The farm woke up to an unexpected blanket of frost on Tuesday morning. We anticipated that Jack Frost might visit before the end of the week, so we had already begun preparing by installing hoops and row covers over beds that we planned to protect into the cooler weeks ahead. Thankfully, we had very little crop damage, but the cold temperatures prevented us from getting out into the field to harvest quit as early as we'd like. For better or worse, the crew is accustomed to long harvest and pack days on Tuesdays, so the team took it all in stride.
With the shorter days and cooler nights of fall, we are focused on putting the farm to bed for the year. In addition to covering crops with row covers, we also work to cover any soil that is not growing a cash crop with either a silage tarp or cover crop. By covering the soil, we aim to prevent mechanical erosion by wind and rain, but we also curb carbon loss in the process. When soil is directly exposed to oxygen in the air, elements within the soil are released in the form of greenhouse gases like Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Nitrous Oxide (N2O). This is a "double wamy" of sorts for farmers and the planet. Not only are essential elements for growing crops (like carbon and nitrogen) being released into the atmosphere, but they're being lost in a form that is toxic to the Earth's ozone layer. Keeping the soil covered as much as possible is a net positive all around!