September 28, 2023

This past weekend we were blessed with some much needed rainfall. Not just a sprinkle here and there like we have been accustomed to this growing season, but an all-night soaker that has slowly begun to replenish the severely depleted soil moisture.

While this rain comes a bit too late to help with the 2023 growing season, it does give us hope for the 2024 growing season. The rain was able to soak into the ground and not just run off like it does during torrential rainfalls. While more moisture is needed to move us out of the drought we have experienced this summer, the rainfall over the weekend was a blessing nonetheless.

The calendar welcomed Fall over the weekend, but Summer continues to hang on with temperatures forecasted in the high 70s and low 80s for the next week. Typically, by this time of the season, we have put a substantial amount of work into protecting our crops from a season ending frost.

Summer produce at the vegetable stand

That does not seem to be the case this year, so the summer harvest continues. We are still harvesting sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, watermelon, and more.

With the day length getting shorter by the day, crops that we harvested every other day are now being harvested every 4 to 5 days instead. This is a sign that the season is coming to an end, but we always do our best to keep it going as long as possible.

Not only do we continue with the harvest of some of our summer favorites, but the fall harvest is well underway as well. While summer has been colliding with fall on the farm for the past few weeks, fall has really begun to take over our daily work.

  • The majority of our squash has been harvested and moved to our Waverly farm where we wash, pack, and ship it from.
  • Our pumpkin inventory continues to grow as we work to get as many out of the field as we can just in case we get a visit from Jack Frost.
  • It’s a time of year where our parking lot at the farm has turned into a staging site for all of the fall items like pumpkins, gourds, and squash. While a bit overwhelming at times, a truly beautiful sight on a sunny fall day.
pumpkins in the parking lot

The apple harvest continues as well. Although we faced some hail damage from a storm in mid-July, our apple crop has far exceeded our expectations this year. Currently, we are in the middle of harvesting the SweeTango variety and by the end of the week we hope to have that wrapped up so we can focus on the ever so popular Honeycrisp. After Honeycrisp, we will have just a few varieties remaining like Snow Sweet and Haralson. 

I hope you’re enjoying the Minnesota apple season this year because I think the flavors have been just phenomenal.

These next few weeks on the farm will be busy. Not only will the harvest continue, but there’s a lot of clean up that must be done as well.

  • Plants have to pulled from the high tunnels and plastic mulch removed from the soil.
  • Drip irrigation lines must be taken out of the ground, and lots of ground will be worked before we put everything to bed for the winter.
  • There’s field corn and soybeans that have to be harvested.

The lists may seem never ending, but somehow our great team manages to get it all done. I’ll report back in a couple of weeks to let you all know where we’re at and what remains.

Until then, thank you for your continued support.

Farmer Jerry