No frost   down on the river yet, but can it be very far away? Our last planting of corn actually ripend up a lot the last 4 days with the  murky  damp tropical depression. The tomatoes have held up well to this point but I suspect that the warm damp nights have  unleashed a Pandora’s box of disease and they will start to go down quickly. Nontheless, the stand looks nice with colorful ripe peppers and tomatoes,corn, different colored potatoes, flowers and  fall apples,squash and  pumpkins. As Yogi said: ” It aint over til its over” so we muddle on, with  no frost yet and the stand closing dates set at Columbus Day weekend.

The field crew has been busy with wholesale: potatoes,tomatoes,peppers to the  coops,  sweet corn to a few farmstands and pumpkins,raspberries,(when weather permits) and mums to area stores and farmstands. I have been  getting some of the fields  cleaned up  and seeded down to various winter cover crops.The irrigation pipe is all picked up and out of the fields.  Soon I will be putting up  deer fence around the small fruit crops so they don’t chew the leaves and branches. All with an eye towards winter, but we are not worried yet. There is lots of nice fall weather to be enjoyed yet…

Seems to me that the  biggest event of the past week was the gathering up  and harvest of the pumpkin and squash crops. It is great fun for the first  few days….lots of  thrashing around the field with the crew filling 15 and 22 bushel  bins and  the coming and going of tractors and trucks  in the field and back and forth to the farm. Again, this  project has to  be accomplished in between the daily harvest of vegetables for the accounts and farmstand. Days  still are long, 12 hours at least….but the problem is that the diminishing daylight in the evening and  lack of sunlight early in the am have made everyone realize that  frost could be right around the corner.  Still, its great that we can look back at the  day’s end and actually see what has been accomplished.

This week we  will definitely finish up digging up  potatoes.  I have been  seeding down winter cover crops as land becomes available,although there is still much weeding and cultivating of  small fruit and fall vegetable crops like turnips, cabbage and broccoli , lettuce and greens, which I am not sure we are going to be able to get to. Meanwhile  the harvest of fall raspberries is in full swing (great time to u-pick if you want-call the stand @ 298 5764) as well as  we are picking tomatoes,green beans  and corn as well as the greens. People this year  seem to be  processing for the winter  more than we have seen in recent years.

For the box CSA  membership we want to alert you that in your  final 3 deliveryies you will see potatoes,winter squash, some cabbage and the root vegetables-turnips,celeriac,carrots,beets,and rutabagas. These are all  vegetables than can be used immediately if you so choose,but  if stored in a cool dry place they should last  until after Thanksgiving. Khally will enclose  directions for use and for storage in you boxes when you get them.

This will be the last call for this coming Saturdays CSA Membership Farm Day from 4 pm to approximately  7 pm.There will be a short meeting and introduction of the  field employees followed by as quick wagon tour of the farm followed by snacks and beverages at the packing shed. Although  originally designed for the debit card CSA members and the Eastman box CSA members,we welcome  family members and any prospective members that may be interested in joining. It should be a fun and informative time.

These days at the farm there is a tinge in the morning air that gets your attention. Fall is definitely working its way here, and there is much yet to do. We will start digging potatoes later this week, and  we will cut and windrow  the pumpkins. The hard winter squash vines still look pretty green and healthy indicating that they are not ready to be cut. Field tomatoes are pouring in and we are  busy trying to fill orders for canning tomatoes, cukes for  pickling  and  freezer corn. Fall raspberries are coming in and this sunny weather is really sweetening them  up. As the crops get harvested we quickly chop the plants and weeds back into the soil and plant cover crops,some already up and doing well. But it has turned so dry that we will be irrigating again this week, trying to encourage the last vegetable plantings to keep plodding along and the cover crops to germinate. If you are up this way  you should stop by the stand as it is as colorful as the greenhouses are in May.

We look to see you Saturday afternoon.