Hey Everybody! Crazy weather, huh? The cold winds have been blasting away at the farm all week, but we've been (for the most part) toasty and dry in our hoop houses putting the winter starts in the ground that will be filling your CSA bags in no time. Remember the photo from my last post where we had just cleared out all the tomato and cucumber trellising? Well, this is the same hoop house (currently 1 of 2 on the farm) after we've re-prepped those same beds and then planted kale, various chicories, parsley, mustard, and onions. When this time of year rolls around we all start looking for excuses to work inside the greenhouses. You'll notice all the sweaters and jackets strewn about the pathways... once the layers start to come off you know it's going to be a pretty hard sell to get anyone to go back out into the field. |
But, as far as staying truly warm and dry this week, we were pretty lucky with Monday's harvest and getting stuff done in the hoop houses until that darned freezing rain decided to show up before, during, and after CSA harvest today. Here's Karen next to an ice covered bed pulling out parsnips after I've forked them up. Fortunately we were forward enough in our thinking to pre-harvest the stuff for today we knew wouldn't have made it through (celery), and covered the stuff that would've gotten damaged in the event of a hard freeze (chicories). But everything else is either a root and is protected by the soil, or is hardy enough to take the wintery beating. Let's just hope this cold front passes quickly so we can get back to just plain, old, 40 degree, winter-in-the-Pacific-Northwest, rain. Stay warm and have a great weekend. Til' next time, Louis |