Time to Harvest

Welcome to August! This week we have spent the majority of our time harvesting and it has been fantastic! We have several new crops ready to go, including green beans, zucchini, summer squash, carrots, and our first round of harvest for our heirloom Taxi and Striped German tomatoes, as well as banana peppers in Pie Four! Next to the carrots in Black Two the curly kale is giant and ready to go, cucumbers are coming to ripen and beets abound!! I am loving this time of year, we are literally beginning to reap the fruits of our labor! Find below the fotos of the week:

July 30

Abby placing a summer squash up on the harvester for processing. Note the awesome orange shag on the counter of the contraption; which is a large trailer hooked behind a wagon hooked behind the tractor for processing squash. We have been calling it the apparatus, or the man killer, as it is a huge metal thing with moving and folding parts and we are fairly fast and loose at setting it up and breaking it down for movement between the fields!

July 31

Heading out of Fisher field at the end of Tuesday, which we spent harvesting green beans, radishes, trellising tomatoes, and weeding parsnips. The front four from left are Megan, Abby, Ryan, and Jacob.

Aug 1

The Apparatus!! Richie driving the tractor, one on the wagon (not really visible) to receive boxes for wholesale and RPC's for CSA, six to eight on the trailer to process and box the squash, and the rest of us behind to harvest out of the field! So fun and awesome to work on such a weird machine!!

 

Aug 2

Sarah, with a bushel of freshly harvested carrots out of Black Two Field for our CSA.

Aug 3

Nate, with an RPC of bright yellow Taxi tomatoes! Our first harvest of our
heirlooms in Pie Four!!!

Bonus Fotos:

Luke coming out of the escape hatch on the bus for our squash launching war between bus and tractor crew on our way between fields!

Rachel and Ryan launching zucchini at the bus in Pie Four. Luke coming out the hatch
in the background! (note the folded up contraption for road travel)

Elena on the Apparatus with a Yellow Squash (and baby!!)

Taking cover under the wagon during a rain shower mid zucchini harvest Friday afternoon. Lucia, Alex, Jessica, and a very happy Emma! 

Same rain shower, Isaac and Nate are not as excited...

Finally... Back on the tractor! Harvesting zucchini in Pie Four! Yesss.

Earlier hours start tomorrow as we are now in the height of the season, when things will pick up pace to the max- who knew we would need to do even more things, even faster!? Pulling carrots and radishes up right out of the ground, slicing zucchini off the vine and finding that perfect golden tomato in the heart of the plant, packing them all up in boxes and shipping them off to feed people- all of it is so satisfying in such a real way. The work can sometimes be grueling, but the pay off is so great, I've never done anything more fun. And knowing it's all organic, and having planted so much ourselves, beginning the harvest season is just the cherry tomato on top of the whole Sunday!! 

XO,

Val