We woke up to our first frost of the season this morning. Fortunately, it was a light one, but it was still enough to cover much of the farm in a layer of tiny ice crystals that delayed our field start by a couple of hours. Some plants don’t tolerate frost at all, others happen to improve in flavor and quality, and some fall somewhere in between. Those middle-road crops are still fully harvestable and edible if we allow the leaves and roots to thaw before we pick them, but they’re also the ones that we’re going to make sure we tend to before cold temps roll through again overnight. Frost me twice, shame on me. So once things thawed, the crew brought in a big round of Broccoli from our second rotation, and they’re assembling a really flavorful mix of Stir Fry Greens from the field. I thought that the first round of Daikon Radishes would make a nice complement, so we’ll start digging those, pull a handful of Scallions, and a few heads of lettuce that appear to be the right size. Mind you, all of these things are still growing in the open field. Our greenhouses have just been cleared of the last Summer crops with the intention of filling them with overwintering greens in the coming week. And we picked the last of the Lunchbox Peppers ahead of the frost too, thank goodness! Pulling up tomato plants and trellises means that we’ve picked a hefty round of nice big Green Tomatoes this week.  Green Tomatoes have an array of uses beyond the traditional but tasty breading and frying.  Green Tomatoes will eventually ripen on the counter, but you can toss them in a paper sack with an apple or banana if you want to coax the process along more quickly.

Happy Fall, Y’all! We’re switching over to our Fall CSA & Hours starting this week. The Farm will be open on Tuesdays 12-6pm and Wednesdays from 10am-5pm from now through December 9th, and we're looking forward to sharing another great season with our CSA Members and local customers! (No Saturdays until next Summer, though).  Remember—you don’t have to be a CSA Member to shop at our Farm Stand, and it will still be stocked with an array of organic seasonal produce and local foods.

Every Fall, we look forward to providing an opportunity for people to taste and cook with a variety of Winter Squashes, Pumpkins, Pears and Apples at their peak.  And I really mean it—there are THIRTEEN varieties of Organic Washington Apples available at the Farm Stand this week, many of which are heirloom varieties that we only get to enjoy for a short window each Fall. So, if you’ve been craving the sweet snap of a new-crop Apple, you’ll want to get over here.

This is the last week of Summer Harvest at Wild Hare, and I’ve walked countless laps around the field today, looping around the various pathways that Mark has recently mowed, doubling back through areas that have held things like peas and beans at the start of the season, stumbling over vines and soaking my pantlegs thoroughly in places where big beautiful brassicas and root tops await our attention (for the eight months of the growing year that aren’t Summer).  Nothing overwhelms me or calms me quite like a walk around this farm does, and today.   Today, I set out to clear my mind and to frame out my last note of the season to you all, gratitude being one of the most intense feelings that this farm brings about in me.  The message that I want you all to hear is this: