A Farmers Market Vignette
In August, guiding a box truck onto Tyler Street in preparation for our farmers market was challenging. Three rows of tents, more vehicles, and even more people filled the street then; all bustling to arrange wares before the market bell sounded. We drove in carefully and unloaded quickly. We looked over our shoulder while setting up tables to check if the path remained clear. When it wasn’t, we negotiated with kind neighbors to clear a route. There were tight lips as the truck’s high white wall cleared craft displays by a few feet. There...
read moreHauntings in the Fields
As the days are becoming shorter and the veil is thinning, things are getting a little spooky here at Red Dog. Every morning, we arrive one by one, our headlights illuminating the gravel drive as we slowly make our way towards the dark silhouette of the farm. As the sun creeps its way over the valley it reveals a thick layer of mist that clings to our long rows of crops, concealing what lays within. The muffled cries of birds awakening seep out of the fields as we sip our morning coffee and cover ourselves with layers until only our eyes are...
read moreWelcoming the Wind: Appreciating Fall on the Farm
With wind howling through the valley in recent days, the stormy season is upon us. With that in mind, there are many months behind us since we first seeded our crops, and we’re now getting a good perspective on which crops have done well in their fields. For the curious, it might be nice to get informed look at how some of your favorite veggies are growing.An observation from the field as we get geared up for storage is that the beets this year are rather large! In the previous year, the red variety got up to a pretty big size, while others...
read morePesto for Fall
Thanks to David Conklin for the photo above! Fall has arrived. She has wrapped us in a blanket of reds and rusty yellows; fallen leaves, Madrona berries, morning light streaking heavily across the sky. Suddenly, all across the farm, the fields are open swaths of soil. Crops have been tilled in, left to break down and return to the soil again. Gone are the days of surprise cauliflower harvest – 800 pounds in a day! Gone are the summer squash, hot afternoons with scraped and itchy arms (despite our love of zucchini, no one has expressed grief...
read moreAutumnal Kraut
Thanks to David Conklin for the photo of Solomon planting tulips for next spring! October is filled with change – the dramatic dwindling of the sun, cold mornings and hot days and everything in between. All the crops and fields on the farm reflect and respond to these shifts. As a part-time employee, these changes are exaggerated and measurable to me, especially after frosts. I enjoy being in relationship with the changing seasons and learning how to adapt and respond to the unpredictable. Fall prompts us to consider what we’re ready to...
read moreCelebrating Equinox
We passed the autumnal equinox last weekend, and just like that, summer has moved into fall! The word “equinox” is derived from the Latin meaning “equal” and “night,” referring to the roughly 12-hour days and 12-hour nights that occur twice each year. The fall equinox is a time of cultural significance around the world. In the United States, many communities host harvest festivals that feature corn mazes, apple bobbing, hayrides, and pumpkin patches. Here are some traditions from other parts of the world: – In...
read moreEquinox Harvests
At the halfway point between the solstices, just past the Autumnal Equinox, the farm is reflecting the time of year quite nicely. The days start after sunrise and some of the crops that were exploding in July are still stocked in the farmstand, but yielding less in the field. It’s a good time to stop by and check out what is available. Perhaps making a sauce or preserving some of those veggies would keep the summer feeling alive in the pantry, or maybe one could read up on recipes for the all-year crops and winter offerings, or of course one...
read moreWinter Squash, in Three Haiku
Broad, dark, empty field; Prepared for more in sweet June;Strangers, small green hopes; Together we walk;August fog lifts from morning vine; Where there was nothing; Mid-September rains;Cradle these fruit, wash the mud; Friends, suddenly here. ~Solomon
read moreMisty Mornings in Chimacum Valley
Thanks to David Conklin for the photo! Happy September! It feels like August flew by here on the farm. Each new month brings new vegetables into season, and as we say hello to our fall crops, we say goodbye to some of our summer fruits and veggies. In August we said goodbye to two of my favorites: raspberries and basil. And as Flynn wrote about last week, all of our onions are now out of the ground and curing in our greenhouses. As the month passed too quickly, it seems it took summer with it. I’m not originally from Washington. I moved...
read moreThe Great Onion Harvest of 2024
Weather dictates so much of farming, especially harvests. Last week was one of those weeks where, despite other pressing harvests on the docket, the weather forced our hand and we needed to switch gears and get all hands on deck for the onion harvest before the rains came. Our onion crop this year is pretty hefty – we had about 13 beds of onions including sweet, yellow, and red onions as well as shallots. These beauties were all seeded in February and transplanted in April, and after 7 long months of life, they were large and...
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