Tag: season end

Wrapping Up

I won’t show you a photo of the season’s end gardens. They look pretty much the same as the last time I posted. It takes an extraordinary amount of time to break down the entire project and this is Robert’s second job, after all. He calls it his “hobby” and say he is going to “play” in the garden! LOL Looking at the labor in this manner seems to make the work a bit easier. Meanwhile, I am still looking for the bottom of my desk. My “To Do List” seems to grow during growing season every bit as much as the vegetables. I put off and reschedule where I can, but the time of reckoning has arrived.

Until a big, hard frost . . . October Flowers!

We feel we were able to provide very good veggies during the 2023 Harvest Season! Our last veggie boxes had carrots, cabbage, green beans, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and spaghetti squash! Those CSA Members who have been with us for 18 to 20 (or more!) years know that all years are not as bountiful as the one we just experienced. And you know that individual crop failures are not permanent. For example, there were no onions or beets in 2023 as these crops were located in what turned out to be a wet area after that three-inch rain we got one day in mid-May. We have stewardship over our land and a relationship with our garden–not dominion over it; thus, we go with the flow!

Gardening teaches us to not focus on the negative for doing this will cause us to not see the good things happening all around. All of life is full of ups and downs. One’s resolution must be to find beauty in all events including chaos. Each day and each season is an opportunity for a fresh start–full of hope! And hope is a good thing. We are so grateful and blessed to have you as recipients of our bounty!

We are receiving inquires for the 2024 Harvest Season. You know the first shares are always offered to our previous year’s CSA Members. I shall be in touch in due time. In the mean time, enjoy the fall. And I pray for just one big snow which begins on a Friday! That is all I need to experience winter.

What Goes Up, Must Come Down

By now all CSA Members should have received their End of Season email from me. We did a gradual close down of the CSA much like we did a gradual start up last May. Sometimes, it seems these last five months have flown by! And at other times, Robert and I know we have been planting, tending, and harvesting since early March.

It has been fun getting to know all of you these past few months! Most of you have already indicated you want to continue in our CSA for the 2024 Harvest Season. However, just because life changes, I will be asking everyone again–probably in February 2024.

It seems work on the farm is never completed. Robert will soon begin dismantling the deer fence with its poles, the bean fence, the tomato stakes, and the eggplant and pepper stakes, the rows of fabric and the many, many hundreds of staples which have been holding it in place since March. Every single item of our growing season infrastructure must be removed in other words!

Robert and I think this has been one of the most successful harvest seasons we have enjoyed. And just as we are always excited to begin the planting season, we are also equally excited to end the harvest season. Patience and persistence are necessary traits for any gardener. And some growing seasons are better than others; but, there are always some lessons to be gleaned from a garden!

Our gardens look very sad today . . . but they definitely had their Glory Days in 2023!