Labor Day is always a bit paradoxical on the farm. Who scheduled it for the middle of peak harvest season anyway? As much as I’d love to take the day off, there is just way too much abundance to miss a harvest.
Speaking of labor, the last of my three summer employee departures (Owen) happened this week. Owen is the only employee I’ve ever hired who came knowing how to drive tractor (in five years!) – he did help out doing grunt work in the fields, but his greatest help has been taking care of all the mechanical maintenance…which I’m highly deficient in. Last Saturday was Cali’s last day – this was her second summer working for me, and she is already missed! It’s SUCH an advantage to have someone like her come in already knowing the systems and expecting/wanting to work their tail off for the farm. I’ve had a number of new people quit after just a few weeks because they aren’t able to (or don’t want to I should say) handle the physicality of the work. Although I would have preferred her to be in the field harvesting with us because she’s got the quickest bunching hands in Grafton, she commanded the wash station so well that she ended up there most of the time.
The good news is that April is back with me, though only part-time because she still has a real job. April worked full-time for me my first year running the farm, and has been filling in here and there since, so we have a special farm bond. I’m so tired all the time that words are poorly or half formed most of the time I’m trying to give direction on the farm – doesn’t matter with April! All I have to do is point and grunt and she can read my mind. Cali was close to getting to that level too! With the turnover, there will likely be some slip-ups and things done differently so please bear with us while we transition.
I can usually judge abundance by the number of items to choose from on the website, which stands at 39 as I write this. 40 is the magic number indicating tippy top of the peak harvest, so we’re just about there. Summer and fall peaks seem to have merged as we have just absolutely gorgeous greens coming in at the same time as we finally have loads of tomatoes. This isn’t on the website, but buy 3 cherry tomato pints and get 1 free this week! And then the roots! Rainbow carrots, rainbow beets, rainbow radishes. So much color, so little time to tell y’all all about it – you’ll just have to order and see for yourself. It’s amazing what just a reasonable amount of rain can do for the garden and this farmer’s spirits.
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.