17 Degrees!

We found out Friday night that the high tunnel doesn't protect tender vegetables when the temperature dips to 17 degrees. Today the look of our high tunnel is vastly different than it was Friday morning! We've pulled all the tomato and pepper plants and their trellising system. The good news is that the new plantings of lettuce and Swiss Chard survived and are thriving.
The first of the tomato and pepper plants went in the high tunnel the first week of May allowing us a growing season that lasted a little over five months. We began harvesting tomatoes the second week of July and continued harvesting them until October 12. Many lessons have been learned as we look forward to a new growing season.
Meanwhile, we still have beets in the ground that are available for sale to the public. In addition, we have a limited number of cabbages, shallots, Swiss chard and a few onions for sale. Winter squash is also safely harvested and stored and available for sale. Varieties include Hubbard, Butternut, Buttercup and acorn.

And ... POTATOES! Many of you enjoyed samples of the 24 varieties we planted as we unveiled them at the Potter County Farmers' Market this summer. The main harvest is now underway. Send a message or call (814-274-8004) to reserve yours today. We can mix or match varieties and sizes to suit your needs. Also, if you'd like us to store them, you can place your order and we'll save them here until you need them.
Potatoes are commercially grown with chemical herbicides, fungicides and pesticides at many times during their life cycle. Ours have none of that and you can even feel good about eating the skins - and let's face it, aren't the skins from an oven-baked potato amazing?

A Sign Of The Times

We don't need the calendar to tell us it's October when we have a high tunnel closed up for the chilly autumn nights.

We took the opportunity to go to a Friday night concert in State College (Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band) and missed the Farmers' Market last week -- and miss it we did! I missed seeing and visiting with all our customers. We'll be back this week - probably both Friday and Saturday due to the Falling Leaves Festival -- but Friday for sure.
The garden continues to produce and the recent frosts have been spotty here on the farm. The winter squashes and pumpkins on the hill did get frosted and so it's time to bring them in.
I planted carrots late this year to harvest in late October. I also planted some in the high tunnel with hopes of harvesting them all through the winter. The late-planted lettuce and Swiss chard in the high tunnel is looking good too.