C’est triste Orly, le dimanche, Brel said in one of his last songs,
and I would say the same was true of the feeling I got as I trekked through my fields during this week’s Monday morning tour of the farm. A blue sky and bright sunshine might have been all that was needed to alter that impression, but it is clearly not what the weather had in store for us to start the week. So my tour was brief, mostly to check on our recently sown cover crops, which the last cold spells seem to have halted in their tracks. I am still hoping that November will be mostly clement and that they will eventually poke through the soil.
That said, there are still some leafy vegetables in the fields,
protected from the cold by heavy nets, but they too are clamouring to be harvested. The last important agronomic activity this week will be covering our garlic planting with straw to protect it from the winter cold and from the weeds that will emerge in the early days of next spring.
And I cannot conclude this message without informing you of
the commotion at the forest’s edge on the farm
as deer-hunting season draws nigh.
The excitement seems proportional to the size of the hunting blind my own children built this year for this activity. When in Rome, do as the Romans do…
Finally, I would like to send a special shout-out
to our market farm members,
as this will be our last week at Atwater and Jean-Talon for both baskets and loyalty cards. A big thank you for supporting us throughout this summer, and we wish you a lovely winter full of snow. We look forward to seeing you again next season.
This week will see fewer leafy greens and more root vegetables in your baskets:
there will be a variety of squashes, beets, carrots, potatoes, onions, winter radishes, and kale.
We look forward to seeing you all again.