From the field: How the farm pivots with fall
Hannah Alden, Reporter, The Record-Review Signs of fall keep creeping in, despite what the thermometer might say later this week.
The hummingbirds emptying our feeder all summer have left for their winter journey. The tops of the maple trees outside of our house are tinged with color. It’s getting dark so much quicker in the evenings and we’re waking up well before the sun is hitting the horizon.
One of the sure signs of the season change came last week for some — the first frost. Farms not much farther north of us had significant frost. I spent a good portion of last Wednesday putting out row cover on crops I wanted to save from the potential cold snap, like tomatoes and peppers. With the white sheets hanging on the tomato trellis poles, it looked like a ghost farm that evening.
While temps dipped lower than many of those summer crops prefer, we didn’t end up getting frost at our farm. However, after doing all of that work to prepare, I’ve decided the next time a cold night comes around will be the end of the summer eating here. It’s about that time of year to let go anyway.
As the hours of daylight continue to shorten, there’s still a lot of farm work to be done. We will have greens and radishes well into the colder months after I got some of the cucumber plants out of the high tunnel and transplanted new items in recently. By the end of October, there will be onions also tucked in there for overwintering.
Along with the continued planting and harvesting work, there’s now seasonal clean-up to start thinking about. Trellis lines and poles need to be taken down; weed block sheets need to be lifted out of the ground and stored. Everything that’s in piles of chaos spread out around the farm, like plant trays, pallets and tools, needs to be cleaned and organized properly. In the not-too-distant future, seed catalogs for 2024 will be arriving. It will be the start of a new farming season before the new year even arrives.
Keeping yourself in the present moment while farming can be a challenge. I often find myself with one foot planted in the task I’m doing while the other is already walking on to the next thing to be done.
This time of year’s seasonal changes are some of the best to savor, in my opinion. The days can still be warm and sunny, but the evenings are perfect for fires and a warm blanket. There are fresh tomatoes and peppers still around for a comforting pot of chili, but there’s also the option of roasting a winter squash or making a pumpkin pie. The landscape is changing to less green and more color.
All of these changes are also a reminder to me to slow down and prepare for more time of rest. The darker, colder nights mean I won’t have as much time for farm work, but I will have more time for cooking, reading and planning for next year.
