Although things slowed down a bit with the end of market season last week, I’ve chosen not to shift down a gear – when the weather is this nice at the end of October and you’re a farmer in the Massachusetts, you take advantage of it! I know I’ll be patting myself on the back when that cold pummeling wind finally settles in for the winter and I’m NOT out pulling tomato plants, taking down their trellising, futilely putting down cover crop, etc etc etc. No no, we are way ahead of the cleanup game this season.
We spent Thursday morning yanking tomato plants out of the ground even though they were still quite green and loaded with fruit. Tomatoes don’t really like moisture, and they certainly don’t like uneven moisture. They do ok with consistent moisture or none, but not sporadic. Add on the cold, which makes their skin super fragile, and the already thin skin of an heirloom (all I grow outside the tunnel), and their skins will split with the first passing dark cloud. That 3″ of rain preceded by a long period of drought? Split those potential November gems wide open! We salvaged what we could and will let them ripen up slowly over the next week or two, but it’s a huge bummer to be composting a few hundred pounds of potential deliciousness!
But summer is over anyway and it’s long past time to move on to the fall stuff right? Fortunately the aforementioned perfect weather has been very forgiving to this farmer. Much of what I thought was planted too late has actually thrived. Really the only black cloud over the season is that it was such a great fall that I’m kicking myself for not putting in more hail mary crops that would have done great! Instead of mere abundance, we could have been absolutely swimming in veggies right now. Generally the list continues narrowing this time of year, but I actually added a bunch of yum yum this week so now you have 36 items to choose from! That might be a season high…and the last week of October? Not too shabby, but nothing this good lasts forever so get it while the getting’s good!
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.
