August 6th, 2019
What’s in your share?
Heirloom and Slicing Tomatoes
Salad Mix
English Cucumbers
Summer Squash
Carrots
Tropea Onions
Basil
Garlic
The days are noticeably shorter, and though it is mid summer, we cannot help but think ahead to fall, winter, and the coming season. Daylight shifts and night develops further into the edges of a fading day. As this rhythmic solar necessity takes it’s coarse so do the needs of the farm and ourselves. The productive hours, limited to a fading visibility, draw us towards our home and loved ones, and - so too - our external energy centers inward. Energy, only weeks ago, wrapped up in physical endeavors, enters a process of reflection, reasoning, redefinition, and - hopefully - realization. What is going well? what are our challenges? Our impasses? What will we do next time?
Sam happily harvesting carrots. (Photo: Courtney Lancour)
However, as we enter a philosophical meditation, needs concrete do not fade. As the plants grow so do we. Excited to make value of our new faculties, we mustn’t become distracted, nor neglect the ongoing needs of the farm and ourselves. Luckily, each year farmed, connects us more intimately and effortlessly to the seasonal flow. As this season’s labor began in November last year, by the solstice, our beds were fully planted; now, in time for the bounty of the vines, almost a quarter of our soil lies in transition awaiting cool weather plants and the nutritive regenerations of cover crops. Soon, onions, roots, and squash will join our garlic, readying themselves for winter storage.
The light, fading outside, brightens in places previously fallow. The home, kitchen, and packshed host new life. The propagation house, once spilling over with seedlings, now hosts tables full with garlic, curing for the coming year’s consumption. Time enveloped in harvest and storage, naturally harbors and inspires the creative capacities within. Harvesting beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes becomes a scholastic exploration. Excited discussions, of can we and should we fill a space once enveloped in an eager contest with weather and time.
And, perhaps most importantly, sunlight’s retreat compels our own. Hardened muscles and sunburnt skin are given their reward. No longer staving off hunger until almost 9 o-clock, the earlier encroaching sunset reminds us to take time and care for ourselves. And, as the interconnectivity and cycles of life, in our field and around, foster healing, our own personal care reverberates through all that we are and all that we touch.