The major focus of my fall has been the anticipation of the birth of our granddaughter, Frances June Berg, born November 21, 2015. Her parents, Aaron Berg and Ellen Laing and big sister Della, have been here at the farm with us this fall. We are all very thankful for the arrival into our world of Frances.
The horses have been having a much deserved rest, for the most part. Their biggest job these days is grinding grain for Seth, as he continues to bake bread for market and Fall CSAs. Michelle Jory of Fairmeadow Farm has been having a fall pick-up here every other Wednesday and will continue through December.
Our cover crops have been taking off during the mild fall. The rows where the garlic was planted in October have filled in. The cover crops for the hoop house plots for 2016 have also grown well. The no-till fall planted spelt has come up as a good stand. We have been enjoying eating the fall greens that remain in the CSA garden and have also started harvesting salad from the winter hoop house. It always amazes me that seeds planted in early October can grow and be harvested throughout the winter in an unheated hoop house. I have had a bit of an adjustment not having a fall CSA and suffered some alarm at the extra produce in the Garden that I could have harvested. About 20 bushels of extra squash were donated to our local food bank. I also took some squash to a low income housing and harvested beets for sale. I am feeling ready to let go of the Garden now…
Yesterday, Ken mowed off the asparagus ferns and we expect to mulch the strawberries later this week. We will also gather up the plastic on our tomato hoop house so the the snow doesn’t over load the hoops. All in all, we are feeling ready for winter. Between preparing for a record number of farm related workshops Ken has been working hard on the farm. He spent a week on a bull dozer reshaping the head lands and water runs beside our hill side lane ways to try and direct the water runs during heavy rains to prevent erosion. The head lands were then seeded down with the good help of Jim Conrad.
