You've surely gleaned by now that farming is pretty hard work. It's physically and mentally taxing, but oh so rewarding. It's this time of year when I personally really start to feel the impact of the season. Our harvest season is just about at the halfway mark, so the end is not yet quite within reach, but I start to feel as if making even one more decision may be too much. It's not quite sweater weather, the weeds still grow taller everyday, and every additional and/or unexpected challenge (water woes, pests creeping under the fence, machines breaking down) feels monumental. The physical work has shifted significantly from the demanding bed prep of spring, but as harvests get bigger and more frequent, the boxes get heavier. Despite the exhaustion that comes with August, this is most certainly a time to celebrate the abundance. I'm always hesitant to wish away the summer in favour of days where the galansoga (a nasty and persistent weed) is killed by frost and days are slower because this is a special time of year. This is an outward reminder to myself and whoever else needs it that this overwhelmed August feeling is only temporary.
Here's a few things that we're celebrating on the farm right now. Up first is our carrots! We struggled with germination for the first generations and then the first beds to take looked awful - wonky shapes and lots of bug damage. Since then though, our carrots have been gorgeous. Long, straight, even germination, and limited pest damage. Raphaelle did an awesome job staying on top of the flame weeding too, so the weed pressure is low. We use a propane torch to weed our direct seeded, slow germinating crops like carrots. They are torched about one week after sowing. This timing means that other pesky weeds have germinated and will be killed with the flame, but the carrots or beets haven't come up yet. When they emerge they have a clean bed.
Next is our hot crops. You've likely noticed the abundance of tomatoes already this year. We're thrilled to have an early harvest and productive yields. We're noticing some disease moving into the tomato tunnels, but hope that we can keep them at bay a way longer. We're especially thrilled with our peppers and eggplants this year. We've had abysmal yields of both since we started growing on this property, so seeing abundance in those crops has been exciting. We've been able to consistently offer eggplants for weeks now and the pepper plants are dripping with fruits that are just now changing colour beautifully.
Finally, I want to celebrate the future. As mysterious as that may seem, being able to see beyond the chaos of one farming season into the next feels like a huge accomplishment. The farm is bigger, more productive, and arguable less chaotic than in past years. We are continuing to open new blocks with tarping and cover crops and a real crop rotation is becoming clear. Crop rotation is essentially moving crop families each season so as not deplete nutrients that they prefer and to discourage pest and disease. Building a rotation into the farm makes a lot of sense for us on a small scale as we need all of our field blocks to be producing at their best. Thinking about the future also represents an openness to resolve challenges and develop better systems to make sure farming isn't so physically and mentally taxing that we burn out. I love scheming about how to work more ergonomically and feel less stressed during the busiest times.
I hope you are celebrating the local food in your life right now too!
Here's how I'm enjoying the harvest:
shishito peppers - on a bbq or blackened in a cast iron pan, topped with lemon juice and salt. ~1/10 peppers is spicy - so fun and sneaky!
eggplants - this eggplant tofu dish is a household favourite. Also baba ghanoush served with those perfect carrots.
tomatoes - on toast with mayo and salt, but also with every meal and stashed away in the freezer.
celery - the flavour is incomparable to grocery store celery and it's an awesome dipper.
Thanks for joining us in this marathon!
Rebecca
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