Its the most wonderful time of the year... I can't remember a year that I've been more in the spirit with carols bursting from my lips- we don't even turn on the radio in the car anymore; we just start singing Christmas songs, its kind of silly. From collecting bows of evergreen to make wreaths and garlands, bringing in a neglected fir sapling to decorate for a Christmas tree to late night gift making and cookie baking.
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Well, here we are it's the end of the Harvest season, the last week of the CSA pick- ups. We are busily preparing for the closing of the season, by finally getting Garlic in the ground and battening down the the plastic on the second greenhouse, followed by one last planting of chard, kale and collards, hopeful transplants for next spring. Undoubtedly we have seen some ups and downs this year, but as most farmers will tell you it only gives you more hope and knowledge going into the next season. I'd like to express my thanks and gratitude to our great staff, Larry, Alicia, Lizzy, Geoff, Alex, Lauren and Derek who will all be returning next year and spending some part of their winter tu…
We had ourselves a winter wonderland this past weekend, nearly a foot of snow settled on the ground making for a strange but beautiful landscape for Halloween. In fact, my mom and I (she was in town visiting), were singing Christmas carols as we went walking with Ceceilia in the flurries, we just couldn't help ourselves. The early snow caught us by surprise but it caught our imaginations too thinking of the Holidays to come and making plans to spend time together, the kind of delicious foods and gifts we wanted to make.
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From a distance everything looks perfect. Some folks from our crew went up in CSA member, Dave Falvo' single prop plane this past weekend. It's a spectacular view, I went up last year, its strange and breathtaking to see the farm and the surrounding hills from above.
This past weekend I spent in New York City, the center of the storm in many ways. Ceceilia and I were food activists for the weekend, participating in the Millions Against Monsanto Rally at which I spoke about the vitality of small scale organic farming and the dangers of GMO seeds and crops and the use of pesticides and herbicides.
[caption id="attachment_1162" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Larry's sister Heidi and her baby Amaya, along with Monique & Ceceilia, posed for a quick photo in NYC"]
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Those sure were some honeys! The last several days have been like salve on our wounds after a long summer of bumps and bruises. There was so much sun we didn't quite know what to do with ourselves so I unpacked the shorts I just put away and swam in the pond- a real eye opener, brisk! We picked a surprise flush of strawberries and raspberries in the back yard too. Gorgeous colors! Ideal fall days to make the heart sing. Too bad its going to rain...tears welling up as I write.
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It appears that autumn is here, I feel like I keep seeing the signs but never really wanting to acknowledge that its happening and summer is over. Now the leaves are changing and light is fading and I keep telling myself to soak it in, this beautiful and most fleeting of seasons. Chill in the morning air makes me think of tender greens and sweeter root crops, Ever notice that the cooler weather effects the taste of vegetables? Hot weather makes greens tough and bitter, the cooler weather allows them to mellow out and get a little sweeter. For some technical support, a scientist from Wisconsin says, "As plants produce sugars through photosynthesis, most are combined and stored in …
CSA, what does community supported agriculture really mean? What is the backbone that makes this form of distribution viable? To me its about being connected to the people eating our vegetables. Its about a community organizing to get local farmer grown food to their neighborhood or town to be closer to their food. It's the farmer's desire to have a market he can trust in lean times and to share his bounty with when there is abundance. There is the notion of shared risk, as members of our farm, you own a share of this year's harvest and we try hard to have a bundle of veggies each week that is representative of what is available on the farm a that time. Our CSA members are always first i…
Health is wealth, lately everyone one at the farm is getting on the wagon, raw diet, juice cleanses, apple fast, sugar detox, kicking all kinds of habits. I for one am weening myself off sugar and caffeine which is a little tiring... and I'm only on day one. Still its good to take stock of how your feeling and listen to your body. Unfortunately all my body is saying is lay down and have some chocolate. Fortunately there are sweet and starchy vegetables to help me through my struggle. Monday we fired up the potato digger and dug some taters, three 250 ft. rows of taters, a pretty arduous task.
Oh.. my, what a sweet couple days we’ve had this week. Walking the paths to the fields the air is fragrant with the aroma of honey being made, busy bees fly by gathering the golden rod’s heady nectar ensuring its pollination along the way. Its worth the sneezes! Out here in Honesdale its peak of the season for peppers turning color and eggplants getting ripe. Tomatoes are still rocking but splitting a bit from last weeks abundance of rain. A new round of green beans are coming on strong and finally a healthy crop of carrots, our root crops have been hard won this season with wet soil its tough to get long and grow. Now that we have a few dry September days under our belts w…
