Crispy mornings and cold fingers, beautiful colors, bodies getting lazy… The end of the season is near. We are clearing the last few crops we still have out in the fields ; carrots, leeks, broccoli, cabbages, kale, greens. As we are saying goodbye (temporarily, hopefully 🙂) to our dear CSA members and with only two more markets in Liverpool, it’s also time to start cleaning and wrapping up for the winter.
Rebecca and I have been making a big fall list of projects that we would like to achieve before the first snow. We shall see how far we get…. We want to move at least one, ideally two of our tunnels now to have a less busy spring. We took down the cherry tomato and eggplant tunnel last week. We cut the plants but left the roots in the ground to avoid erosion as much as possible during the winter. It is so nice to be working with this gorgeous sun and ideal temperature, moving tunnel arches without sweating and being exhausted. We are saying goodbye to weeds (for now) and are tarping as many empty beds as we can.
But there is way more exciting news than moving tunnels : Jessie and her partner Brendan welcomed their beautiful healthy baby daughter Georgina Mae Allison MacInnis on October 12. <3 She was born at home at the farm in Lapland. Everybody is doing well and we are all so happy for them.
What a magical way to finish the season!
Last but not least, it’s time to think about our last crop planting, garlic. You’re all invited to join us for the the garlic planting on Saturday November 2nd, starting at 11am. We would then have an end of season early pot-luck dinner & bonfire to celebrate this wonderful season we’ve had. It would mean a lot to us if you could join, whether it’s for the day or just for the dinner.
We will send the details to the people interested.
We have been selecting our biggest garlic cloves for the planting and are planning to fill 6 x 100ft beds of garlic - one more bed than last year. As you may know by now, garlic cloves need to be planted in the fall to have time to develop roots before the ground freezes in the winter. The garlic will spend the winter protected by mulching and will then sprout early in the spring.
Rebecca and I will make sure the beds are prepared in the next couple of weeks. The planting will be happening where we had our squash crops this summer so we have to remove plant debris, drip tape, and raise the beds. We also have to ensure we have our mulch ready to cover the newly-planted garlic. As you can see, we will have no trouble to keep busy until the end of October.
We hope you are enjoying your fall and we wish you all a great week.
Raphaëlle and the Spring Tide Farm team
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