Here’s my hot take: October is the best time to be a farmer.
Exhibit A: The food is the best.
Not only are the sweet peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants still hanging in there, but fall brassicas are back in action. Bok choy, mustard greens, and hakurei turnips have returned. As if that wasn’t good enough, the long season crops like onions and ginger are also available! And, as icing on the cake, fall-only crops like radicchio and collards have joined the party. Literally, what else could you ask for? And don’t say sugar snap peas, smarty pants.
Exhibit B: The weather is perfect.
I have been basking in the sun these past few weeks. In comparison to the August rays from which I make desperate attempts to hide my Scandinavian skin, the October sunshine feels like a warm bath. It makes me believe that I’m the one photosynthesizing. And the cooler temperatures are absolutely delightful. Pulling on a cozy hat and sweater and enjoying the crisp, fall breeze while harvesting is definitely the best way to start the day.
Exhibit C: Cleaning up is fun.
I feel like I’m losing you, but stick with me. Sure, cleaning up isn’t the most glamorous, Instagram-worthy farming activity. Oh boy, is it satisfying though. Landscape fabrics and row covers abandoned in the field during the busy summer months are neatly rolled up and tucked in the barn. Stakes are pulled out of the ground and stacked in tidy bunches until trellising time next year. Cleaning up also includes preparing the fields for winter, which on Four Root Farm means cover cropping with oats and rye. These crops aren’t for market. They’re for the soil. Their living roots will help prevent erosion over the winter and will feed the soil microbiology in a way that bare soil would not. It feels very rewarding to sow these seeds knowing that they’re giving back to the soil, which also worked all season to provide us food.
Of course, not everything’s perfect this October. Those fall brassicas I mentioned earlier? We’d have a lot more available if caterpillars weren’t having a smorgasbord on them right now. Also, a couple fall crops purposely didn’t get mentioned above. Rutabagas and storage kohlrabi have been all but completely destroyed by aphids this year. The tomatoes and eggplants were also healthier and produced much more fruit this time last year. Overall, between the wet weather and pest pressure, it’s been a tougher year than last.
Diversified farming helps to mitigate losses from weather, bugs, and other things out of farmers’ control. Some crops do poorly but others do ok! (Have you seen the escarole recently?! Just wait until you see the radicchio.) For now, we’ll keep harvesting what we have, enjoying the cool October weather, and getting the property buttoned up for winter. Up next: Dreaming up improvements for 2024.
-Kiersten
P.S. If all this talk of fall and winter has you bummed out, don’t fret! There’s still a good chunk of the 2023 season to be had. Dried flowers, sweet potatoes, and turmeric are all on their merry way!
