Sloshing my way through chest-high lambs quarters and picking sweet corn (of all things), I began wondering whether summer will ever end. Eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes still going strong. Highs in the high 70s are forecast for this weekend.
What? I am normally a week past the first frost and sliding my way to finish. Pipe-smoking weather…wool jackets, grouse hunting, and cool short days. But, no, this year I’m caught in a summer that won’t let go. A farm season that keeps asking me to step up and yank in a harvest that just zkeeps on giving.
It’s tough because sometime in August I always get into the mode of duct-taping the season week by week until the end. The printer ran out of ink over a month ago. Agh, just scrawl out the the CSA pick up list with a sharpie. Hand weed the fall brassicas? Nah, just mow around them a bit to make it look somewhat better. Trees? Water them later. Yard? Forget it. Fix fencing? No way.
The show’s got to go on and the name of the game is enough coffee to pull in the rest crops that are still out there. All day yesterday, three of us clipped winter squash, piled them, and threw them in the pickup box. By nine o’clock I was knocked out to sleep for the next 8 hours – a feat since I’m typically only 6 hours. A good night sleep sure helps to get us to the finish line. I might even be able to skip afternoon coffee today!
In the box:
- Red cabbage
- Sage
- Thyme
- Parsley
- Butternut Squash: The tan one.
- Buttercup Squash: The green one.
- Tomatoes
- Pepper mix: All sweet, none hot
- Head Lettuce or Salad Mix
- Shallots: Ya, they look like onions, but actually shallots.
- A couple ears of sweet corn
- Daikon Radish
- Celery
Lida Farm 