Stewards of the Land

You can look for them high and low, but you won’t find them anymore : our young farm employees have left in pursuit of more studious occupations. Colleges and universities beckon, and the call of the classroom has won out…you may still catch a glimpse of them from time to time at our market stands, but they…

Between Summer and Fall

I like to say that the harvest season still has a long way to go and that summer still has a few spectacular days left, but these are risky – or at the very least, incomplete – statements. Harvests are but one of the many things that keep us busy at the farm these days. Field…

A Big Week

We have a big week in store at Arlington Gardens. The vagaries of the season are such that we find ourselves having to rush to harvest our winter squash which have all ripened at once as we also hasten to dry out our conservation onions a bit more in one of our greenhouses before bagging them…

Tipping Point

August is already drawing to a close and as I write these lines, we are sowing the last trays of the season, a series of leafy greens that will tickle your taste buds in October. To think that we opened our seedling greenhouse in mid-March …and that it has been operating non-stop since, week after week, yielding…

Out of the Frying Pan…

And into the fire… or so it seems, as we exit a heat wave and they are forecasting another cloudless week for vacationers’ pleasure. For this market farmer, today has been an all-hands-on-deck day to ensure a good drenching of all the seedlings scheduled for planting over the next few days as well as seedlings transplanted…

August

August is upon us and your farmer knows he’s heading into the final stretch. August is a perilous month, one of heavy humidity, blazing suns and late greenhouse seedlings that still require our full attention. Summer’s end plays itself out in the fields, as harvested plots need to be quickly harrowed and just as quickly sown…

On Storing Veggies

I am often asked how best to store vegetables from your weekly csa baskets in your fridges – the short answer is to make sure there is as little water as possible on your leafy greens and to stock up on glass or plastic containers for all your vegetables. For your leafy greens (lettuces, kales and tutti…

July Notes

As we near the start of the regal month of August, allow me to share a few thoughts on the month of July which is drawing to a close. Greyer, cooler and more humid than usual, it has clearly affected the growth and productivity of many plants. In the normal course, July is hot and dry;…

Shades of Grey

Last week ended in shades of grey. Nothing dramatic, just grey. In fact, I had been hoping for rainy weather to schedule plantings of lettuce, basil, spinach and more beets – rainfall to save us the bother of rushing to install our brand new electric irrigation system. Everything fell into place perfectly: a full day of planting, followed by…

Country cemeteries

They lie scattered between rural routes. One happens upon them between two cornfields, or at the edge of a village like Stanbridge East. Peaceful and seemingly forgotten, but open to the public nonetheless – unlike our more-than-centenary churches. One can stroll through them and witness local history through the headstones rendered almost illegible by the passing…