Growing, growing

Dawn planting out spinach (sorry about the spot of dirt on the lense there). It's nice to have folks back working. Ok I say folks but it's just Dawn so far. We are looking forward to our interns, Sarah, Anna and Andrew coming soon.

Garlic growing strong.

Old Home Week

Aleda and Kat, two interns from two and three summers ago, came by for breakfast on Saturday. It was awesome to see them. Mimi came by recently too. The kids were so excited to see her that the shrieks of joy are still reverberating through the house.

Garlic in

This year's garlic is all planted and mulched, thanks to Mimi.

Claire's last Waitsfield market

Claire marking prices at Waitsfield as we set up the stand

It is hard to believe that it is already mid-August, and that the light is starting to change, and that the nights are starting to cool off. Claire has been with us since May, and has been a rock solid pillar of the farm crew foundation, but she will be returning to UVM in a couple of weeks to continue her studies as an ecological agriculture major. She loves going to market, but this past week was her last time going to Waitsfield. I just can't believe how fast this season is whizzing by. But Claire promises to come visit us at the Waitsfield market this fall, and she grew up not too far from here, so I am sure we will be seeing her around!

Goofing at market

Claire (in Henry's hat) and Henry

Peter's cousin Liza, a student at NECI, came by. We all really enjoyed her company, especially Waverly!!

Greenhouse scene

Claire, Waverly and Henry in the greenhouse. The tomato jungle behind them. The tomatoes are starting to turn red!!

Time, and the weather, march on

Cornelia showing Waverly how to plant garlic

This week is our last week of CSA. And this Saturday will probably be our last farmer's market. It has been getting cold (some 20s at night), and our field inventory is starting to run down. We will still have carrots and broccoli and onions and maybe some spinach for a few more weeks, but we will mostly sell those to the coop, or through our stand, or to the school in Peacham.

But it is moving from early fall to mid-late fall. A lot of the leaves are already down, the bow hunters are out in the trees, and it is getting dark early. Time to wrap things up a bit. But only three more months until we start tomato seedlings for the greenhouses again!

Brrrr.

This time of year

Dana and Waverly rocked to help bring in the harvest yesterday. Here Dana and Wavy are washing broccoli, and Corny is washing lettuce. It was one of those days we started out in hats and fleeces and ended up in shorts and t-shirts.

Cornelia trimming onions. Onions and squash curing in the greenhouse and fall mesclun in the background.

A cover crop of winter rye and vetch on the field that Josh plowed.

The beginning of the end

Well, Kat moved out yesterday. She has been an important part of the crew and a good friend these past two seasons. And this season she was kind of living with us. She and Jence (her beau) are off to build houses in Maine for a while, and then off to ski out west for the winter, and then who knows what. Thanks Kat!

Kat, holding Wavy, as Cornelia cooks some dinner one night after work.

And it continues to cool, the leaves are really starting to turn color now, we are getting calls for donations to foilage festivals, and boy, are the days getting shorter. I went up to cover some crops for an expected frost last night, and it was starting to get dark at 7-7:30pm. A couple of short months ago it was still light at 9:00-9:30pm.

We still have some season left, but the tide has definitely turned.

Kat and Wavy

Kat's one of the stars of our crew. She's been staying with us, mostly in her tent up in the field, but all this rain has driven her down to the house more lately, which has been awesome.

Seeding trays

This time of year there is an almost infinite amount of seeding to do.

Alex.

Aleda.

Waverly and Emma planting early corn.

A few days later, Waverly checking on the corn that she and Emma planted.

Kat and Aleda

Kat and Aleda modeling their end of season bonus - Old Shaw Farm t-shirts! Thank you very much you two -- and Laura too -- for all your hard work this past season!!

Photo op

Kat picking beans the other day, in between the rain showers. Eat your heart out Patagonia!

It must be summer

The very first melons of the year are here.

We grow a French charentais type melon that is super duper sweet and tasty, right off the vine.

Here, Aleda enjoys a slice, sitting on the rear gate of the pickup, while her crazy boss insists on taking her picture. Yum!

Morning harvest

We've switched this year to a morning harvest. That's Laura cutting baby arugula above, and Peter and Cat below.

Last year we harvested in the afternoon. But, especially by the end of the season, we would run out of light at wash time, because we could not start harvesting until the heat of the day was gone.

Now we start harvesting at 6 a.m., and get all the vegetables in while its still cool, and then have time to wash afterwards. So far, it seems to be working well.

Morning harvest also makes Friday evenings less hectic for us as a family, though it still seems that things come up that need to get done Friday night. Like Peter's on his way to the market in Waitsfield right now, to drop off some things. (Since our truck is in the shop, a friend (and CSA member!!) lent us his truck. It's a little smaller than ours, so Peter's making an extra trip to make sure everything else will fit in the morning.)

Planting out peppers

We planted out peppers into the greenhouse today with Ethan, Emma and Dana. And another wave of tomatoes. The first wave of tomatoes are just starting to flower.

Which reminds me of other very exciting news. The bees are flying!! It was a warm day and they were flying like crazy. Very wonderful to see. Peter said he even saw a few in the greenhouse, so maybe they will figure out that is a good source for early flowers.

More greenhouse news

Peter put the cross ties up on Sunday. Those are to trellis the tomatoes. They hold Peter pretty good, so I figure they will hold up a lot of tomatoes.

Dana worked with us this morning to plant out the first tomato seedlings.

Worker appreciation day!

Mark, Tommi, Jennifer, Susannah, Dana, Ethan and Emma walking through the fields during worker appreciation day.

Susannah brought the famous Peacham Turnip Souffle which we ate as part of the party dinner. It was awesome!

Notably missing were Cornelia, Josh, Sheri and Geoff. Not to mention the many people who provided moral, financial, and advisory support to make all this possible. Thank you very much everyone!!

Goodbye 2004

The last farmer's market harvest of 2004 is now on the truck awaiting our 6-6:30 a.m. departure tomorrow. And it was an appropriate day on which to end the season -- rainy, cold, autumnal.

Here are me and Tommi and Susannah trying to figure out if the automatic-picture-taker-timer on the camera was working. The two of them made an awesome main crew this year. A big thanks goes out to them, and to everyone who worked on the farm this year -- Mark, Cornelia, Josh, Tom, Ethan, Geoff, and Sheri.

The best washroom/packing team on the planet, Tommi, Maryellen and Susannah, hoist an adult beverage after washing the last veggie of '04.

Who says we don't know how to party here on the farm . . .