Happy September! Time to do all the summer things you wanted to do in the next couple weeks: eat a watermelon, go swimming, make jam, let your toes out of your boots, find a friend with a boat and get on it! Feels like the tomatoes just started to ripen and I thought, “Ah, summer is here.” Now I’m sitting by the wood stove wondering if it’s too early to make a fire.

This is a very fun time of year to be a farmer, though: the beautiful fusion of the sweetness of summer fruits and the depths of a fall bounty. There is a very short moment in time where you can eat a fresh tomato and a winter squash in one meal. Harvesting celery has got me thinking about soup. Watching the squash ripen has got me thinking about my winter sweaters. We transplanted our last plant starts, knowing that those little plants will feed us in the wintertime. Onions are curing, winter squash is ripening on the vine, overwintered carrots are starting to show their size, and potatoes are about ready to come out of the ground. All while we can still sneak a strawberry-and-corn snack in the field.

Summer and fall, fall and summer. A mix of the two make the best dinners. So while I will miss the abundance and colorful dinners of summer, I welcome the heartiness of fall.

~Julia