Winter Squash Whiplash

September 25, 2025

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, we were coming to terms with the fact that late blight had decimated 90% of our winter squash. With so many shapes, colors, and sizes, winter squash is the belle of the fall ball, but thanks to excessive summer rain, all we had in 2024 were a few dozen butternut. The only other time we incurred such a major loss was in 2009, when the same culprit (late blight) ruined our tomatoes. While all farmers wish for bumper crops, we also brace for low yields, but complete crop failures are rare—and traumatic. In the season that follows, hope is often shadowed by trepidation. Throughout 2025, I hesitated to count on, or even mention, the winter squash, for fear of jinxing it. But as of yesterday, the entire crop has been accounted for, and it’s spectacular! We have all the standard varieties—delicata, dumpling, spaghetti, acorn, kabocha, buttercup, pumpkin, and butternut—as well as the newer additions—koginut and black futsu—and even some fun ornamentals like Jarrahdale, Mellow Yellow, and Hot Chocolate. Typically, we're scrambling to find enough table space for the squash bounty, but we missed that scramble last year, when the challenge was making the Tin House feel full when in reality, it wasn’t. Now, everywhere you look, there’s squash. Talk about whiplash!

Earlier this month we participated in the 183rd annual Long Island Fair, which, just like last year, benefitted from three days of perfect weather. Preparing for the fair is always a juggle. On Wednesday, we assembled our entries for the vegetable competitions. On Thursday, we harvested for the weekend and got the fields looking pretty. On Friday, we ran our fair booth and continued harvesting. On Saturday, we ran our regular farm stand and CSA pickup, plus the fair booth, plus a field tour for fair-goers. On Sunday, we ran the fair booth and another tour. On Monday, we cleaned up from the fair and harvested for the Tuesday farm stand and CSA. Running five farm stands, two CSA pickups, and two tours in five days is no joke, but the fair is such a special opportunity to showcase our operation that we never question it. We interact with hundreds of people during the fair, and when asked where is your farm?, nothing beats telling them they can take a short walk and see it for themselves.

Weather-wise, this fall was shaping up to be a repeat of 2024—very, very dry. But we just got the first notable precipitation in weeks, so it could be that the dry spell is over. Fortunately, we also just completed the major fall tasks that benefit from dry conditions. We dug the last of the potatoes last week and left most of the dirt in the field; in wet weather, mud clings to the spuds and works its way up to the Tin House. We also cleared the last of the winter squash yesterday, just hours ahead of the rain. We harvested most of it before the fair, but we left several truckloads of acorn and butternut to further ripen in the field. (FYI, acorn is ripe when the skin is fully dark and the “button” on the ground-resting side is bright orange; butternut should be close in color to pinkish tan) When conditions are dry, squash ripen and cure beautifully in the field, but when conditions are wet, they’re susceptible to disease and rot, and better off brought inside.

For the sunflowers and cover crop, which aren’t irrigated, the rain is a welcome reprieve. The sunflowers were meant to bloom in succession throughout the season, but thanks to the drought, the final plantings started blooming early; hopefully the rain will delay the very last planting a little longer. And while the existing stands of cover crop look verdant and lush from afar, they can’t go forever without water. Not to mention, we have a lot more cover cropping to do, but we wouldn’t do it into done-dry soil. So yeah, now that the potatoes and winter squash are in, go rain!

And go winter shares! They’re available and selling fast. Click here to register.

And go Team USA! The Ryder Cup is happening down the road from us, and while much of the local chatter is about obscene ticket prices, road closures, and a quarter million people descending upon the neighborhood, with the tournament finally underway (we watched the preparations for months!), we might as well cheer the home team. It’s not every day a global event happens in your backyard, and who knows, maybe we'll sell an extra pumpkin or two. We’ll all be back to the normal routine soon enough.

Thanks for reading and see you at the farm.

–Caroline