October 2024 Newsletter: Last day of the Farmstand and Bulk Orders

Often the truncated days of autumn, with their long shadows and slanting, honey-hued sunlight, are accompanied by frost in the hour just before sunrise, but we’ve been having an extended summer—cool but frost-free mornings ripen into sultry afternoons; frost is absent, rain is rare. Apparently, this is just what the tomatoes were hoping for, as they have continued to astound us with their late season bounty—but the end looms, even without the killing frost: each harvest may be the last as the diseases and other conditions that tomatoes of a certain age are prone to slowly overtake our exhausted vines. Other vegetables have similarly prospered in this unusually dry, warm season, with record yields in crops as dissimilar as sweet potatoes and cauliflower, dahlias and apples. Not all our long roster had a winning season, however—last year’s MVP, potatoes (which, at the time, frightened us with their sheer size and abundance) are basically on the DL this year, with a mere smattering of a yield, and are small to boot. Broccoli has also had a rather difficult time of it, inexplicably, because all of its close relatives—Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, kale—have performed magnificently. Every family has its black sheep. All this abundance, energizing and gratifying as it is, is likewise exhausting. We aren’t exactly celebrating our failures, but a successful season begs the question: what would we actually do if everything did really well? How would we possibly keep up? Where would we put it all? Questions to ponder on a cold winter’s evening by the fire. Thankfully, we have been blessed with a hardworking, focused crew—both farmstand and field—who have been busy learning firsthand the literal origins behind such colorful expressions as “small potatoes”, “not worth a hill of beans”, “in the weeds”, and “just fell off the turnip truck”. We owe them–and our devoted customers–any success we have achieved this year. We hope you’ll be able to stop in before the farmstand closes for the season on Saturday, November 2nd at 5pm.  Our farmstand is still full with an abundance as we head into these final weeks. As always please check our website as always for the most up to date listing of what is available. We are grateful for another season of gracious customers who continue to support us. Thank you! We are now accepting orders for selected storage vegetables in bulk quantities. We are very sorry to not be able to offer potatoes this year, but we do have a nice crop of sweet potatoes, green cabbage, and carrots! Please see the end of this email for a link to our order form—just follow the prompts to sign up for the following: -20 lb bags sweet potatoes for $37 each. Sweet potatoes are unwashed for better storage. At our discretion the variety will either be “Covington” or “Mahon Yam” both varieties have smooth, sweet, orange flesh and quite similar. -25 lb bags of washed carrots for $35 each -30 lb net bags of green storage cabbage for $20 each Please remember we fill bulk order requests in the order in which they were received – if you are lower on our list there is less of a chance we will be able to fulfill your request. We have limited quantities! When we fill your order, we will email you that it is ready for pick up – please wait for your email confirming we were able to fill your order before trying to pick up. If we are unable to fill your order you will also get an email letting you know! Payment is due at pick up. Pickups will occur the last week we are open for the season: Sunday October 27th – Saturday November 2nd. If you are unable to pick up this week, or would like us to bring your order into a farmers market location, please email us at info@hutchinsfarm.com to make arrangements. For best results, store sweet potatoes above 50 degrees in an area with moderate humidity—they can keep well into next spring under the right conditions. Carrots and Cabbage should be stored in cold (slightly above freezing) temperatures at high humidity if possible. Link to our order form is HERE Thank you, and happy October! We hope to see you soon at the farmstand, or at the markets! -Brian, Liza, and the Hutchins Farm Crew