Autumn brings with it a sort of triage associated with those outdoor chores that simply must be done before snow flies (stacking the winter’s wood, for example) and those things that would probably be a good idea, but seem less pressing. Until the breezes take on a bit more bite, it is easy to ignore both and go for a third option — a walk, maybe. Shirt-sleeve temperatures tempt us to find outdoor occupations, many of which call for sun glasses and a hat. Is there anywhere as lovely as Aroostook County in Indian summer?
After what can only be described as a challenging summer season, the Weather Gods seem to have forgiven us our transgressions. The potato farmers are finally able to get on their fields. Hay is finally getting baled and put in the barn. A slight blush of frost has ripened, but has not damaged the tree fruits and vines. Large wheelbarrows of the crops that didn’t mind wet feet are headed for the root cellar or freezer or are emerging from canners, sealed and ready to store.
But we are not out of the garden yet! This is a good time to reconnoiter — crop successes and failures are still recent, “dead-outs” are not buried forgotten under the snow, and the temptations of winter seed catalogs have not yet begun to grace our mailboxes.
What grew well? What performances were spotty? Did the flavor of the new cultivar outweigh its reluctance to “seize the day”? Is there another species that would do better in that shady spot? Should we turn in the compost or just turn the pile? Do we know someone with an “excess of poo”? Is there such a thing as an “excess” of poo? Can we get it worked in this fall so the ground will be ready next spring?
Customers also reconnoiter at the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market on a sunny Saturday morning (not too many of those this year, either!). Venders continue to set out an abundance of good things to eat to the parking lot at the Aroostook Centre Mall between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. We can add our success stories to your own, share our own struggles, and discuss mutually advantageous ideas for spring, 2014.
In the words of Linus Van Pelt, the “Peanuts” character still firm in his convictions about the Great Pumpkin in a lonely pumpkin patch on the day after Halloween, “Just wait until next year!”
This column is written by members of the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market. For more information, visit their website at https://sites.google.com/site/presqueislefarmersmarket/home.
