To Harvest, or Not to Harvest

October 15, 2025

One of my favorite questions to ask employees nearing the end of their first season is which was your favorite task: planting, weeding, or harvesting? For most, the answer is harvesting. Despite our best efforts, transplants might die and weeds might not, but a truck full of produce is a victory that can’t be snatched away. When employees get to see that produce on display, and chat with customers eager to bring it home, the satisfaction is even sweeter. So I understand why “harvesting” is the popular answer. For me, though, planting and weeding are where it’s at. Designing and implementing a crop plan is as close to painting the landscape as it gets, and as someone who was never good at painting, this is pretty cool. As for harvest, it’s the culmination of design, but also the deconstruction of the painting. I’ll never forget the morning of our very first CSA pickup, in 2008, when I hesitated to cut the lettuce. In that moment, the field looked perfect, and I didn’t want to ruin it. In all the years that followed, that sense of "first-cut regret" never left me. Neither has the necessity of harvest. I felt it last Saturday, as I prepared to cut this season’s first cabbage. In that moment, the brassica field was absolutely stunning—uniform rows in moutain-like gradations of green, blue, and purple. I allowed myself a moment of silence, then straight to work with the harvest knife. I hope you had a chance to enjoy view while it lasted (it’s still a great-looking field), and I hope you savor the enormous cabbages currently making their way from the field to the Tin House.

We had our first frost last Friday. It was very light, only noticeable on the grass, but a warning nonetheless. Most of our frost-sensitive winter crops have already been harvested, but we still have 2 beds of sweet potatoes to go. We start in mid-September, when the sweets are just reaching marketable size; if we started any earlier, they’d be too small. After harvest, they cure in the greenhouse for 7-10 days. This hardens their skin so they'll keep until Thanksgiving, if not longer. The greenhouse can only handle 2-3 beds’ worth at a time, so we harvest in stages, all the way to late October. This gets dicey once frosts enter the equation, but we’ve been lucky in recent years. Fingers crossed our luck holds!

This year’s sweet potato crop is the best looking in recent memory, for two reasons. First, Dan decided to skip the potato digger, which, as you might guess, digs potatoes, sweet and regular alike. It’s great for speed, but big potatoes often get sliced in the process. So this year he switched to the undercutter, a simple bar that cuts 12-18” beneath the soil surface. This helps the crew unearth the potatoes by hand, but it’s much more labor-intensive; there are always tradeoffs. Second, we enlisted the help of CSA members Tim Ging, Jeff Morrison, and Bryan Coakley, to brush the potatoes clean in the greenhouse. This is a process we’ve either skipped in the past or sped up by shaking the potatoes in burlap sacks. Past results we okay, but only just. Thanks to our volunteer crew, this year’s sweet potatoes are getting as much post-harvest TLC as sweet potatoes can expect. We hope you appreciate the added effort!

Fall cover cropping almost came to a stand-still two weeks ago, when Little Blue’s safety controller failed. Dan replaced this part five years ago with no trouble, but New Holland doesn’t have it in stock, nor can anyone say when it will arrive (it’s an import). Until then, Little Blue will remain stalled in Lower Williams Field, looking pretty but not doing squat. Our other tractors will have to pick up the slack, and Dan will have to swap implements more often than he’d like, but at least we’re not completely dead in the water. Cover cropping resumed after Dan detatched the disks from Little Blue (not easy on a stalled tractor) and hitched them to Big Blue, just ahead of last week's nor’easter. And if there’s anything prettier than a brassica field on the cusp of harvest, it’s newly-germinated cover crop, so be sure to check it out next time you’re at the farm.

And now for a bittersweet goodbye. Thomas Lennon is wrapping up a full-time season at Restoration Farm. Thomas was a great team player! He was positive even when the work was difficult, uncomfortable, and/or tedious. He loved meeting new people and always wanted to know everyone's "back story." If he ever feared roosters, he cured himself of that fear this year. We're grateful for the time Thomas gave us, and for all his reflections in the field. We wish him all the best as he plots his next adventure!

Thanks for reading, and see you at the farm

–Caroline

 

My time at Restoration Farm has been exactly what I could’ve hoped for and, to be honest, I did not know exactly what I was expecting to begin with. All I know is that Caroline and Dan have supported me each step of the way and I will carry my experiences here and wherever I decide to go next. I’ve learned many valuable things here — the do’s and don’ts of routine farm practices, the exceptions to those do’s and don’ts (nod Caroline), the names of a variety of weeds, building organic matter and overall soil health with respect to the vibes that nurture the soil (nod Dan), and lengthy life discussions while lost in the carrots — with none greater to me than the value of team. The work almost always pales in comparison to the people I get to do it with, however, in this unique situation both things were true. The work plus the people and surrounding community is what makes this place exactly what it is — a safe and warm place that represents so many things to so many people. 

 

For me, Restoration Farm has represented a landing spot; a space to collect my thoughts and slow down the transitions of my life in a healthy way, while also allowing the opportunity to serve a community and stay connected to my family here. For that, and so many other reasons, I am grateful. Thank you to the amazing people and friends I’ve gotten to work alongside with this season including Jackie, Nancy, Vivian, Alice, Sara, Glenn, Judy, and all the volunteers that make up the Restoration Farm community. Our conversations, laughs, shared meals, and long hot days together will stay with me and I appreciate the opportunity to work with each one of you. Thank you to Caroline and Dan for the opportunity to be a part of this special community and for continually sharing your knowledge and experiences with me. I appreciate your words and guidance more than you know. 

 

Lastly, thank you to Eddie G… Eddie you are a tough one, but you kept me humble and you never let a day go by where you didn’t make your presence felt… I will miss you along with all your other chicken friends. 

 

Until next time! 

 

-Thomas