Change of Season
Happy Fall Y’all!
The calendar says tomorrow is the autumnal equinox signaling the first day of fall, and we sure are delighted to have experienced cold fronts that have released us from the energy sapping grip of heat and high humidity a few weeks ago. Yep, that sure impacts farm productivity. We had several days when we would perform only essential work - feeding livestock, harvesting for orders, irrigating wilting plants - just working in the cooler morning and send everybody home by noon for fear of heat stroke.
We’ve got the colorful fall squashes in – delicata, acorn, butternut, carnival to name a few. At the farmhouse we try to eat with the seasons for the most part, so seeing these delectable fall crops on the dinner table after a long hiatus was a welcome sight, and so easy to prepare. Cut in half, scoop the seeds, drizzle a little maple syrup or coat with butter and bake. Or stuff it with apples, onions, cinnamon and a little goat cheese – yummy. That first delicata squash of the season tasted like a sweet bite directly from heaven. We have beautiful products, particularly squashes that but for one spot or a gorgeous heirloom tomato with a split that we could sell but instead go to the pigs. While it is painful not to sell product, at least it is being recycled on the farm in the form of nutritious food and then again as compost for the field.
Farmer Dick had to do double duty since the last blog post as his wife, Vic, had a hip replacement. He was keeping track of her and keeping the farm running too. Fortunately, she wasn’t very demanding and was getting around pretty well after a week, exceptionally well after a couple weeks, then started physical therapy. Soon, she says, she’ll be back doing Rockette kicks (even though she must have the other hip done probably next year). Dick sprung her from farm confinement and treated her to Farm to Fork’s Farm-to-Table Dinner at Salt City Harvest Farm in Kirkville, which of course was a fabulous meal.
In addition to the normal farm work of farmers markets, planting, harvesting, grading, packing and delivering orders, lots of projects going are on at the farm. We’re working more diligently on development of campsites we want to list on HipCamp.com, including a nice glamping site out at one of the favorite waterfront spots at our pond. We also upgraded the power to our AirBnB cabin and connected it to Village water. The well is still there, but now we will predominately use the well for watering livestock and irrigating. Also, a big excavation and installation project is underway to replace a 40-year-old culvert pipe with a far larger one that will allow the stream we irrigate out of to flow continuously without the problem of water backing up where we don’t want it, which has happened during wet and rainy late winter/spring periods.
And the next farm event is a Farm-To-Table Dinner in the blueberry patch under our pavilion on Sunday, October 3rd at 3pm; details will be made available on this sites “Events” webpage. We have engaged Chefs Alex and Lauren from A Mano Kitchen on South Warren Street in Syracuse (who also prepared the Salt City Harvest Farm dinner) to create and serve a five-course meal once again for us. The date is just a couple weeks away, and the menu is being currently developed so watch social media for announcements. Sales of tickets will be limited to 35, so if you are considering joining us, you should reserve early. Fall is a beautiful time on the farm, and our pond ringed by colorful fall leaves will be a beautiful venue to enjoy an exquisite meal, and if chilly we’ll have a bonfire to warm our guests! If you want to hang around and enjoy the bonfire after dinner, may want to throw a chair in your car. It’s a great way to end a nice afternoon down on the farm!