This time of year we enjoy the sunrises, sunsets, and stars. The daylight seems so short and precious. We check nervously to see if we’ll get a frost. Everyone starts with sweaters and hats in the morning, but by the end of the day there are jackets, sweaters, and hats left everywhere that need to be found and picked up. The field tunnels are being ‘flipped’ – either cleaned out and replanted, or taken down and moved on to a crop that’s well established. Eli is very happy about the ginger this year. It has been many years since we’ve had a good crop. In hindsight, we now know that ginger was our canary in a coal mine. It was the most sensitive to the irrigation water that slowly had higher salt levels over the years. This year, with drip irrigation from the pond, rather than the deep well, the ginger was fine. One new customer was excitedly scooping up the ginger at Market to make fermented ginger slices with onion. That sounds intriguing!

The two permanent greenhouses, Nina and Simone, are being changed from summer to winter crops. There were quite a few challenges with the greenhouse crops this year, so we are all very determined to improve. We reformed the beds by digging deep paths and filling them with wood chips. We tried different sources of fertility. We collected leaves, and are planning to collect seaweed to add. In the spring and summer next year, we are planning to add mulch from pasture clippings. Next week, we are going to introduce beneficial nematodes. Our goals are to improve drainage, encourage soil life, reduce disease, and improve yield and taste.

With all this greenhouse transformation, I was forced to give up my basil crop. I have been advocating for basil this year, and now it is gone. Other people on the farm team wanted the space for winter crops, so I surrendered. We have really enjoyed all the basil produced this year, but next year I’m planning to grow more!

Three of us were checking out the witch hazel blossoms after work on Friday. We talked about boiling the hazel twigs and freezing the strained liquid to have on hand for treating burns. I admitted I was obsessed with hazel. They chuckled and said hazel AND basil.