November 2024 Newsletter

Visually, November has begun normally, trees in various stages of undress, their foliage carelessly strewn across fields and forest floor. The smell of smoke would likewise be normal if it were rising from nearby chimneys, rather than borne on strange summer-like winds from wildfires in not-so-distant towns. And the drought that has persisted more or less since the rivers receded from a rarely seen high flood stage that persisted winter-long through April, and the ongoing heat that keeps resurging like a relapsing fever–not normal, but what is normal now? The farmer, particularly the farmer with crops that survive the winter, is concerned by the heat: will the apple trees and blueberries recommence spring growth prematurely, to be damaged, possibly severely by the inevitable sudden descent into prolonged winter temperatures? And this year of record breaking dry on the heels of last of record breaking flood? How do we proceed? Farming is a calculated gamble at best, with lots of side bets to hedge risk, but the odds seem to be approaching a crap shoot, or maybe a lottery ticket with not much of a payout even if it hits. We actually had a pretty lucky streak this season–extremely high floods early this season, like a hangover from last year, receded early enough not to disturb our early crops much. The strawberries, which spent all winter at the very edge of a river grown very wide, didn’t fare well, but other crops went in on time, and dutifully put forth their produce The middle of June brought a prolonged heat wave with accompanying inhuman humidity which certainly put our crew to the test, and may have played a role in the unusual performance of some fruiting crops, some of which had delayed yields (tomatoes, peppers), while others had lighter than normal yields (winter squash, pumpkins). Southern stalwart okra performed the best we’ve seen, to the delight of probably five customers. Standout crops this year included garlic (we weren’t sure how it would respond to this past non-winter winter), cut flowers, which, given irrigation and the considerable efforts of manager Huey Harn-Chen, thrived with the lack of disease-promoting humidity and rain, and apples: although yields weren’t huge, we were delighted to see that the curse may be reversed, as this is the first year we have had a crop at all in a year ending in an even number in more than a decade, and the quality was excellent, thanks to orchardist Dave Rice’s diligence and discernment. The consistency and quality of many crops was also notable this year, from the sweet corn that started earlier than we’ve ever experienced and was rarely absent from the farmstand during its long run, to carrots, arugula, radishes, lettuce, kale, chard, parsley, bok choy and basil that kept on coming more of less continuously from the time of the first harvest, many of them still pouring in as I write. Kudos to Ted Thompson and Matt Marolda for their tirelessness and skillful execution. I’m sure many people are curious what happened to the potatoes, particularly after such a standout crop last year. Potatoes face an existential challenge in the very difficult to control Colorado Potato Beetle, which is notorious for rapidly evolving to overcome any strategy used to try and control it. The most effective method of control is to use long distance crop rotation, locating each year’s potato crop as far as possible (preferably at least a significant fraction of a mile) from where they were grown the previous season, a technique that we are lucky enough to be able to use because we manage fields some distance from each other. Because the pest has recently been expanding its host range from the traditional potato and eggplant to begin to dine on tomato, I wanted to experiment with trying to get two years of production from one location, only rotating to a distance of about 500′ from last year’s crop. I had multi-pronged strategies and innovative ideas ready to deploy, but nothing seemed to stem the tide of beetles, which keep emerging over a long period of time from their overwintering sites. Our potatoes actually looked fantastic for a while, but the beetles eventually got the upper hand–large sections of the field were severely defoliated just as the soil began to get to a critically dry stage. At a certain point, we had to decide whether to dedicate the many skilled hours it would require to water a clearly damaged crop, or spend that time making sure other crops were planted as scheduled and received the care they needed. Ultimately I felt there was only one decision to make. We are also very much indebted to our redoubtable crew, in particular Harvest Managers Susan Huyett and Liz Norton, Greenhouse Manager Abby Cramer, and our longtime previous Harvest Manager Jon Bergan, who returned this year in a supporting role. Our crews all season did a tremendous job, even when the heat and humidity put them to quite a test. We would be remiss not to mention the work of Farmstand Manager Kathy Rice – for the past five seasons she has thrown herself into the farmstand with her warm and wonderful spirit, and has shepherded many of our younger employees into the working world. She and Dave are off to new adventures in northern New York next year, and we wish them well in the next chapter! But they will be greatly missed here at Hutchins. For those of you still in need of some Hutchins produce, the honor system self-serve on the farmstand porch will start this week – please check our website for the most up to date information. Remember self-serve is exact change or check only! And we can only have the produce outside when the weather cooperates, so please please check the website before making the trip over. We will continue attending the Monday Cambridge Central Square farmers market until Thanksgiving, so we hope to see our city customers there! Thank you all for a wonderful season. We cannot do this without our wonderful customers, thank you for your patronage, your kindness, and your good humor! Hope you all have a good and restful winter, -Brian Cramer, Liza Bemis, and the Hutchins Farm Crew