It’s now mid-November and it’s starting to get legitimately cold. We had our first hard freeze a few nights ago and it’s expected to dip to 33 and 26 the following two nights. Our fall CSA has been going well and we are happy to have expanded to 7 shares for this season. It’s hard to gauge how well of a job we’re doing because there aren’t too many other CSA programs around that we are aware of. Our clients seem to be happy with the quantity and quality they’re receiving so I guess for now that’s all that matters.
Personally I’ve been happy with the quality of product we’ve been delivering. I can’t honestly say that all of our turnip greens tasted like this but we harvested one bunch that we had for ourselves that was absolutely divine. I seriously could have ate that everyday; same with a small head of broccoli we were able to save for ourselves. In general, the quantity was a tougher task for us this year as this was the first year on this land and there were some quirks we are still figuring out. For example, we lost almost all our initial planting of kale due to what I can only assume was a nutrient deficiency in the soil. I wish I had taken a picture; all the kale in the middle of the beds died, and only the 3-4 plants on the ends would survive. No idea why that would be the case. I think we’ll probably play it a bit safer in terms of what we know will grow on this land and I think that will help up our production for next year.
Another factor to upping our production will be having our whole plot ready to cultivate. This last year we simply didn’t get the last ~20% tilled in time to get a fall planting in but we’re already well on our way to having that ready for Spring. Also, over the summer we lost some beds because we couldn’t keep up with the weeding. This upcoming year we’ve got a better plan in place for effectively mulching and keeping the weeds down. I’m pretty confident we’ll have enough time between now and Spring 2015 to get all the beds dub and the pathways mulched. Between having more space and being prepared to use that space more efficiently Kat and I are looking forward to seeing our production improve (fingers crossed).
So at this point we’re just finishing up with as long as the weather allows our CSA program to continue and we’re prepping for the Spring. Our goal is to have the place looking and functioning like the little truck garden we envisioned it to be and to run it like that and see how we like it. I will try and keep this updated with our projects over the winter.
Our produce laying out to dry – this is what our CSA produce looks like before being individually packed up.
