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These are the days when the focus becomes cool weather crops…salad greens everywhere! We are enjoying this last burst of warm weather to boost our greens along so we can get more produce out to our community. Before you know it we will be hunkered down in a snowy landscape…
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It feels like the season is winding down! Although…I know the work that is left to be done. There will be less of what our team is now used to doing all summer, and more of our Fall rituals. Clean up, last harvests for filet beans, cabbage moves to the root cellar, cherry tomato picking takes half the time…and greens harvesting of all kinds will increase, increase, increase. Everyone will be ordering their Fall salad greens from the store, the Fall greens are extra good! Onions, winter squash, carrots, potatoes…time to stock up…especially this year. We will continue to battle frost, although we have only had one mild one, given our little south facing hillside microclimate. But it’s coming of course. We will have cold hands during harvest, but retreat to our incredible wash/pack space for the afternoon of processing, happy to be inside…either listening to VPR or cranking tunes. Right now we are working on a new root cellar build, making forms, pouring concrete. We erected a new (old) 3 season greenhouse…which brings us to 5, excluding our 2 caterpillar tunnels. Next, we work on some projects for our home, like installing hot water, maybe, after 14 years without any. We shall see…:) People always say about our lack of hot water, “i could NEVER do that”…but I always think to myself…”yeah, you could.” We are so adaptable. Don’t get me wrong, I will enjoy that hot water like I haven’t had the convenience of it for 14 years. But, I certainly didn’t suffer without it either. I had incredible outdoor showers from the hose surrounded by flowers and blue sky in the summer, and hauled many a canning pot of hot water from the woodstove to fill the tub once a week in winter. All great experiences. These are the things I am thinking about today… Best to you all.
Big changes on the farm this season! We have opened an online store on our website! Customers can go online and customize a box from week to week, or just order once in awhile. For our CSA members, they can skip going online and simply receive their Fresh Box each week, or they can customize their box on the store. Either way it is pretty great, really flexible, and we are super excited! Pick Up spots are at the West Barnet Quick Stop, the Barnet Library, on Summer St. in St. Johsbury, at the Littleton Coop & the East Burke Market. Send me an email if you would like more details. smallaxefarminvt@gmail.com
It has been a year since we experienced a tragic fire that awoke us at 4:15 in the morning. Our farm building burned to the ground and our dear friend Kelsey, who was visiting for a few days, perished in the fire. We are still heartbroken, still trying to cope with the loss.
Our community rallied around us in every possible way after the fire. Folks brought food, hugs, sent cards, ran errands, and donated to the farm. Volunteers came out of the woodwork and helped weekend after freezing cold weekend to rebuild our farm building. The support we received from our surrounding and greater community helped us cope with our trauma and loss. They helped us see a path forward.
We are eager to finish our wash/pack space and grow room this winter so we can get back to growing efficiently for our community. Our community helped us get back on our feet and we plan to be around for them long into the future…
I think late Fall truly tests us as farmers. So many tasks… from cleaning up the fields of row cover, hoops, and hoses you’ll need right up until you they are too frozen to use (and then won’t be easy to put away)…to getting firewood in, figuring out expenses, grant applications, building projects and oh of course, continuing the harvest, washing, packing and delivery of everything left! Except now its 38 degrees, not 75. 🤨
Do we have anything left in us after the crazy bounty of August and September? After working so hard since early March? We better, because Spring won’t be too fun if we don’t get Fall right.
Most years, after the mad scramble to beat the snow, I inevitably find myself remembering something I missed. But its Ok… because it’s time to switch gears. Time to sit by the fire and catch up with family. Time to bake something delicious, time to relax…which I sometimes struggle with. After 15 years of building a homestead, a farm… the level of daily productivity we are used to…that energy doesn’t go away when a foot of snow falls. We channel it elsewhere. Long cross country skis, knitting, seed orders, microgreens, farm building projects, plans for next year, holidays.
I do so love the rhythm of farm life. The tasks that define the different times of year. I hope I can squeak out another 20 years or so…
I find myself by the stove alot lately…it is amazing how different canning is compared to our early years. We have our standbys now, our mainstays. Years of trials…tweaking recipes. It’s so routine now after years of 700 or so jars being put by each season. It is so nice turning to that well worn, splattered page for a quick reference… remembering at a glance exactly what I need. I felt like a true Vermonter…woodstove burning, chopping and canning the food we grew… in the house we built. We bought our land 17 years ago…am I a Vermonter yet?
Shifting gears…
It’s that time of year again…garlic being planting, frost blankets being laid on some of the best tasting salad greens of the year, synching down greenhouses…firewood. The list of offering starts to slow a bit, soon we will be down to one day a week of deliveries. Time to build! The shoulder seasons for farmers traditionally has been a time for catching up on farm maintenance, projects…maybe get ahead a bit. Our farm building has some work to be done. Some concrete to pour, windows to frame out and put in…sort of an enormous project really. The sooner we can let go a bit from the tugging garden beds we can begin to chip away at the long list of building tasks. Grateful for an incredible season of growing, the change of seasons, the challenging yet exciting new focus…
Fall has arrived! We just had our first frost on the farm. After alot of covering and uncovering everything looks beautiful. Our fields are absolutely bursting with Fall crops like mesclun, arugula, lettuce, baby kale, rainbow chard, carrots, cabbage, scallions, cilantro, parsley, french breakfast radishes, salad turnips, beets and bok choi. We are also stocked up with cherry tomatoes, heirlooms, potatoes, peppers and onions and winter squash.
You can find our produce at Littleton Coop, Hunger Mountain Coop, the White Markets in St. Johnsbury & Lyndonville and the East Burke Market.
You can also enjoy our produce when dining at Schilling in Littleton, the Rabbit Hill Inn, the Foggy Goggle, the Wildflower Inn and the Burke Mountain Hotel!
Small Axe Farm…
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