
Our summer crops are done - some years we can keep the peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant going right up til early November. This year there just hasn't been enough heat and light to keep them productive. We have more beans tucked into our greenhouse, where they'll hopefully stay warm enough to keep producing 'til Thanksgiving or so. Even chillier weather is forecast for later in the week. Which means it's time to tighten up the greenhouse, unearth the row covers from the back corners of the shed, and keep our fingers crossed for the first frost of the season by the weekend.
I am not a fan of cold weather. If it stayed a balmy 85 degrees year-round, I'd be the last person to object. But I do look forward to those first few frosts in the fall because the cold really sweetens up our leaf and root crops. It also means slightly shorter work days: in addition to fewer daylight hours, this farmer is enough of a cold-weather wimp she refuses to work outside below the 40-degree mark unless absolutely necessary. And best of all, those first couple of frosts happily zap what's left of the annual warm-weather weeds, and sends a good number of the insects to death or dormancy. Nothing makes me happier than to walk outside 24 hours after a good frost, to find the cold has taken care of much of my weed-pulling and bug-squishing chores for me!