Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Twilight of the Tomatoes

    Well the season is drawing to an end. The summer was so hot and dry and it seemed to be going on unchanged for ages but then fall came almost overnight. We have had several weeks of rainy cold weather. The tomatoes have been struggling to ripen. The cherry tomatoes where the first to come ripe back in late July and it seems they will be the first to succumb to the cold. The yield has been droppping drastically. The Big Heirlooms are fairing a little bit better. Last Tuesday night we had a big storm and when I got to the fields on Wednesday morning I found most of the ripe tomatoes had been blown right off the vine and into the mud. Oh, well... wont be the last time the weather knocks me about a bit.

    Not sure how much longer the harvest can go for. Hopefully mother nature will give us a little bit more time. I plan to go up on Wednesday or Thursday morning to see what is available.  While the tomatoes are just about done for, the butternut squash are ripening nicely as are the Muscade de' Provence pumpkins. I made some ravioli filling with some butternut squashes tonight and the potato and butternut "boulanger" was a big hit at the Great Gatsby Party that we hosted up at the farmhouse in Meaford last weekend.

    This first season has been a challenge and a great experience. The learning curve on farming is rather steep but i feel we have learned alot about nature, farming, food and ourselves this summer. A few more weeks of harvest and then we will tear down and clean up the Niagara field. After that it will be time to sit down with my notes and review the years lessons. there have been lots of mistakes and some great successes as well. Anyone who has sat down to a salad of the tomatoes couldn't deny that some things went very well indeed. Late fall will be a time to plan for year number 2. We have some exciting ideas which we will tell you all about after we have had a bit more time to work out the details.

   

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