When in Rome…

Si fueris Romae, Romano vivito more –or more familiarly, ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’  The expression comes to mind as I observe my three sons readying themselves for the deer-hunting season. Preparations include the felling of a few cedars to build their caches, the installation of cameras to better appreciate the comings and…

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…

Teamwork

I cannot let this season end without a special mention for those who planted, weeded and harvested all the vegetables which have filled your baskets. 2020 will have been a very particular year : our core field crew, who hail from Mexico, arrived on average two months late, and it took a good deal of moral…

Braving the Elements

It seems the forecast is for a grey and rainy week…and there is nothing surprising to that, as the end of October is fast approaching. Patience is a virtue, so we sometimes wait for the rain to end, other times we slip on our rain coats, don our rain boots and brave the elements head…

Of Odes to Nature and Hunters

A glorious day is unfolding, cool and sunny, an upbeat start to a week that will be up and down, meteorologically speaking. My morning constitutional in our last vegetable patches reminded me of the second – slow – movement (The Lonely One in Autum) of Mahler’s The Song of the Earth, an ode to the fading beauty…

Plunging into Fall

The farm seems to be plunging headfirst into Fall. Fallen leaves are everywhere, empty boughs abound, nature is slowly emptying itself of life. How is it that the transition is always so sudden? It always takes me by surprise. All that’s left in the fields is row upon row of the vegetables that will fill your…

Just plain (not alternative) facts

Beattie Barn, Arlington Gardens — by Peter Toth For starters, the beautiful fall colours are a harsh reminder that there are only six basket deliveries remaining (five, for our market farmstand baskets). And so it is that we enjoin you to think about making up any holiday baskets still outstanding. We have officially entered Fall,…

September, When Hope (Still) Springs Eternal

Last week started with an autumn chill and ended with diluvian rains. September has indeed arrived and with it the increased risk of inclement weather. In our fields, the once vibrant hues of green are slowly giving way to browns and golds.  But September is also a month in which hope springs eternal, as summer lingers and vegetables…

The A-Team

Last week I breathed a sigh of relief when Librado stepped off the plane, the last of our six Mexican employees to arrive. All told, it has taken an extra two months to obtain the necessary governmental authorizations for each of our Mexican employees to reach the farm. We have witnessed the effects of the…