I can’t believe it’s already Labor Day Weekend. If you need to hold on a bit longer you will find the flavor of summer dominating our stands and our CSA for another month or so, but fall is sneaking in slowly but surely, first with apples, then pears and prune plums, and this week we began seeing some cute little butternut squashes called “honey nut”. At the farm we began shifting gears and preparing certain beds for next year. We are cleaning up the stakes, irrigation and plastic mulch so that we can get things in cover crop early. Soon we will plant winter rye and forage radish with a rented seed drill. We will replant Kentucky bluegrass in our tractor aisles and parking area. The sooner this seed establishes itself the more effective it will be in protecting the soil from erosion, suppressing weeds, and scavenging for nutrients which will be turned back into the soil in the spring. Most of our cool crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts are all planted in the ground and we plan on harvesting closer to October.

We picked our nicest beefsteak tomatoes of the season this week as well as some gorgeous heirlooms, including purple cherokee, hillbilly, san marzano, and a heirloom hybrid called brandy boy. Sunflowers we are cutting in abundance and are gorgeous. They feel like a victory and a jewel from this challenging growing season. Some kind of reward for our perseverance. You will find them available for purchase and ornamenting the stands in abundance this Labor Day Weekend. We are also back into picking some lovely, tender and sweet green beans which give you a plump satisfying snap when you bend them and cling to your shirt like velcro to let you know how fresh they are. That’s all for now, enjoy your Labor Day weekend everyone.