Humble Pie Farm

Brrr! We took out some winter clothes today and bundled up for our morning walk about. Windy, and very cool. The forecast says 36 on Thursday night. That's pretty cold for our flowers, and we'll see how they hold up. The lilies and the lisianthus are in the caterpillar tunnel, so they should be comfy. 

It's been a great week!

We had a visit with Tina Smith, Mark Dayton's chief of staff and Lieutenant Governor candidate, and Beth Dooley, author of many cookbooks. We talked about the needs of small farmers. It was really cool. They asked great questions, and picked many flowers of course. Some would have taken photos. Not us. Sigh.

 We harvested gourds and munchkin and casperita pumpkins, and they're curing in the greenhouse. They are so sweet. Don't you just want to pile them on your dining room table around a beautiful lily and celosia bouquet? Lilies are coming in your bouquets this week. They will open and be a beautiful deep red as seen in the first photo. They last longer when we harvest them not yet open.

The wind is blowing hard out of the north. That's a sure sign of fall. Our spring and summer winds come mostly from the southwest. I roasted cauliflower and beets today. And I'm making soup broth right now. I love fall. I love love fall. Breathe out.

I wrote this last year and it's exactly how I'm feeling today...

One of my favorite things about farming is the observance of the seasons and the structuring our days and lives within them. Fall is the season of dying and preparing for the winter. Things slow down and the days have gotten shorter quickly. When I first began farming a few years ago, I felt sad when things started to die and we began bedding down for winter. Now I look forward to it. While it's been tricky for Mike and I not to have those early morning and late evening daylight hours for work, really, I'm relieved when we're sitting on the couch at 8:30, winding down for bed. With a few full seasons under my belt, now I love the winter practice of going slower, sleeping more, reflecting on life and planning for the future. Fall brings warm, comfort food like squash soups with sage and nutmeg. During winter, we eat hearty roasts and put-up roasted and fermented vegetables and begin to look forward to fresh things. When March gives way to April and things begin the speed up, we come out of our winter cocoons, stretch our rested, plump winter limbs and begin to work again. I crave tonic, cleansing spring greens as I welcome the flurry and momentum that builds the wave that is the farming season. Summer is the bounty of it all, and flowers are the epitome of the bounty, if you ask me!

Have a wonderful week, dear members!

Our best,
J,M&E