Why do we bother growing all of these roots?

Weeks like this one-–that’s why!

Consecutive days of overnights in the twenties, with days lingering in the thirties mean that there are parts of the farm that will remain frozen indefinitely, and while it is true that many cold-hardy vegetables can withstand a certain amount of frosty weather, harvesting them while they’re frozen is a no-go.  Even the vegetables nestled under the cover of our greenhouses didn’t fully perk up until this afternoon, leaving us with a super short workday window before the sun started to go down again.  But thankfully, we invest hours on some of the longer days of Summer and Fall planting, tending, harvesting, washing and storing up an array of root vegetables with Winter in mind. We don’t always think of things like tomatoes and big roots being in the works at the same time, but they sure are.

After a mild and very welcome break, we’re dusting off our boots and buckets and heading out for our first harvest of the year! We’re catching up on (ok, lagging behind on) quite a bit of correspondence, and I know that I still have a handful of invoice requests to make my way through as we get started with our ten week Winter CSA season…not to mention the 38 weeks that will follow! Our Winter hours will begin tomorrow, and we’re looking forward to welcoming folks back with a hefty harvest of Purple Sprouting Broccoli—yes, in January.

What a beautiful, heart-wrenching, purposeful, beyond difficult but delicious life those two kids ended up building together.