Once the big frost hit the farm three weeks ago, the seasonal transition towards winter came quickly. We are still picking some heirloom tomatoes out of the field, but most of them are coming from the greenhouse and coldframe. The “Black” Heirlooms and New Girl Tomatoes are rallying and having their final fruitings before winter. We should be harvesting spinach from the field in a few weeks and more beets and carrots should be ready again soon. The sprout house is filling up again, crops are growing in newly-planted fields, and we are back to the greenhouse opening and closing routines each day. We’ve had a nice crop of acorn squash and potatoes coming in this fall. Unfortunately, it looks like all of our butternut squash got hit by the freeze three weeks ago before it was ripe.
We had a full-on season of weekly boxes for our C.S.A. Last week was our last official week for boxes. This week, our members who signed-on early with full payment, will receive their end-of -season bonus box. We are working up our C.S.A. Plan for next year and it will be posted here by January with a sign-up form for 2010.
While our farm activity has slowed down, Rogue Valley Farm to School has been a very active presence. They have had weekly Pumpkin Tours and Harvest Meals at the farm kitchen throughout October. It’s been great seeing all the school children at the farm. Besides the RVFTS activity, the grapes in the back vineyard are being harvested and pressed.
We are still doing a small transitional season wholesale business, though we have gone down to one harvest and one delivery day each week. We plan to be slowly gaining speed with that again by the end of February, when Ashland swings back into seasonal action.
Hope you had a great October! Maybe see you at the parade on Saturday.
-Sari
