, radishes, and salad mix are being planted for the Stick Season CSA and the winter farmers' market, and we're also already prepping for next year.

We put in a quarter-acre of strawberries this month (yipee!), which will need to be mulched for the winter soon. We'll be planting the garlic next month, then mulching that as well. Cover crops are being mowed and others planted, beds are being cleared and amended, plans are being made for what to do differently next year. Nope, not slowing down yet!