Field News: Ta-ta tomatoes, Hello Squash Season!

Although summer is still technically here, transition is nipping at the heels across all of our farming enterprises. Our crew is starting to consider their next season of work or perhaps some supplemental winter labor, our farm stand is anxiously awaiting it’s transition to a newly renovated interior farmhouse, apples will soon be dropping all around the orchard, the flowers of fall are enjoying shorter cooler days but over night lows are keeping early frost in the forefront of our minds, summer tunnel crops (like our tomatoes) will be winding down soon as squash, roots and greens take center stage and all of those spaces will be hustled into preparation for our winter crops that are in the greenhouse getting ready to be planted. We do our best to stay engaged and sharp – keeping the energy flowing that is needed to harmonize all of these moving parts as we look toward the beautiful days of the slow season that is promised in this work.

Other major transitions on the farm include flipping over our (7!!) 180 ft high tunnels that have been growing our summer crops all season. For flowers this means Lisianthus tunnels are becoming fall planted Digitalis, Scabiosa, Campanula, and early season Poppies and Cosmos that will all be blooming in the early days of spring with flowers in the field are not yet in popping! For vegetable production that means tomato season is coming to a close and winter greens will be seeded and planted!

It takes about 2 weeks to get a tunnel fully flipped. The crop must be pulled out and/or mowed…no easy feat for the high tunnels that are hosting 15ft tall tomato plants and trellising! After removing the existing crop, they are chiseled, and tilled, sometimes needing a little rest to let residues break down. Then, we use a steamer system that consists of fabric hoses, laid atop the ground, blanketed by heavy duty steam resistant tarps that are sealed with a set of heavy chains on the perimeter (setting this up takes a LOT of muscle!) A gas powered, pressurized tank forces air into the hoses and heats up the ground under the tarps to 175 degrees killing any lingering disease and most weed seed that has been unearthed in the flipping process. High tunnels become a hot spot for pests and diseases (especially in the cooler months) so this step is absolutely vital in growing the healthiest plants all season long! After steaming, the tunnels are ready to get their next crops planted and irrigation, row covers or any other support they might need heading into the long winter! 6 tunnels flipped before Mid-October feels like a major undertaking right now, but we no doubt can make it happen with our all-star team of farmers.

Our Farm’s First Apple Crop

Back in 2022 we planted the first apple trees of our orchard and over the past 3 seasons they have been tended, pruned, weeded, protected with care and consideration in preparation for this upcoming most important season of their lives: First fruit! Timing of apple harvest is all subject to starch content. Above you can see a first round of starch testing that has been done using iodine; the blacker the apple the higher the starch content…not quite ready for picking… “about 3 weeks away” says our orchardist. With 5 acres and 13 varieties to harvest this season – we’ve harvested one variety so far called, “Dolgo” – a crab apple. The plan for all of these apples? We’ll be taking a load up to the Catskills to be made into hard cider this winter. 2 blends are on the schedule for pressing and processing and should be ready for consumption late Spring of 2026. For this season, we’ll have some apples for sampling, buying and eating at all of our markets and we’ll have a soft (non-alcoholic) cider hitting the farm store later this fall.

Farmer Spotlight: The Flower Crew

This month we want to introduce you to the awesome team of flower farmers who have been bringing you beautiful blooms all season long! I think flower farming gets a reputation for being sweet, gentle and delicate work – just like a flower. What people don’t know is that the flowers we grow and farmers that tend them are a lot tougher than you might assume. Toting buckets of heavy flowers around and building up the calluses of constantly stripping flowers is the least of it! Being a no-till farming operation, this team executes a lot of heavy manual labor tasks beyond harvest. They are constantly laying compost and wood chips by hand and wheelbarrow, pulling out old crops and weeds on hand and knee, moving around full crates of tubers and bulbs, and dragging wet heavy tarps and 30 lb sandbags around – the list goes on. They cultivate and nurture field born beauty but are sweaty and covered in dirt by the end of each day. A sharp eye for detail running parallel to speed and strength is is absolutely necessary when sharing flowers with designers and customers who expect the best, abundant, long lasting, fresh blooms and they have done the job well this season – we are so lucky to have them with us on this season’s journey.

Come one, Come all – Farmily Gathering and Open Farm Day!

It’s been a beautiful 2 years of farmer’s markets, and opening the farm stand on site has gotten us closer to the community than ever before! We’ve been so lucky to have a great team of market and farm stand staff to answer your questions and share farm news with you over the seasons but are ready and excited to now host our first open farm day! All of our farmers will be on-site to answer questions, chat about what we do and talk about where things are headed! We’ll have two hay wagon farm tours departing at 11am and 2pm, heirloom apple tasting, a flower bar and fall produce aplenty. We hope mother nature blesses us with a beautiful fall day and encourage you to bring a blanket and picnic – enjoy the ambiance of fall on the farm!

Register!

This event is free, but we’d love to know who is joining us – if you think you might come, take a minute to register here!

Thanks for chuggin along with us month after month this season and for stopping in to read a little bit more about life on the farm and getting to know us just a bit deeper by digging into The Dirt with us ❤

We hope to see you soon – stay nourished!

Love,

Your Farmers