November is fully ripened red peppers!
November began today. Much to think about this month, beginning with the upcoming end of our 2017 season! We have three more weeks before our final pick-up of the year on November 16 (more important dates below). You can sign up for our 2018 season now either by filling out this simple online form or filling out the equally simple paper form we have on a clipboard at CSA pick-up. I apologize that we still don’t have dates for the season — it will begin sometime in January or February, but we are waiting on about three factors before pinning down the final date. We will for sure know before the last week of this year and make sure that you know when to come pick up your first share of the year! Since it will be our 13th season, we’re calling it our “farmer’s dozen” season (if bakers get 13 in a dozen, why not farmers too?). We’re envisioning a special celebration in honor of that distinction. More details to come soon.
Tender fall kale in the field
In the meantime, it’s November indeed. Goodness, this fall has been glorious. I’ve already written about that in earlier newsletters, but it deserves a million mentions really. The golden sunlight and vibrant foliage have been endlessly inspiring and lovely.
But it is still fall. And, as the kids and I went for a walk around the fields this afternoon, I reflected on this season and what it brings to the farm and to our lives. In keeping with today’s holiday (Diá de los muertos or All Saint’s Day), fall does seem to bring up thoughts of death and passing away. The leaves fall and begin to work their way back into the soil. The crops are worked in. Perhaps above all else, for me fall brings reflections on the passage of time. This pause at the end of the year’s busy-ness prompts recollections of the year and the years before it, including the people and things that have passed away. It always feels like a bittersweet kind of nostalgia as I look backward.
The kids in their Halloween costumes
These feelings are, of course, intensified now that we are parents and have these wonderful children in our life who are growing so very fast. At 5 and 7, they are quickly growing out of being “young children.” It is so delightful to watch them grow more and more into themselves as they acquire new skills and interests, and yet this fall brings with it a sense of a snapshot image — this is who they are this fall, and they will never be these exact people again. I can feel our family unfolding from the tight, safe and sheltered bud of early childhood. We all have more outward motion now, building lives that include elements beyond the farm and beyond each other. It feels healthy, and yet this fall I feel the loss of those early cocoon like years where the farm and our family was our everything. Those years were filled with all the expected challenges of raising babies and farming, and yet I see them in my mind’s eye as a rosy warm glow.
The more years we spend on the farm, the more I recognize similar movement in our relationship to this place. Early on, I don’t think I appreciated how much the farm would be in constant evolution over time. The dynamic change is what makes it a vibrant beautiful place to live and grow, and yet it is another way of marking time, seeing the trees we’ve planted grow and the fields constantly shift in their quilt-like patterns — never the same two years in a row.
Fava beans in the greenhouse — looking ahead to 2018’s harvests already!
I am thankful though for all these bittersweet fall feelings. Because, really, they are almost all wrapped up in deep gratitude. Gratitude for the season that is passing away, which was once again filled with abundant, delicious food and connections with our community. Gratitude for the presence of these two delightful people in our family, who we have the privilege of nurturing as they grow. Gratitude for the place that sustains us. I am thankful for the pause this season provides to let all the gratitude sink in deep amidst all the quiet moments of fall.
Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
Rusty looks for an apple in the [mostly picked] orchard
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More upcoming important dates: Make sure these are on your calendar!
- Final 2017 CSA pick-up ~ Thursday, November 16
- Thanksgiving Holiday Harvest ~ Tuesday, November 21, 2-4 pm ~ More details to come. Place orders by Sunday evening.
- Winter Holiday Harvest ~ Friday, December 22, 2-4 pm ~ More details to come. Place orders by Wednesday evening.
- January or February ~ The start of our 13th CSA season! (Farmer’s dozen!) Sign up now here.
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Apples — Newton Pippin!
- Seasonal salad mix
- Brussels sprouts
- Sweet peppers
- Kale
- Chard
- Cabbage
- Butternut squash
- Delicata squash
- Carrots
- Beets
