Looks Like the End-of-Spring Garden…

AlexandraIt seems as though the hurricane has ushered in the change of seasons. We have started pulling, clearing, and re-planting in the beds of by-gone spring plants. The weather is slowly changing. The harvesting of the winter storage crops also announces the winter to come.

We still have a few weeks though! At least we’re still getting intense sun during the middle of the day. During the rainy days of last week we hung more than 400 ft. of onions, sweet and storage. We’ve been slowly cleaning up the garlic, but we’re more than halfway done. Garlic and onions are often thought of as root vegetables, but in fact they are leaf vegetables.

Peas, beans, and (soon) cucumbers are at an end. Oats were harvested by Avena Botanicals this past week. The farm still has much to offer though. With Tat Soi, Bok Choy, Chinese cabbage, and edamame on the way, the fall kale has taken off! I don’t think I have ever seen Red Russian leaves so big.

As with this whole summer experience, I am constantly pulled into the rhythm of this beautiful garden. The ever-changing seasons are just as inspiring as the steadfast hills that surround us.

Oh, by the way, Audrey is expecting this September. We shall soon have another handsome calf among us. Tommy should be proud; he’s got a good lookin’ herd.

-Alexandra

You can’t have plants without rain and you can’t have a potluck without a stain…

We started off this week with a bit of rain which the plants have been so thankful for, especially since it’s toasty now. Though it was a slow start for the week, we got things done, onward and forward. The last of the radishes and hakurei turnips were pulled. Farmer Tom plants oat cover crop in with brassica plantings and those oats were sowed in with the fall brassicas we transplanted last week.

On Tuesday, when the rain really set in, we spent most of the day cleaning off garlic. No wonder garlic costs so much! We passed the time by piping in music and playing various word games. The one we might play next time is Bad Rap, which is a rhyming game following this format: You can’t have A without B and you can’t have C without D. B and D rhyme and D serves as the A for the next person, e.g., You can’t have a stain without a spill and you can’t have petroleum without a drill (continued from the title).

For the rest of the week, people flocked to Hope’s Edge. On Friday we had a total of 15 people working! We got so much done and what a pleasant surprise! On Wednesday Hope’s Edge Farm hosted the MOFGA Apprentices potluck. Tom gave a li’l talk about biodynamics and the group sprayed some biodynamic barrel compost on the fields. At this potluck Farmer Tom said the quote for the week: “I’m the only agronomist working in my field. Literally…”

–Alexandra