Farm Friday, November 17th, 2023

Last Official Harvest of 2023

This was a big week on the farm. Monday we got ready for our annual delivery of winter produce. We harvested carrots and herbs, sorted squash, and bagged up onions, garlic, and shallots. Then on Tuesday, a crew of Junior High students came to help us finish the prep and use an assembly line to fill the boxes. They picked kale, Brussels sprouts, and leeks.

The boxes were amazing this year. A sample of all the bounty of the season:

1. 4# Onions, Garlic, Shallots
2. 5# Potatoes
3. 2# Carrots
4. 3 Big Leeks
5. 2# Brussels Sprouts
6. 2 Butternut Squash
7. 2 Delicata Squash
8. 1 Pie Pumpkin
9. Bunch of Seasonal Herbs
10. Bunch of Curly Kale
11. Set of Hand-Dipped Beeswax Tapers
12. 1# Jar of Honey
13. 3/4 Pint Flask of Maple Syrup
14. 2 Ears of Popcorn
15. Photo Card with Farm Animals or Wild Birds
16. Recipe Sheet

We made 64 boxes and every one of them found a home. I was tired on Tuesday night, but it was a good tired. We were done with all the harvesting and delivering of produce for the year. Any produce that is left can be eaten or donated to the food shelf. And I can focus on my list of things to do before the ground freezes.

Then on Wednesday, we brought corn, beans, and pumpkins in to the Urban Campus of the school and did seed-extracting activities with children. It is wonderful work that connects young people to vital food through the work of their hands.

I didn’t get any photos from the work Monday-Wednesday because I was in the middle of it.

Thursday was spa day for the sheep. We trimmed their hooves and clipped off the burrs in their wool.

The leaves are all gone from the trees

Orion rising over the barn

Frost on the greenhouse plastic

Little Bear is a good snuggler

We still have a forest of Brussels Sprouts

The ivy leaves in Minneapolis at the school

Chickens finding cover in tall weeds during the day

Chili the sheep.

Pepper the sheep on our little “hammock” contraption we use to immobilize the sheep while trimming hooves

Jen and Katie doing the trim work

Jen showing one side trimmed and the other side overgrown

Chili while getting the burrs cut out of her wool.

Pumpkin Seeds separated by children and dried for us to make pepitas

Honduran Red Beans Separated by children and sorted

Tonight’s sunset

In writing news, I got a tip on a podcast that explains the big picture. Only it is over three hours long. So there is that.

Daniel Schmachtenberger: "Artificial Intelligence and The Superorganism" | The Great Simplification

Selfie with Little Bear.