The Month of October
By Blue Heron Farmers on , - Permalink
The winter CSA is sold out for the '09 season. If you've signed up before October 23, you'll get an email confirmation on or before November 10, and another reminder with a schedule before the end of December. We're looking forward to seeing all of you in January!
Everyone asks us in October, “Are things winding down yet?” Our answer is
always a resounding “No!” New customers are often surprised by the wide variety
of produce still available this late in the season. Many greens, such as
arugula, bok choi, lettuce, and spinach, are impressively tolerant of frost.
The brassicas, also known as the cabbage family, really thrive in the cool fall
weather, and we are picking box after box of delicious broccoli, cauliflower,
and kale. Root vegetables like beets, carrots and parsnips become sweeter after
frosts, because the cold temperatures cause them to convert starches to sugars.
It’s too bad that the cold temperatures don’t make farmers sweeter as
well.
Washing all the root vegetables, which was enjoyable during the heat of the summer, now requires dressing up in waterproof gloves, leak-proof raingear, and insulated rubber boots. No wonder that all of us are getting a bit weary by this time of year, and the shorter days and frosty mornings are a welcome reason to work fewer hours.
October is the month we plant garlic, which involves breaking up several
hundred pounds of the plumpest bulbs into cloves, carefully keeping our 6
different varieties separate. Once the seed stock is ready, the planting goes
very quickly with a big crew.
After the garlic is in the ground, we’ll be focusing all our efforts on
finishing up the harvest before winter shuts us down. Only 5 weeks to go!
