Howdy Folks, 

It takes me a short time to acclimate to the changing seasons.  So, I’m just going to say it for some of us heat lovers, “It’s freezing!!!”  It can be a quick down turn to cold at this time of year.  There is a lot of “gambling” of sorts when we plant out late season vegetables.  We never know if the fall will be mild or cold, success or failure.

As of now, it appears it will be an average fall, which is cold.  The last 2 falls were extremely mild until November.  That can all change quickly and become quite mild in October so I’ll refrain from cold-planing.  At this time of year, I more or less refuse to wear a hat so that I soak up every sunray before the sun disappears.  The sun is so gentle right now.

What defines the growing season here in PA is the temperature and daylight.  Obviously, when it’s freezing outside, vegetables don’t grow or slowly die.  But the other less obvious factor is the length of daylight.  So it needs to be warm with a good amount of sunlight.  As of the 2nd week in November, there is basically not enough sunlight for plants to grow.  All of the hoop houses we plant with fall vegetables need to be planted at the latest, right about now, to achieve full size.

Plants will still grow to some extent but there are different light requirements for various vegetables.  What's interesting is comparing the hours of sunlight we have now in October to an equivalent amount in Spring.  What month would that be?  April.  Right now we get the same amount of sunlight hours per day as early April.  By mid October we’re dipping into the sunlight hours of March and November is more or less February.  Is that interesting to only me?

What’s amazing is that 1 month and some change ago it was august and the sun was very strong and it was hot.  

Weather is changing and so too are the vegetables we’ll be putting in your boxes.  The season changes from fresh eating vegetables mostly to vegetables to cook.  

I love fall for the cozy aspects of it all.  Don’t really care for the cold of winter.  I would be remiss to not acknowledge that the cold of winter kills disease and critters that enjoy our crops.  Without winter, our job growing organic vegetables could be exceedingly difficult. Winter is an extra ‘kill-step’ in the process of growing food that starts out very easy in spring and gets more and more difficult as the season progresses and the critters and diseases rebound.

Which brings me to where we are now.  The end of the season of outdoor growing.  Nothing at this point is being planted outside.  Now, we prepare the hoop houses that offer cold protection and we continue to bring in the harvest…and clean up…a lot.

Your Farmers,

Chris, Aeros and The Who Crew