Farm Friday, October 7th, 2022

Andrew Gaertner
3 min readOct 8, 2022

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Garlic is in!

We hit another marker of the fall season. Our garlic is planted. We had a class of elementary students out today and they planted garlic and harvested pumpkins. They finished neither project and since we are looking at some cold nights this weekend, my co-workers and I finished planting and loading all the squash and pumpkins into the greenhouse. I’m tired now, but glad both of those projects are done.

It was a good week of harvesting on the farm. We had our annual Harvest Fest on Saturday, with hayrides, cider pressing, and pick-your-own pumpkins. Then on Tuesday, we had our weekly market, with the end of the summer produce holding strong alongside the peak of the fall produce. This week we made close to $4000 for the school selling produce—one of our best weeks ever.

I published an essay about my school trip with 56 Junior High students. It includes two long add-ons: one a speech I never gave to the group and the other an explanation of Montessori for adolescents. The essay holds up without the asides, but I like tangents, so there.

I have been thinking about entering another Vocal Media challenge. I want to win this time, so I am busy psyching myself out of even trying.

All lined up and ready to be pushed into the ground for a long winter’s nap.
Cracked and ready to plant!
Squash, onions, shallots, and pumpkins stored in the greenhouse before the freeze
Playing with nighttime long exposure on the iPhone. Moon with clouds.
Another nightscape on the farm
Big mushroom that was under the tractor
Peak color with silo
Milkweed Fluff
We clipped whole vines of mini pumpkins and hung them on the wagon for the Harvest Festival last Saturday
Watermelon radishes
The last tomatoes
Dino kale
Our cat Prince, snuggled with a fleece from one of our sheep

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Andrew Gaertner
Andrew Gaertner

Written by Andrew Gaertner

To live in a world of peace and justice we must imagine it first. For this, we need artists and writers. I write to reach for the edges of what is possible.

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