The season has gone well. The weather has been all over the place, a week of highs in the 40’s in mid-July and then a few days in early September where it was in the 90’s. These days it is settled into a fairly consistent pattern of lows in the 40’s and highs in the 60’s as we head into fall. When the leaves began to change colors the third week of August I was dismayed, imagining snow by Labor Day. Fortunately, my fears were unfounded.
This summer was full of fun and hard work. The seeding, transplanting and weeding of May and June quickly gave way to the non-stop harvesting of July and August. Here's a photo of Mark watering a trailer full of seedlings right before we transplanted them into the field.
The crops that needed to be harvested every other day and subsequently took up an enormous amount of our 40 hour work weeks included peas, beans, zucchini, summer squash and tomatoes.
Other crops that were harvested less frequently, but still a few times a week were carrots, beets, radishes, broccoli, kale and chard, among others. One thing we learned when harvesting carrots is that there are some pretty racy vegetables out there.
When we weren’t harvesting, we were washing and packing the harvest for our wholesale orders, CSA members and Farmer’s Markets.
The weeds in the fields grew waist high and some crops were almost lost until Bill hired a giant weeding crew to work for a week to get the fields back under control. This season I have been in charge of putting out our weekly CSA newsletter for our 91 members. It’s been a steep learning curve, but I’ve come a long way from the 1st issue which took me nearly 5 hours and didn’t really fit within the borders of the page. I’ve grown to enjoy it and I now look forward to the 2 hours each week where I get to reflect back on the previous week and tell our members what we’ve been doing to keep ourselves busy. Along with farming, this summer has consisted of some lovely hikes
a visit from my parents,
visits from our friends Adam, Nicki, Eric and John, exploring small VT towns and back country roads, fishing and various artistic pursuits. I’ve done some sewing for myself and others and Mark has painted a few silk screens, including this one for a farm t-shirt,
and just today finished the first draft of his book, My Best Friend Dave. We look forward to the next week in which I will be flying to Montana for a wedding and Mark will be busing to NYC to visit friends and then road tripping to North Carolina for a wedding as well. In early October, Mark’s Dad and Step-Mom will be coming for a visit. We’re hoping that the gorgeous fall colors stick around long enough for Joel and Deb to enjoy them.
Vermont has been good to us so far and it is with excitement and nervousness that I look toward this winter. We will be staying at Harvest Hill through the end of October. Most of our work time will be spent harvesting and washing thousands of pounds of carrots and potatoes as well as cleaning up the greenhouses and fields for their winter rest. Starting in November, Mark will be working at High Mowing Seeds, an organic seed company based in Wolcott, VT, packing and shipping seeds. I have just begun the job search and have yet to nail down winter employment. Whatever I do, I plan on leaving enough free time to volunteer with local domestic violence and sexual assault organizations. Vermont winters sound daunting with their freezing temperatures and limited daylight, but locals assure us that if you pick up an outdoor sport, the winter goes by a lot quicker. I’m hoping that X-C skiing will be my new favorite past time once the snow starts falling. Hopefully with the end of the season, we will have more time to update HYF and reflect upon the past season as well as giving you all updates on our Vermont lives.
Happy Fall!
Part of the onion harvest
Maggie, ready for the work day
