Notes from Greg Maslowe, Farm ManagerI have a love and not exactly hate—perhaps melancholy is a better word—relationship with October. I love the cool days and crisp nights. I love the stunning display New England woods put on at this time of year. I love that the end of tomato picking is in sight! But I also get a serious case of the fall blahs around this time every year. I suppose that if I were more prone to jargon and our penchant to label everything, I’d find that I suffered from seasonal affective disorder. Whether it’s the change in temperature, the decreasing hours of daylight, or simply the fact that I spent too many years in school so I still associate fall with the return of papers and exams, I find October to be a month when my energy levels go down, even while there’s still work to be done.

Like for many kindergartners, October is a time when the farm staff is planting garlic. As kids in schools throughout Newton put garlic in the ground as part of a unit on life cycles, we’re busy planting our first crop for 2011. Garlic is one of the most winter-hardy crops we grow and is usually planted in late October or early November. Once it’s in the ground, we cover it with a thick blanket of straw and don’t really do anything with it until the following July when we harvest it. (Okay, there’s cutting the scapes in May or June, but that’s not a whole lot of work, and we get to sell them.) This summer, while a great year for tomatoes, was not such a good year for many garlic growers. Seed companies all over are sold out of garlic because of shortages from their suppliers. We, for example, buy a portion of our seed garlic direct from a garlic grower in upstate New York. When he sent us our shipment it was with a refund check for the 30% of our order he couldn’t fill. Fortunately, we had a pretty good year with garlic and saved a bunch of it for seed, so we’ll be able to plant our 3,000 or so garlic plants for next season.

Most of the rest of our field—other than garlic and cold-hardy greens like kale, spinach, and cabbage—is slowly but surely being planted with cover crops for the winter. After planting as much as possible with oats and peas (like the tomatoes I talked about last month) we’re on to planting winter rye, simultaneously the savior and scourge of many an organic farmer. Winter rye is a wonderful plant that can germinate (that is, sprout or start growing) in temperatures down to 32 degrees! This incredible feature allows farmers to plant winter rye very late in the season (often in late November) and still have a crop protecting their soil over the winter. Why would you want to wait so long to plant a cover crop? Because that allows you to keep cash crops in the field longer, which is good for your bottom line. The problem is that unlike oats and peas, which are killed by a hard frost (but continue to protect the soil because they don’t really rot over the winter), winter rye never dies. Okay, maybe never is an exaggeration. But if you’ve ever planted winter rye in your garden, you understand the sentiment. Not only is winter rye not killed by cold weather but it comes roaring back with a vengeance come spring. This makes preparing beds for planting a real pain. Or I should say can, as we at Newton Community Farm have been doing some experimenting with alternative ways to handle winter rye that make it a much more attractive cover crop. But since I’ll need something to write about over the winter, I’m going to leave that as a cliff hanger for now.

One of the great joys of October for organic farmers, and anyone who has a home garden, is the gold that rains down from the sky: those golden (and red and brown) leaves falling from the trees that literally (at least in New England) grow anywhere you don’t keep mowed. Leaves form the basis of our fertility program at the farm. We take in over 100 cubic yards of leaves each fall from landscapers whose clients don’t seem to realize what they’re giving away. Actually, they’re not even giving it away. They’re paying someone to give it away for them. We use these leaves as the basis of the compost operation that ensures that our soils continue to be enriched every year rather than worn out by constant farming. We’ll spend the next few weeks slowly moving our current compost pile to make room for as many leaves as we can possibly fit onto the farm. Over the next year we’ll mix these leaves with crop residues; some very select grass clippings (to avoid herbicides); rotten fruits and veggies; kitchen scrapings from many of you; and a healthy dose of mussel shells from a local restaurant to make a nutrient-rich compost for our field. That huge pile will have shrunk by 80% but in the process will have turned into black gold.

Before signing off, I wanted to pass along some wonderful news. Megan Talley, our intrepid intern with whom many of you had the great pleasure to work, will be returning to Newton Community Farm for the 2011 season as our assistant grower. Megan’s return will be a great boon to the farm, and I’m very excited to have her coming back.

Greg Maslowe

To learn more, click here.

On November 10 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. there will be a reception for the farm community to celebrate what we have accomplished in the past six years in bringing a piece of Newton’s history back to life. Folks of all ages are welcome. It is a great opportunity to see the other exhibits at the museum while celebrating your involvement with the farm. Light refreshments will be served.

Hope to see you at the reception.

Ted Chapman

October 17: All about Apples
October 23: Extending the Growing Season
October 28: Elementary School Early Release: Fall farmers
November 3 and 10: Beer Making for Everyone!
November 7: Easy as Pie
November 9: Cheese Making

Click here for more class information.

Christine Liu

Susan Tornheim

Click here for the farm recipe list.