The turning of the seasons, and a fall without brassicas

It's so nice to be writing a blog post without having to worry about a looming downpour in the forecast - September is rolling in with great weather, but Rebecca and I are heading into Autumn with some disappointment (and to be honest, stress) about the way our Fall crops are shaping up. In last week's post Rebecca mentioned that our fall brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, kale, etc) haven't fared well given the combination of wet soil, low-ish soil pH, and the presence of club root, a fungal disease that thrives in wet, acidic soil. Unfortunately, it may be worse than we anticipated. Upon uncovering our fall brassicas we discovered that most of the plants were stunted, yellowing, and frankly looking pretty terrible due to club root. The photo below shows what should be our nearly-ready fall crops, but they are barely visible among the weeds (which - rudely - have thrived in rain). We had hoped that some plants would be spared in the drier parts of the beds, but the reality is that we just aren't going to have brassicas this fall. Some kale and napa cabbage might pull through, but we aren't getting our hopes up. A tough pill to swallow when we were feeling so optimistic about the market garden expansion this year.

However, in true farmer fashion, we're taking this opportunity to research, strategize and plan for the future. Next year we will try raising our beds, which we didn't do this year because our soil is very well-draining, though not enough so to filter out 150+ mm at a time. We'll also lime the fields again to boost the pH, develop a crop rotation strategy to ensure that we do not plant brassicas in the same area for at least 2 years to deter club root spores, and hunt down club root resistant organic seed. Club root can live in the soil for a long time, but there are steps we can take to both mitigate and adapt to it.

We also have to remind ourselves that this is only our third season growing vegetables on this land, and we'd be foolish to think that we'd have all of our systems ironed out at this point, especially given the unprecedented rains and frankly, the unpredictability of the weather in general in the face of the climate crisis. Club root or not, this has been an incredibly difficult season for all farmers in Nova Scotia. We visited with our good friend and farmer mentor in Tatamagouche over the weekend, and she also lost all of her brassicas this season due to the rain alone. It's not about being knowledgeable enough or being a 'good farmer' - we are at the end of the day at nature's mercy and we have to accept that in order to stick with this livelihood.

If you're a CSA member reading this, fear not. We expect that we will have enough other crops - carrots, leeks, squash, lettuce, fennel, celery, spicy mix, etc - to make it to the end of the season. We will keep you in the loop over the next few weeks. Thanks for sticking with us and coming along for the ride. Small farmers need their communities now more than ever.

On a lighter note, here are some fresh recipes to try with your CSA veggies this week:

- Reinventing your side salad and make these caprese skewers with basil and cherry tomatoes

- We hope you're still as excited about beans this summer as we are! Here's a fun salmon niçoise salad to use some late summer green beans and lettuce

And, here is a sneak peek of some gorgeous photos that we had taken by photographer Meagan Hancock. We'll soon be updating our website to feature some of the photos she took!

take care,

Jessie