Category: Local

Revving up a tractor in the early morning after a chilly night can be a challengeif you’re looking to start your day early. A recalcitrant engine and a wet seat – travails one faces in the wee hours of an early October morning. And so one trains oneself to practice good habits, including – insofar…

Mother Nature always has the last word, it seems.After having made us miserable all summer with an overabundance of rain and generally dreary weather, she seems suddenly to have taken pity on us, gratifying us with an unending spate of sky-blue, sun-filled days, lifting the spirits of your farmer and the rest of the team…

Last week I had to send one of my delivery trucksto the garage again.Something to do with a drive shaft on the verge of conking out. I couldn’t blame it on anything other than old age, since the truck dates back to a time when windows were still rolled up and down by hand… I…

Yours truly would have preferred a bit more sun to start off the week, but it clearly was not meant to be…Instead, it was in the early morning chill and under cloudy skies and that we started to harvest the first of our true winter root vegetables – namely, the rutabaga. There is no more…

It may seem surprising to read this on a hot and humid summer day, but as I traipsed through my vegetable beds this morning, the fields already had a bit of an end-of-season feel to them.More flight of fancy than fact, there was nevertheless an undeniable sense of relief, despite the heat, as some of the seasonal…

I could wax lyrical about the return of sunny weather at last,but I will not – as there are more pressing matters to attend to, such as announcing the start of our Italian tomato harvest to meet your canning (or bottling or freezing) needs. And while we’re at it, we’ll also be taking conservation garlic…

This week started with a bang:first, we spent Monday morning harvesting the season’s onions, which are now safely stored and curing in one of our greenhouses; second, we spent the afternoon harvesting the first of our winter squashes – i.e., spaghetti squash – a sure sign, I am sorry to say, that summer is almost…

It was touch-and-go last week,but all’s well that ends well, as we managed to circumvent the worst of the weather and to sow our late summer green manures despite the rain, cover crops that are a guarantee of success for next year’s growing season. Indeed, yours truly is already focused on securing the winningest conditions for our 2024…

Given all the bad news we’ve been hearing in local media, I thought a brief review of the state of our fields was in order.Overall, despite the weather, things are going rather well (or at least, better than might otherwise be expected). There are nevertheless a few imperilled crops, allow me to share the list…

It was not the subject of last week’s missive, but I would be remiss if I failed to tell you more aboutour first group harvest of the season.By group harvest I mean an activity that requires the participation of every available resource on the farm, an activity necessitating everyone’s full focus, a sense of urgency and an almost military…