I woke up to a surprise Thursday morning. Frost on the ground! Did you all have some too? I had to hunt for it up here on the hill where it generally stays warmer (cold air sinks), but sure enough it was there. A full month and a day ahead of last year. To be honest, it wasn’t really a surprise. I was out Wednesday night unpacking my truck from the market around 10 and it was COOL (still not a complaint, I love this weather!).
I had a feeling it was going to frost, which is why I woke up early and looked out the window like a kid checking for overnight snow. Not that I was excited about it – I’m not ready for the summer treats to end, though they had ground to a halt in this week’s cold anyway (distant memory after hitting 88 yesterday!!?). I just wanted to test how in tune with the weather I am. It wasn’t obvious from my window so I went out to see what I could see. I only found it in the gully leading up to the pond and a few drops in the terrain. The only possibly damage I found was some rough looking basil leaves in the secret garden, though I’m not 100% convinced it was from the frost.
How nice is it to have September basil by the way!? Hopefully this heat wave kicks the tomatoes into high gear so we can have some proper TBMs. Basil and tomatoes seem to be doing an awkward dance trying to catch up with the other. First we had basil out our ears, but the tomatoes were behind because of the wet spring. Next the basil succumbed to basil downy mildew (BDM) just as the tomatoes exploded. I heard about a new organic variety of basil that’s resistant to BDM, ordered it within seconds, and 6 weeks later we’re picking basil again (not a fast crop). By that time the cold nights slowed down the tomatoes – still lots of fruit on the green plants but they haven’t been turning. I could do without any more 88 degree days (that was a complaint), but if it’s going to be hot, we might as well enjoy summer fruits again. I limited tomatoes on the website, but there’s a chance we’ll have extra at the pickup on Monday. Lots of other great stuff available – ’tis the season!
Veggie Ordering and Pickup Procedures: Put your veggie orders in online before 8pm Sunday. The website is a little buggy so if you don’t see a wide variety of items or you see items out of stock, try refreshing your browser. Also confirm on checkout that you have the correct number of each item in your cart. The two pickup windows are working well, so we’ll keep it going. Choose your pickup window while checking out online: 1230-2pm and 4-5pm Monday on the farm at 64 Potter Hill Rd in Grafton. Pickups are in the long white garage on the left across from the beat up tan and red barn at the crest of the hill.
