Hey, we made it!
I’ve been starting every Monday the same for 4 months. I sit down in this same chair in the corner of the living room and try to think of something interesting to share. At times I rack my brain to spin some excellent yarn, but mostly I puke up words for about 20 minutes of whatever pops in my mind, almost like I’m doing an exercise in a writing workshop.
The last blog topic of the season is always known, however, as I’ve been doing a season recap on the last week since I started blogging in 2006.
From my vantage as the farmer, we had some good and bad this season, a mixed bag typical of every season. In the good category, I’m setting melons, tomatoes, beets, carrots, and winter squash. We had some well-timed rains early in the season and good pollination. The field tomatoes especially had an amazing yield. Melons actually got mostly mulched this year between the plastic mulch which gave them the clean bed necessary to vine out well. I even remembered to give them water early in the season.
The big miss of the year was the onion crop. I essentially grew about 10,000 golf balls. This is something I heard from other gardeners and I can’t really say how the weather impacted it. I do know that I there are a couple areas of fields that just didn’t have the fertility they should and that certainly impacted the onions planted there, plus the spring cole crops. I’m looking to get a cover crop on that area to improve it. A couple minor crops croaked in the field (pretty typical), but, because they are minor, I don’t think they were missed too much. I could have done some better hoeing and weed control, but I’ve had that thought every year I’ve done this.
All told, I felt pretty good about the season and I just wanted to thank all members who joined us and all those who helped make it happen, including Apprentice Archer, my family, and those who jumped in the fray off and on.
I hope the CSA worked for you and your family and maybe you’ll join us next year. I will be doing a 2-delivery fall CSA share for $150. These will be a big double-box pickups on Oct. 30 and just before Thanksgiving on Nov. 20. I’ll email all current CSA members about it. I MAY bring back the winter share which will continue Dec through Feb, but I’m taking taking life one step at a time.
In the box:
- Butternut squash
- Sunshine koboocha squash: The red one…similar to a buttercup.
- Carnival squash: Multi-colored on…this is both really pretty and sweet. A sweet dumpling variety, it’s similar in texture and color to an acorn.
- Pie pumpkin
- Russet potatoes
- Kale
- Little Garlic
- Haralred apples
- Fresh thyme
- Carrots
- Little Lettuce
Lida Farm 