In the waning days of fall, with our cover crops seeded and our frost-sensitive veggies tucked under row cover, there’s nothing left to add to the fields. So, we have no choice but to start the bittersweet process of taking it all away. We spend our meager hours of daylight pulling up drip irrigation, rolling up row cover from long-ago harvested crops, uprooting tomato stakes, and removing crop debris suspected of harboring disease.
Most things get stashed away for re-use after a good soak in disinfectant, but the crop debris meets a different fate. This year, like every year, we’ll set a lot of that sh*t on fire. We opt for the bonfire mostly for efficiency’s sake–the alternative is contractor bags and landfills–but the season-end blaze also serves a therapeutic purpose. The flames swallow the season’s frustrations and disappointments and yield a joyous fire worthy of dance parties and hot toddies.
After the bonfire, we can go back to the regular work of winter. Landon will catch up on the books and prepare the seed order. I’ll start my winter job of answering phones at a non-profit and watching .gifs of scenes from Dirty Dancing. But during the fire, we get to celebrate all that this season was and unburden ourselves of all that it wasn’t.
All in all, we’ve had a lot of fun this year, and we’re so thankful to have spent it with all of you. We hope you enjoyed yourselves, too, and will consider joining us again next year.