Harvesting baby arugula. Photo by Scott David Gordon

August is always a period of transition here at the farm. All of the crews are still working hard to harvest summer's abundance - melons, eggplant, and even some warm-weather greens are some of the favorites coming out of the field this week - but the focus has started to shift towards the upcoming Fall season. I love to plan for the future on the farm, and I always have big dreams for what we're going to do next. Here's what we've been doing this week:

Remember those grapes we planted back in March? Well, this week we are building our trellis, and man, this is a BIG project. Our new mechanic jumped right into a busy first week of work cutting 600 steel pieces for the new trellis. And that's just the first step of the process! Next we will drill holes in the metal, attach them to their posts, string cordon wire between the posts, and then train the grapes up! When I first planted these grapes, I didn't think about all the work that would go into creating the vineyard. As a farmer, you have to be an eternal optimist - I like to envision the end goal of a project without worrying about the obstacles along the way - sometimes you just have to jump right in and learn as you go! Luckily, we have some top-notch crews here at JBG who can make my big dreams a reality and I'm grateful to them this week.

We're building a Geneva Double Curtain trellis for the grapes we planted earlier this year.

Crop planning for Fall is another project that's been a focus for our time and energy at JBG this week. This spring and summer brought some of the wildest weather we've seen in years, and the floods definitely had an impact on our Summer crops. But I can feel that this is going to be the best fall yet! We're starting to transplant Fall brassicas - cauliflower, broccoli, collards, etc., and it feels like we are ordering seeds like crazy right now! Brandon and Adrienne in the greenhouses are working overtime, and we might even have some Saturday volunteer shifts coming up in the greenhouses - stay tuned!

Especially at times like these, I am grateful to farm for such a supportive community. It's the commitment of our CSA shareholders that helps us pay for these seeds, tools, inputs, and labor upfront, before our harvest, in order to make the Fall season happen at JBG. This is what Community Supported Agriculture is all about. If you've been thinking of joining our CSA or know someone who has, now is the time of year when your membership can make that extra difference in helping support your local farm. We're offering the first box FREE for new members with the code VEGNOW at checkout. I hope you will join us!

Brandon in the greenhouse. Photo by Scott David Gordon