Meet this week’s vegetables:
Last Tuesday, we here at Oakhill Organics felt like we were living in an endless summer. As I’m sure you all noticed this week, that feeling has ended, finally. After a long, hot successful first summer of growing vegetables, we welcome the shift in the seasons. We love the cooler weather and the changing colors in the hills. Here are a few other signs of autumn we’ve seen this week:
We had our last market day last Thursday! It was sad to end, since this has been a fabulous first season at market. We exceeded our income goals and met some amazing folks through the Mac market—customers and vendors alike. There were many kind words and hugs exchanged the last day, which we cherished. Many new folks came out for the last market too, so we’re looking forward to more customers next year.
But, despite our love of market, the end is a relief too. Having an extra free day in our week is certainly useful as we continue turning our ‘bare’ land on Grand Island into a farm. We’re moving forward with putting in our septic system, temporary power, etc. So much to do!
Another sign of the season: rain! Finally! We’ve been anticipating the beginning of the wet season ever since we planted our garlic and our cover crop. Now that we’ve had our first significant rainfall since June, we’re looking forward to seeing our oats and fava beans (the cover crop) germinate and grow. Hopefully the brown field will soon be green!
Our diet has also changed quickly as the weather cooled off. We’ve been putting fewer fresh items on our table, and instead cooking more of our yummy veggies. (Roasting has been especially popular in our household over this chillier weekend.) We’re giving out some yummy roasting veggies this week, such as squash and carrots. Warm up with wool sweaters and a big bowl of sweet roasted vegetables!
And, of course, one of the surest signs of change for the farmer: we had our first frost last week. It was a light frost for us, but we heard from farmers in other parts of the valley that they had more damage than we did. Either way, seeing the basil turn brown signaled the definitive end of summer for us here in the fields. But it was joyous to see how much of our fields were ready, planted suitably with winter and frost hardy greens that only get sweeter in such conditions.
We hope that you all are enjoying the shifting seasons as much as we are. Although both of us grew up in the northwest, we love seeing the many faces of this valley as fall approaches. We’ve lived in some beautiful places, but the early morning fog shifting across green fields and through orange draped branches—well, we’re in love.
Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers,
Katie & Casey Kulla
Oakhill Organics
