Canadian Tales: Baby, It's cold outside

Brrr, blimey it’s cold. Fall has set in and with it has come the rain, crazy strong winds and we’ve had our first frost. Over the last couple of weeks on the farm we’ve been doing a lot of big harvests – all the rainbow beets and rainbow carrots are now out of the ground and in storage and will be sold at market and given to CSA over the coming weeks.

we got the carrots

There is still a lot in the ground yet to come out- lots and lots of storage carrots and beets which will be stored over winter, and also a good amount of potatoes. The rainbow carrots and beets are short term storage varieties, whereas those that are yet to come out of the ground (e.g. Chantenay and Bolero are the two carrot varieties) will keep for months and months in the right conditions. In fact Leah and I were sorting last year’s storage crops this May and they were still good.

The other day it was so windy the plastic skin on the greenhouse got ripped to shreds so there was a bit of a dash to get all the onions out that had been curing in there before the rain came. Cured onions and rain do not mix. Many of the onions have been affected by a fungus that softens the stem and causes rot, so over the past week we’ve been sorting through the ones good for storage and the ones that need to be sold quickly. the onions not suitable for storage we clean off the damaged layers to reveal a beautiful shiny gem of an onion beneath that we then sell at market. Many people comment on how beautiful they look, one little boy even saying that they look like candy!

cool praying mantis that was in the greenhouse when we were doing onions

This past Saturday was the Autumn equinox, a time of balance, day and night being equal. The nights are now longer than the days and I find myself sleeping a lot more with the earlier onset of the dark. I never thought before coming here I would be going to sleep at around 8:30pm, but it’s a rhythm that has happened perfectly naturally; go to sleep with the sunset and wake up with the sunrise.

Nature itself is winding down into the dark of the year, I’ve noticed there isn’t a dawn chorus now, perhaps the song birds have migrated south? The air also isn’t filled with the sound of insects any longer, the crickets don’t chirp unless it’s warm it seems.

This Monday just gone the four of us went into Pembroke to do a bit of shopping, stocking up on warm clothing at the second hand stores and getting other bits and pieces. Jackson found lots of goodies for his home brewing ventures, so there is going to be plenty to drink over the next couple of months; perfect for those long cold nights!