News of the weird, impulse, instinct, sex drive, survival of the fittest...climate change, global warming, chaos...things are not normal these days. Here are a few examples:
1) Tomatoes dropped from the vine in August have grown new plants that now have green tomatoes growing and ripening!
2) The same for arugula gone to seed now on the fourth self-propagated crop of the season.
3) The neighbor combined his soybeans not two weeks ago, and today, thick new rows of beans grow up out of seeds left behind on the lowest branches missed by the cutter.
4) My raspberries CONTINUE TO FLOWER(!), produce more berries and ripen for snacking.
5) William reports gopher activity at the highest levels he's ever seen out in the fields - the same for moles at my place where a super highway of visible mounded runs can be seen ALL OVER the lawn.
This rare season with temperatures well above the normal frosty notes of October have all things growing at a frenetic pace. Every year I marvel at the grasses in the ditches that grow seed heads. In the early summer these grasses begin to grow, and sometime in July they start to go to seed. Shortly after the seed heads begin to sway and waft above the mass of grass and foliage below causing limited visibility on the country roads, township mowers come through to clip the ditches.
Since I love to get out for frequent walks, I watch these grasses, and within a short couple of weeks, if even, seed heads reappear on the now shorter mowed grass. In my own lawn, I have seen grasses go to seed in the late season in just a few days whereas in the early part of the spring/summer seasons, this seed head formation takes a couple of months. There must be something in a plant's DNA that tells it to move fast into reproduction as the season gets later. I suppose not unlike that expression of "Biological Clock." The older a woman gets, the louder that "clock" ticks suggesting get busy and make a baby! We are all programmed with an instinctual drive towards reproduction, but it seems there must be a program indicating time as well. Right now, an abnormally warm Fall is signaling, "Hurry Hurry!" to all the plants just beginning to grow from dropped seeds. They must be hearing the message, "Make fruit, make seed before the cold weather comes." It's chaos in the happy-still-growing-like-crazy garden!
WHAT'S IN THE STORE?
Since we will be closing for the season October 31st, we are winding down on product production, but the store is still stocked with lots of great things. Some of our CBD products are on sale to move out this year's inventory (Balms, Mineral Bath Soak, Facial Serums on sale). We have farm foraged FARM TEA for warming up in the cooler months to come with fabulous spun honey from Honey Hill Apiary to sweeten every cup! This combo would make a great gift! Also, William bagged up lots of sunflower seeds for those of you with backyard bird feeders, and if we can coax the hens to lay in the coop so we can find the eggs, we'll have a dozen to sell every so often! What else....hats, beef, hot sauces and of course, a view!
The farm store is open for your visit Thursday - Sunday 9-5, and the Fall Foliage is still spectacular along the Great River Road and Driftless Wisconsin.
Enjoy the chaos of these warm Fall days:)
Sending love from the farm,
Sarah