Production wise it was one hell of a summer for the Food Patch. Cooler summer temps and adequate rainfall meant only having to water the plot at most two or three times so far although it is now starting to dry out a bit more. Nearly all of the spring plantings have been pulled (except for a few beets and herbs) to make room for the fall crops. It really helped this year to move the tomatoes and peppers outside the rabbit fence to make more room for crop rotation. This will continue next year. Late season plantings of yellow squash, zucchini and cucumbers were started inside in late July so that they could be put out and get established before the days started getting shorter. They are just about to start yielding. Late summer kale and Swiss chard are coming on as are the fall brassicas that were started inside along with the squash and cucumbers. That leaves one large area in the middle of the plot that I am holding in reserve for the winter tunnel (about where the blue bucket is sitting in the pic). I've got a small poly tunnel on a wire frame that I can move around but I also plan to put in a full-length agri-bond tunnel down the middle to see just how long into winter I can continue some kale, spinach, beets and bok choy. With lower temps and shorter days, things will definitely slow down but anything would be preferable to the foreign crap that is in the produce section of the stores in the off season. I figure as the temps decrease I can overlay the agri-bond with clear poly to get a little more protection and also slide in some gallon jugs of water to absorb heat during the day and radiate at night. I might even use some straw bales to seal up the ends depending on how things go.
The other big news this week was the final bottling of the raspberry mead that was started way back at the end of March. It was made with berries from the Food Patch and local wild honey (Hays Apiary in Smithsburg). Technically it is a "Melomel" which is mead made with a fruit other than apple or grape. It is very light and dry (very paleo) with subtle hints of the honey and fruit. In retrospect it would have made an excellent sweet champagne if supplemented with sugar and carbonated. But I wasn't ready to tackle a sparkling wine just yet and sweet is definitely not paleo. With all of the excitement surrounding the History Channel's Viking series and in anticipation of season-2 in early 2014, I am calling this concoction "Blood of Ragnar". It is not super high in alcohol and makes a nice accompaniment to food.
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