Reflections on the end of the 2013 season

Welcome to a new year with Furlong Forest Farm. It's now February 2014 already. My how time flies.

As the end of the 2013 season came to a close, we were so busy with putting together each weeks CSA boxes all while preparing blocks of beds for next year by removing the last of the finished crops and building compost piles with them, then adding a mix of cover crops to the beds along with various powders and a layer of compost. It was a busy time, and each day left us exhausted with no energy to put together some blog posts to showcase all of the work that went into completing the end of the season so that we could put the farm to rest, while the soil and ourselves begin to rejuvenate for the new year. And boy did we need some rejuvenating....

October:

I'll begin way back in time with October. Yes, October. We had a little harvest gathering with some of our members. It was time for them to come and pick out their Jack O'Lantern pumpkins. Our pumpkins did so well, that people were able to take at least 2 pumpkins. We hung out under our shade tree sitting on hay bales (what else would you sit on?) munching on delicious farm snacks and then some homemade coconut ice cream with fresh farm strawberries. It was a great day with members meeting members, kids choosing pumpkins, and good conversation with all.

the pumpkin patch

carving an FFF pumpkin

the best pumpkin pickers

Your Furlong Forest Farm farmers (photo credit Chris Brigham - real photographers make us look good!)

Later in the month of November,  we did our final squash harvesting and boxed up the last of the tomatoes, green and all.

pumpkins butternuts tromboncinos oh my

moonglow and principe borghese tomatoes

cleaning up a carrot bed, but still having fun
(this is not a {carrot} pipe)

a lot of tromboncino

November:

In November it was all about our garlic for the 2014 season. We spent many evenings carefully peeling away garlic skins to break apart each clove of garlic and separating them into large, medium, and small cloves. Then it was time for planting into beds. We have almost 15 beds of garlic for next season! We are so excited to try out Inchelium Red and Spanish Roja, and continue to grow California Early and California Late.

inchelium red garlic cloves separated

planting garlic into beds

a batch of large cloves

one patch of garlic beds, covered with rice straw and protected with netting to keep out the turkeys

Also in November and December, our time was all about preparing the beds with powders and compost and then seeding them with a mix of winter cover crops such as vetch, barley, peas.

hoeing out an area that was unused in 2013 to prepare it for 2014

adding our powders to the beds that will then be chopped into the soil

seeding the beds then covering them with rice straw

By November 23rd we had delivered our final box! It was full of delicious things and special goodies that we were keeping secret for the final delivery. Since we were scrambling into the darkness of night to get the boxes packed and prepared, the photos taken were not very appealing. But believe us, they were stuffed full with good things from the farm.

December into January:

December left us with time to work on other things and to take some time off to visit family and friends for the holidays. In January, we went on a special vacation to the Hawaiian Islands, staying at an orchard cottage, eating fresh fruits every day, ready for traveling around the Big Island for 5 days. Then we flew to Oahu to meet up with family for a 7 day relaxation session with swims at the beach multiple times a day (easy to do when the beach is right out your back door) and a lot of time to enjoy rainbows and mai tais.

butterfly and rainbow in Waimanalo....
you couldn't get any better than this just outside your back door

Welcome back to Furlong Forest Farm. We hope the new year brings many wonderful days.