Kurt’s Field Blog Sept. 27 2025

Noah uses the new bedder Jed designed

This week has been a good mix of progress, crazy hectic schedule, and a few curveballs out in the fields. Jed and I have been putting one of his inventions to work—a tool he built for the garden beds. He bought an engine from the auction at S.C.R.A.P. and then attached some bed shaping wheels to the back. Noah love it, because it’s self-propelled, (no more heavy pushing) and it gets the job done twice as fast. Pretty cool to see Jed designing and then watching it actually make our jobs easier. I’ve got to admit, there’s something really satisfying about using something your kid built with his own two hands.

High tunnel tomato plants were pulled down and unstaked. We’ll disk this up and start growing something else here.

We got a little bit of rain this week, which is good. We need it. The forecast had been calling for rain all week, and then that just kind of disappeared. Lucky for us, we can irrigate, but I sure do like it when I don’t have to move pipe around every day. Carlo Pocino stopped by this week to drop off some fresh figs from his trees, AND he gave Corinna a very special gift — a fig sapling to plant in our orchard. This is pretty exciting. I love adding new things like this to my fruit orchard. So thank you, Carlo and Deb!

Student volunteers pack the CSA bins last week. They really enjoyed it!

We’ve started pulling out drip irrigation hoses in some fields now that the beds are emptying out. That’s always one of those “season-shift” jobs—it means summer’s winding down and fall is stepping in. The fields are beginning to look a little more open as we disk in cover crops, and I’m reminded that farming is this constant cycle of beginnings and endings.

Tonight we’re getting ready for our Field to Table dinner—one of the highlights of the year for us. The crew has been buzzing with last-minute prep, and I can’t wait to share the farm with folks in that setting. It’s a different kind of harvest celebration, and it always reminds me why we do this work.

This is what jicama looks like.

On the crop front, things are looking pretty darn good. Tomatoes are finally coming on strong (about time, right?!), and peppers are loaded out there—it feels like everywhere you turn, there’s another flush ready to pick. We also sent out a big wholesale order of tomatoes and peppers this week, which made for some busy mornings but feels good to move that much produce. The high tunnel tomato vines are coming down too, making way for whatever’s next. We should be able to get most of the bulk tomato canner orders done by this week — maybe just a few left for next. So thanks for your patience.

The fall crops are shaping up beautifully. The red kale in particular looks like it belongs on a magazine cover. We even dug up a few jicama as a test run—jury’s still out on the final yield, but they sure look promising. Corinna is really excited about that crop — it’s been a key gut healing food for her. On the flip side, we lost six beds of broccoli to Alternaria, a fungal disease. That’s never easy, but thankfully the broccolini is thriving and looks incredible—so we’ll take the win where we can.

And if you need a pick-me-up, just look around at the sunflowers right now—they’re in full bloom, and they’re downright cheerful. Between them, the fall crops, and all the food heading out the door, it feels like we’re moving into a really good rhythm here at the tail end of the season. Grateful, as always, for your support in making this whole thing possible.

Farmer Kurt