From the Fields - Thaddeus
Matching when crops harvest to the seasons is something I have not yet perfected. One would think that given the number of trips the farm has made around the sun with me making the planting schedules, I would have nailed it by now. The result we want sounds simple enough: just as the harvest of the summer crops that were planted in the spring start to slow down, we want the fall vegetables planted in the summer to be ready to harvest.
Every year there is an annoying gap – summer tomatoes, peppers, melons and eggplant are slowing down and the chards, kales, carrots and mixed vegetables are not big enough. Next year, I will nail it.
Lucky for all of you, our farm works with other like-minded farms in your area to fill these little gaps so you always get the best selection of local produce. Lucky for us too – you wouldn’t like me filling half your box with eggplant this week! As much as I love eggplant, I don’t know what I would do with that much of it.
There is always the length of the season that is hard to predict. Summer harvest started a couple of weeks earlier than it has in the past years, which means it ends a couple of weeks sooner. I am also realizing that I need to start direct seeding some of my vegetables into the ground earlier, a month earlier. The notes are going into my book, and they will find their way to next year’s planting schedule. Ricardo is going to be a little surprised by how early we will want the ground ready, but he will adapt.
I am excited for the fall. The evenings are cool and crisp with the end of the summer. The summer crops and local oak trees look tired and ready to retire for the season. The cool weather is just what the fall vegetables have been hoping for. The close of another season is just around the corner.
