Fallow Fields and Summer Dreams

It has been a cold week but that hasn’t stopped the crew from knocking out some big projects. The vegetable production team took advantage of the beautiful weather on Tuesday to plant next year’s garlic crop.After separating the cloves from the bulbs we typically select the best and brightest to be planted. This selective sorting over the years has created our famously giant garlic cloves (almost as big as my palm!). This year we didn’t bother to sort with the goal of bringing back some smaller cloves into the genetic mix.

To plant garlic, we create a deep hole with a dibbler tool (other wise known as a pointed stick), and then the cloves are carefully placed with the tip pointing up. They will spend the winter dormant, before sprouting in the spring for the garlic circle of life to continue! Until then we’ll be dreaming of garlic scapes and green garlic all winter long.

In other winter prep news, the flower bed is a far cry from the vibrancy of summer. The annuals and perennials team mowed down the vegetation and pulled up the landscape fabric. We will leave the roots in the soil to hold it in place over winter. In the spring these permanent beds will be gently harrowed to break up the soil surface, the landscape fabric will go back on, and the planting process will begin anew.

While the fields are fallow and the seeds of spring rest in the ground, farmers themselves don’t go dormant. As we enter the quiet lull of late fall and winter we will take some time to slow down, celebrate the harvest, and start to plan for next year. As the To Do list grows smaller and the weather grows colder it is satisfying to know that the flavors, colors, and blooms of summer await us next year.