Walking Old Fields, Plowing New Fields
When I woke up this morning I realized that I only have 10 workdays left in my 2020 season at Red Dog. The end of a yearlong endeavor working on a vegetable farm has a way of sneaking up you. At times it can feel like someone is playing with life’s fast forward and pause buttons as June creeps at snail’s pace and September and October seemingly disappear without a trace. This year marks the completion of my fifth season here on the farm and my last as Farm Manager. Next year I will still be around driving tractors, mostly part time. I have...
read moreNerding Out on Radicchio
In your share this week is one of my favorite things to harvest on the farm. It adds vibrancy to the dull monotones of late fall, and a pop of color in our salad mix. It might startle you with its bitter taste but can be tempered with a sauté or a dressing. It’s a chicory from Italy, and it thrives in the winter months. I’ve heard it’s the new kale!!! You guessed it…..RADICCHIO. Let us not be scared of its bitter nature but find its sweeter parts, and tell all your friends how rad it is!This year we grew around 20 different radicchio...
read moreA Bit of Blue Skies
The rain has stopped for now, and the blue sky is back! In the morning, when the clouds clear, there is usually a stormy cloud horizon until the sun breaks through before lunch. This morning, the neighbor’s horses were contrasted on the dark horizon with beautiful lighting on the south part of the farm by Center Road. The farm’s property is separated from the neighbors’ by a fence. Trumpeter swans are migrating through Jefferson County right now, over that fence, heading south down the valley.Last week, one of the farm’s fields called Patsy...
read morePeace in the Rain
Today, I’m the lucky one who gets to be on the computer while my friends work outside in the rain. Lately, the rain, along with the cold and shorter days, has been the most obvious change for us on the farm. Since the field roads are starting to flood, we can only take out trucks with four wheel drive. While I’m on my way to harvest, sliding down the muddy road in Buster (the 1988 Ford) or Romeo (the 1994 Ford), I can see my coworkers picking something in the distance and am getting better at telling our green or orange PVC suits apart....
read moreBuoyed by Diversity
The red cabbages in your share this week are beautiful in the field. The dusty-lilac and rich violet colors of their leaves contrast with the various greens of their neighbors, which include other kinds of cabbages, several types of kales, sunchokes, lettuces, leeks, and more. This kind of diversity is one of the factors that kept the farm stable during this chaotic year. We grow many different crops, and multiple varieties of some crops, and offer them to lots of outlets. The strength of this diversity is that if one crop fails, or one...
read moreAppreciating the Food of the Season
As much as I love the abundance of summer and all its colorful offerings, I am ready to deepen into winter and eat some kale. Kale and squash. I am beginning to wonder what my capacity is for squash soup meals, and if I will ever surpass it. So far I think I could eat squash soup every night. And just when I’m over it, something new will come along, like purple sprouting broccoli or raab!That is the beauty of being a part of a growing season. You never feel tethered to one thing. There is room to be present in the season’s offerings...
read moreSeasonal Harvests, Seasonal Costumes
Greetings, Red Dog Farm newsletter readers. Sean here, also known on the farm as Guava. I left you last time with a newsletter about the smoke, and how we were harvesting crops in the field we call Roscoe. Squash was the biggest harvest of crops from Roscoe, along with potatoes, and both made it safely to storage before the first hard frost. The smoke has since cleared, and in its wake, a thick fog has been flooding the valley in the cold mornings. Roscoe was also cleared of black plastic and drip tape after the harvest. As observed by Karyn,...
read moreLife by the Season, At Last
The first time I ever heard of a summer squash I was 18 years old. Growing up in the Midwest, vegetables to me were something mushy and grayish that came in a can, or if they didn’t come in a can, they were boiled extensively until transformed into a soggy paste. For most meals, vegetables materialized in the form of a bag of frozen peas and corn, microwaved and occupying a tiny corner of my plate. A token nod to health, largely ignored. Frozen pizzas and boxes of macaroni and cheese constituted the most substantial portion of my diet, and I...
read moreReflecting Back and Looking Forward While Tilling
I look forward to tilling on the tractor because it gives me a unique chance to reflect on the season.To start tilling, I line the tractor up with the bed ahead, drive forward over the bed, and drop the spinning tiller implement into the soil. To make a nice bed, you have to always be paying attention: looking forward to make sure you are straight, and backward to make sure you are tilling at the right depth.When I’m looking back and forth, I see the old crop in front of me and the colorful, mulched remains behind. It marks the end of that...
read moreMarvelous Squash!
Today is finally squash harvest day here at Red Dog Farm, one of the most exciting events on the farming calendar. There really is something so satisfying about harvesting a squash. It is the ultimate symbol the successful completion of another busy growing season, and proof that we have taken full advantage of the lush summer and are prepared for the long winter ahead. As I was harvesting squash this morning, I was so charmed by each variety’s unique character and distinctive beauty. Before coming to work at Red Dog, I was pitifully ignorant...
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