But the weather had other plans

This was the week to harvest sweet potatoes.  But the weather had other plans.  We’ve gotten buckets of rain.  It poured on Saturday, then again yesterday.  At the moment, the approximately two tons of sweet potatoes are trapped in the soaking wet ground. It would be impossible to dig them in these conditions.  As soon as the soil dries out enough you can bet we will be on it.  I am getting a little anxious, to be honest.  What if it doesn’t dry out enough?

We did manage to get the winter cover crop planted before the rain.  It’s a mix of buckwheat, crimson clover and ladino clover.  The buckwheat grows quickly but will die with a frost.  It should out compete the weeds while the slow growing clover gets established.  The clover will grow all winter and then really take off in the spring.  The winter cover crop helps keep soil from washing away in winter rains, and feeds the soil microbiome.  Clover is a legume, so it works with bacteria to take atmospheric nitrogen and sequester it underground for future plants to use.

Besides harvesting, planting and tending, one our big jobs right now it getting the field cleaned out for winter.  We are taking down tomato trellises, pulling up posts, pulling out all the buried irrigation line so that we can mow and disk harrow the summer garden.  Leaving dead standing plants over the winter provides the perfect habitat for overwintering pests.  So we try to avoid that.  Our pests do plenty well without the extra help.

Fall is here on the farm and in my psyche.  Like Aesop’s ant preparing for winter, all I want to do is make jam.  I’ve been making tomato jam and muscadine jam; two Southern classics that I had never encountered before moving to this region.  I haven’t made a lot of jam, and this is my first time making jams without pectin.   And while I would like to settle into the kitchen and make jam all day, I actually still have work responsibilities to attend to on the farm.

Small Shares

• Kale
• Collards
• Lettuce Mix
• Arugula
• Eggplant

Full shares

• Kale
• Napa cabbage
• Lettuce Mix
• Arugula
• okra
• small watermelon