As summer comes to an end and fall is in the air, the farm undergoes a big transition. Above, Bucky is using a tractor implement to lift the plastic and irrigation lines out of a summer crop field that will soon be prepped for winter cover crop planting. All of our veggie beds will be planted will a cover crop of rye, peas, or other cool season plants/grasses that will help provide nutrients and protection to the soils as they rest over the winter months.
Above, Ramon and Juan Jose are breaking down some of the early tomatoes. We plant 3 different successions of slicing tomatoes to see us through the whole summer. While our last planting is style going strong, this group is finished producing and ready to be tilled into the ground, then the field will be planted in cover crop. We are removing the twine that creates the trellises, then removing the stakes that hold the plants up, followed by removing irrigation lines. Below, a mound of ground cloth is folded up and heading into storage for re-use next Spring.
But it ain’t over yet!!!! On the other side of the farm are all the growing and thriving adolescent fall plants that we have to look forward to – broccoli, cauliflower, lettuces, beets, turnips, winter squash and more. In this photo above we are using a bird netting that is typically used to cover orchard crops like blueberries from the birds, but we’ve found it to be successful in protecting the lettuce from its number one fan – DEER!
