The footsteps of the farmer

“The footsteps of the farmer are his best fertilizer.”

The historical attributions of this particular quote trace as far back as ancient Greek philosophy, with the phrase and concept behind it having gone through plenty of iterations. As we reflect on this year’s harvest, the axiom rings true to us. Above all, a good crop requires attention and our successful harvests are always the result of adequate observation and cultivation. When a crop suffers or doesn’t reach its potential, it’s often the result of inattention or more specifically in our case, the reality of being stretched too-thin. So it goes. Each season, we’ll encounter difficult and important lessons about the extent of our agricultural bandwidth- physically, mentally, and emotionally.

After our second season, we have a good idea about our land’s capacity to produce. The greater, perennial inquiry is about how many crops, projects, and shares we are able to successfully juggle at once while keeping our sanity. Thus is the nature of a CSA. You’re all helping us figure this out. Our local farm share is diverse, fresh, and seasonal, but not flawless or specialized. Thank you again for supporting our growth and allowing us to encounter intimately this ancient, prehistoric practice.

This week you should expect the following in your box:

Okra

This crop ought to be available until the first frost. The plant flowers slowly but fruits fast. It’s important to harvest frequently to ensure the pods don’t get too big and woody.

Beans

Thanks again to our volunteers for helping us keep up with the bean harvest. This is our last bean row of the season and it’ll keep producing as long as we can keep up with it.

Butternut Squash

We’ve alluded to the difficult season it has been for the cucurbit family on our farm. The squash bugs, cucumber beetles, and other pests are officially onto us. Butternuts will likely be the last of our squashes as the third sister of our three sisters garden didn’t work out as well as the other two.

We’ve talked about “three sisters” gardening before- the Native American practice of interplanting corn, beans and squash. We were happy to have successful corn and pole bean crops this season but the sprawling, vining squash plants that theoretically serve as ground cover in and around the garden have been impractical. The upright corn and bean crops, with their stilt roots and natural trellising, are easy to manage, but It’s a challenge to suppress the intermingling weeds between rows without stomping over the vines of the desired squash and melon crops. The weeds got out of control in this big field and competition was too great for the third sister this season- further lessons learned. We will adjust next season.

Zucchini

We’re hoping to get as much as we can out of our late season summer squash planting. Our hatred for squash bugs has become fiery. It has been eye-opening to see how fast and destructive they can be when not given their due respect. On our farm, summer squashes have always been prolific and easy to grow, but they’re not separate from our evolving ecosystem and actions will need to be taken to get this population under control next summer.

Bell/Carmen Sweet Peppers

They continue to ripen and sweeten, with flowers and green fruits still developing. We’ll likely have sweet peppers of various shades, shapes, and dimensions until the frost arrives in October.

Banana Peppers

We have dozens of banana pepper plants producing wildly. If you can use bulk bananas for canning, let us know what you need and we can share the surplus.

Spinach

Our first cutting of our late summer/fall spinach will be harvested this week. We’re still experimenting with varieties. Your share will include both smooth and savoyed leaves.

Kale

The curly kale is reaching its late season, Dr.Seussy, palm tree phase. The knee-high, thick-stemmed brassica crop is healthy and will produce more tender and sweet leaf tops as temperatures cool in the next month.

Flowers

Erin continues to creatively assemble bouquets even as summer slows and our traditional, cultivated blooms become more rare. We hope your weekly jar brings you joy as the harvest does for us.

Eggs

Thanks again, we appreciate you all.

Erin & David