Each year of farming is different. From my first at Foxtail Farm in 2000 and to this one now a quarter century later, a season is defined by weather, people, mishaps, and my own general mood. This season stands out as the year of stupid deer and super annoying gophers. I’m so sick of this doe and her three fawns hanging around that I’m ready to go all Rambo on them with night googles and the whole bit to take them out. Bean plants and beets have been eaten on so many times I can’t even count. The gophers are a close second, descending on nearly every veggies just as it gets ready to pick. Wow, look at that beautiful, large slicing tomato. Oh, forget it, a gopher chewed on the bottom…you get the idea.

Especially after this 90-degree spell in October, I think we can also chalk up 2025 as a year of weird weather. Strangely, a lot of nights this summer were quite cool, which really pushed back a lot of heat-loving crops. We did, however, have some beautifully-timed rains, which was a real plus.

Lastly, 2025 was the year of raised beds for me. We ran this experiment doing some crops in 30-inch beds, a number of them with landscape fabric and some with new low tunnels. I’d say we had some success, but some things could have been managed better. I wouldn’t put cucumbers on landscape fabic (seemed to grow weirdly-shaped cukes), but I would put brussel sprouts back on fabric. I certainly will plant salad mix and other finely-seeded crops on raised beds next year and work to transition some of the peppers and tomatoes that direction.

After 25 years, we’re still learning new tricks, so for that I’m thankful, just as I’m very grateful for all of you who joined us for this CSA season – THANK YOU. I hope the CSA worked well for you and your family.

In the box:

• Pie Pumpkin
• Acorn Squash
• Delicata Squash
• Brussels Sprouts
• A Couple Rutabagas
• A Couple Scarlet Queen Turnips
• Grape Tomatoes
• Flat Leaf Parsley
• Celery: Yes, little and stringy, but has good flavor – probably best in cooking instead of fresh eating.
• Bag of Onions
• Bunch of Carrots

I was telling a friend the other day about how my own energy changes across the course of the season. Last fall I think I had a set of buckets just sit in my yard for a month. I passed them everyday and thought about putting them away. I probably even wrote about putting them away on a to-do list multiple times. Still, the task just never happened. Those buckets suffered through a winter until spring, at which time I emptied their contents and got them put away in about 15 minutes. This is the curse of late season. Even the smallest of tasks becomes just too much after a summer of being on the veggie harvest ‘hamster wheel.’

After showing some people around on Saturday, I realized that I’m continually practicing this late season coping mechanism of simply ignoring things that just need to little attention as we trudged through a yard that needs mowing and passed our tiller abandoned in the middle field for the past month, poised to mow down crops that are long done. When surrounded by acres of crops in need of harvest, I think my mind blocks them out.

Why would I do any of these other things when there are literally tons of tomatoes in need of picking? If I simply put in a half hour, I could have 20 lbs on the farm stand for sale. What about the corn? Onions? Melons? Peppers? Potatoes? You get the idea. It’s kind of like being in one of those machines at a casino where the dollar bills fly around you and you try to grab as many as possible before time runs out. Same here. Run as fast as you can, Ryan, those crops won’t hold in the field forever!

Let me get another cup of coffee and get at it. I think I’ll push of mowing for another day 🙂

In the box:

• Eggplant
• Tomatoes
• Butternut Squash
• Buttercup Squash
• Russet Potatoes
• Carrots
• Colored Pepper mix: Mainly red, purple, yellow.
• Ancho Pepper: Dark green – this one is hot.
• Spinach
• Onion Mix
• Garlic

I know what I need to do, we all do. Focus.

But too often we find ourselves stringing together long series of tasks, or, one favorite, doing two to three tasks at the same time, all of them badly. I know that do simply get things done that it’s best to focus on one task at a time and I’m way better than when I started this farm experiment, but I still find myself doing this multitask thing and actually accomplishing nothing.

Just yesterday I felt motivated and put a bunch of things in motion: planting fall brassicas, weed the herbs in the front field, set a trellis for the peas, fix the mower, and harvest for the CSA box. How did I do? Well…2 flats of brassicas planted (two trays still sit in the field), herbs 5% weeded, 6 posts sit next to the peas, and the mower is disassembled now awaiting my attention. But, hey, I did get the cherry tomatoes, carrots, and half the beets harvested for the box!

Maybe if a person lights many fires, stuff will get done, but too many days of too many tasks is a recipe for lots of activity but few things off the to-do list. I know. I’ve been doing it for 20+ years. The best of days, however, are ones where I methodically work through the morning to-do list. Check, check, check. Love that feeling at the end of the day.

So, if this resonates with your own work in finance, HR, or education, just know that the struggles are the same here in farming. Here’s to better work plans, and I wish us all a complete to-do list this Monday.

In the box:

• Sweet Corn: Yeh! This is a variety called Allure.
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Beets
• Carrots
• Butterhead Lettuce
• Garlic
• Onions
• A Green and Purple Pepper