Away for a few days, off the farm, or maybe I've "gone off the reservation" who knows. Nice to be with family and relax a bit with nothing to do. Very short lived though. Right back into things on Sunday and alot of deadlines to meet by Monday and Tuesday. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!
Joe

Made it! Sunday morning and the week is behind me. Market went well yesterday. I really need to get a bigger space next year. Too much stuff in too little space. Taking a few days off then soup making and winter market start. Soup will be available at the winter market served hot and ready to eat as well as by the quart and maybe the pint to take home. Looking forward to the slightly slower and different pace of winter. An enormous amount of planning and paperwork looming in the future. I will be cooking soup out of the LACE incubator kitchen in Barre. Really nice space and a great opportunity. I am really excited to be getting back in the kitchen and cooking. This is the start of combining my two passions, farming, and cooking in a way that will be accessible to everyone. Now to finish cleaning up the farm and putting everything to be for the winter. The list is long and made up of lots of little jobs. Have a great holiday everyone and thanks again for a great summer season. Joe

Well the ducks were slaughtered on Saturday. I will not be doing these again any time soon. Plucking of the muscovy was extremely hard. The hens weighed in at about 2-3lbs each and the males weighed in at about 7-8 lbs each. So an extra 8 weeks and alot of extra work. Need to make croutons tomorrow/today for Red Hen and get ready for the big Thanksgiving market that is this Saturday. Winter housing for the laying hens is being worked on. The snow has stayed away so far so I am trying really hard to get a number of things finished up. Need to seal up the greenhouses better for the winter and get a new door made. The really warm temps today make that a tough thing to do. Too hot in the greenhouses and everything will start to bolt and go to seed. Well going to go and try getting some sleep, really busy and charged week on tap, I will write more after this coming Saturday.

Last "summer" market yesterday. Still debating if October is worth going to market financially. It's always fun and it gives me the chance to see allot of friends and acquaintances each week. Regardless of the weather. A big thank you to all of my regular customers, new and old. Your support is greatly appreciated and I look forward to seeing all of you at the Thanksgiving Market and then the winter markets. I am working to have alot of spinach and salad for you this winter. The lack of sun is proving to be a big challenge. Temperature not so much. If any of you know of a hay wagon running gear set up that someone would be willing to part with I am very interested in finding one. I plan on building a very large mobile laying hen roost with it. So let me know. I am realizing they are as scarce as ........hens teeth. Ouch..... Off to my daughters swim meet this morning which brings me to daylight savings time........when will this crazyness be ended. Forgot about it got up at "5:30" and sat down with my coffee and my computers is telling me it's 4:45...another ouch. So I have given alot of thought to a winter CSA. I think it would be great to do one but I just not become a decent enough grower to get a sufficient amount of root crops put away. Perhaps I should get one going next winter but get together a cooperative of a few growers to put together the CSA. Let me know what you think. Deliveries would be at the Montp. Winter farmer's market every other week.