A real nip in the air this morning. Frost is due this evening, then lots of rain for the next few days. Ground cherries need to be harvested today again. Need 300 pints for Tuesday. Ouch. One trench is dug, need to finish the last one. Should go pretty quick, it's the most shallow one with lots of sand in the soil. No word from the excavator yet, not a good sign. Today is friday so most of the day is spent prepping for market tomorrow. Alot of stuff to harvest and process. CSA finished up yesterday. A great group of members this year and all in all I think things went well and people were happy with everything. Chickens get slaughtered soon. Quite a few things coming to finish over the next week or so. This is the busiest time of year for me, busier than spring even.

Well I have jettisoned the tweets. What a waste of time, especially since I do not have a blackberry or text alot with my phone. Season is winding down and things are piling up fast. It actually occurred to me briefly yesterday that I need to decide what things are not going to get done this fall.....Ouch. Started framing all the beds in my greenhouses, call it an impulse buy of 2000 feet of lumber. The beds I have finished sure do look good though. Hoping for some rain today, it's been very dry and need to irrigate the outside crops. Greenhouses are in transisition. Trying to figure out what to do with the chickens for this winter. Ditch digging is still on the list. Flats are seeded but need to seed more. Can never have too many of those this time of year. Meat birds are looking good and selling like crazy. Quite a bit of interest in a winter CSA but I am just not sure I want to do that yet. Need to make a decision soon though. Plenty of product on hand for a small one. It's just the salad part. Hopefully my neighbor is going to get across the road and hay the field. I still need about 100 bails of mulch hay for this winter. Trying to shop for a tractor still....need to do it but with most large purchases indecision and hesitation about debt rule the day........Well need to go pack up the last of the tomatoes and try and find some salad for my wholesale accounts.

First frost tonight! I will be out checking the remay before midnight. Next batch of meat chickens are doing well. Ducks look great and will be ready around Thanksgiving. Veggies are hanging in there but some things are just done. I tore out all the cherry tomatoes this week and am looking real hard at the eggplant and slicing tomatoes next. Seeding flats like crazy and hoping I thought about things enough last winter to get the planning right. No time to sit, just need to follow the plan and get the seeds in some soil. After tonight we have nice weather on tap for another 10 days. Really hoping for a long and warm fall. Market in Montpelier continues to do well. Really need to make myself stand out a bit more since I am in the back around the corner behind the telephone pole...just kidding, kind of. Ground cherries are doing well need to find another 300 pints by next Tuesday. Should be fine. Ditch digging continues........ugh. Nice weather tomorrow, have to get a few things done, make a delivery and buy the NY Times. Joe

Well here are starting September. Time to get the fields finished up, replanted, etc. Deer are moving in, greenhouses are finishing up with summer crops and I need to get transplants going for the fall winter plantings in them. Spent most of today digging potatoes. Yes, by hand. No tractor so no digger. Crop looks good overall, my big russets have hollow rot. Need to research the causes of that. The Carollas look good though. Onion harvest was decent and I will be making Onion soup base out them for this winter. Other soups are in the works and planning for winter market has started. Winter squash crop is looking odd. Kind of like my corn crop. All of it is small (cute) and will be getting sold as mini, baby, or personal squash. No harvest until the first lite frost. Trying to start the rest of the ditching in the greenhouses tomorrow. This month is going to be really nuts with all the things that have to get done. October will be crazy as well but not too bad if I can push this month and get the work done. Large projects that just need to get finished. Once they are off my plate... no more large projects for a while, except maybe another greenhouse...........well off to see what the deer are into before I go to bed.