Post-Season

CSA pickups ended last Saturday, and with it the treadmill of five weekly harvests. Obviously we welcome the more relaxed pace of the post-season, but there’s still plenty of work to keep us busy. Just yesterday Dan and I topped the late planting of brussels sprouts. This task involves snapping off the growing tip of the stalks, which redirects energy to the sprouts, so that they size up in time for Thanksgiving. There’s also irrigation equipment to put away, tomato stakes to dismantle, and garlic beds to prep. Foremost in our thoughts, however, are the thousands of pounds of beets, carrots, and kohlrabi that need to be harvested, washed, and stored for the winter share. These roots could happily remain in the ground through November, but the wash station is no fun when it’s thirty degrees out, so we’ve begun chipping away at the job, depending on the weather, the company, and our mood. The job is getting done, but at a leisurely pace. Didn’t I say the post-season is relaxing?

Relaxing up to a point. Now is also the time to map out our winter projects. We’ve learned how easy it is to fall into complacency, thinking I’ve got the whole winter to get all these projects done. Indeed, what teacher hasn’t thought that about his/her summer vacation? So as not to let the months slip away, we’re narrowing our priorities and setting a timeline now. Prepping for new blueberries in Chapel Field, building new shelves for storage crops, learning new software in the office—these are all items I hope to accomplish by March.

Meanwhile, today is Halloween, and I’ve got some kids to take trick or treating.