We did end up having several light frosts last week as temperatures dipped into the mid-to-low thirties for three nights in a row, a true rarity for mid-September! However, most of the warm-weather crops survived the shock to varying degrees. The basil, which is one of the most cold-sensitive crops we grow, experienced some noticeable damage. Mike pruned off the affected areas last week, so it will be a wait-and-see game before we know if there will be enough regrowth and recovery for harvest this week. The tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, all of which are quite tall at this point, were largely unaffected by the light ground-level frosts. Even the...
Chilly
This has been a strange and challenging year for all of us in so many ways and the weather has certainly been one of them. At this time last year, we were in a drought, followed by an excessively cold November, a very warm and dry winter, and then a late cold snap in the spring. Summer was persistently hot and continued fairly dry and now we are getting near-freezing temperatures a month before usual! Our first frost date has typically fallen right around mid-October and last year we had our first frost on the morning of October 19. This year, we had a light frost on the morning of...
Okra
This is our first year growing okra and we’ve been enjoying it both on the farm and in the kitchen! Granted, the plants are now 7+ feet tall, Mike has to bend them over in order to harvest, and I have no idea how we’re going to mow them down when the season ends, but they’ve been producing like crazy for months now and their flowers are nothing if not stupendous. I had never used okra much before, but have come to cook with it regularly over the course of this summer. Our friends and members of our CSA first put us on to using okra in Indian-style recipes and...
Fall changes
It’s a big week in our family off of the farm. Today, our son started Kindergarten! We decided to homeschool and had a wonderful first morning followed by a productive afternoon on the farm. This year has really required us to think on our feet. Previously, our son had been in full-time childcare while we worked. In March, like so many people, we suddenly found ourselves in the position of being both full-time parents and full-time farmers. I would never have thought that we could pull it off, but I have actually found many unexpected blessings in the midst of everything. While undeniably challenging at times, it has been truly...