Nothing makes me happier than the color orange. Why? Well for one thing my wife looks fabulous in the color and secondly I know the harvest season is on the final turn and the joy of a pumpkin field that brings excitement to the kids. To see children running from one pumpkin to the next out in the field is one of the neatest things a farmer can watch. How something so simple can bring so much energy to the one searching for the great pumpkin.
This last week with no rain has been absolutely fabulous. It has finally dried out in time for the fall harvest but not without repercussions. The dewy mornings and the constant rainfall over the last three months have definitely taken its toll on all the vine crops. Things look good from a far but when you turn the squash or a pumpkin over they might have a soft spot or they start breaking down earlier than expected due to sitting in the moist conditions for such an extended period of time. Compare it to you sitting in the bathtub for a couple of hours, it doesn’t look pretty when you get out. Really nothing can be done with the cards that have been dealt so we go into the field and row the veggies up to flip them on another side so they don’t continue to lay on the same side. This allows them to dry up a bit and tends to stop them from breaking down.
As the fall progresses we have already started planning for next year. We have 200 acres seeded down into cover crops that will help build up the soil nutrients and prevent any wind erosion occurring over the winter months. Some farmers start applying fertilizer for the following year but we have never followed this practice because we band 99 percent of the fertilizer either during planting and side dressing during the growing season when the plants are taking it up. This allows for less leaching and better soil management.
Enjoy the Fall colors and your PUMPKIN LATTES! Do you know they even have pumpkin latte soap? It is on my kitchen sink, couldn’t believe it. Happy haunted trails!
– Gary Pahl
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