More Hope

The unpredictability of October has set in. The days are short. The sunsets devastating. One day of work gets sidetracked by a miniature snowman and the next is 70 degrees and sunny. Whatever the weather, it doesn’t last long. But it does make one have to change course many times, as if many seasons are happening at once. We have to alternate from cooling spaces for produce to heating them, figuring out what can actually be accomplished in this weather and what will be a waste of time, what will survive this cold and what to let go of, and how to prepare ones proper person for the forecast. We have to empty all the harvest shed water lines every day just so we can return the next, fill it all back up and start washing carrots again at the moment the temp hits 32.

Somehow, and I am trying to figure this out, October has not slowed down like one would think it should. This is in turns a good thing and a bad thing. Good because people are showing up the markets at a time when attendance usually drops like a rock, and good because we seem to have more variety of produce for this time of year than usual. Bad, because a farmers day dreams of that slowdown. Oh well. Daydream on farmers.

For my part, I’m relieved people are coming out still and getting their local goods in the cold and in the unpredictability of October. Maybe it gives me less rest, but it give me more hope.