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A Farmer Gives Thanks

The end of the gardening season is at hand. The last of the tomato plants are being removed from the high tunnel; they froze two Saturdays ago. All the beds are tilled and planted with cover crops — rye and barley — for next year’s fertility.

The garlic is starting to poke through the soil, developing its root system so it can make it through the winter until its spring burst of growth. Spinach, kale, chard and beets are planted in the high tunnel and covered in the fields with row covers. It is time to clean out the chicken house and start the compost piles for our winter workout program. When we look around, we can’t be anything but thankful.

As of this writing, we are gathering up stuff for our final farmers’ market of the season: greens, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, onions and other assorted goodies. It will nice to be done, but we will miss the interaction with all our great customers who appreciate fresh, locally produced vegetables and fruit. Seeing new families with their children who started the year exploring the market now having the kids picking out their favorite veggies or munching on a carrot at the market makes us appreciate the effort to provide and grow the goodies.

The crew that has labored to provide this bounty is another thing to be thankful for. Finding people who don’t mind crawling on their hands and knees pulling weeds in drizzles and the summer heat is rare. By the end of the year this year we had an exceptional crew of women who could make things jump out of the ground. A few of them who had never eaten vegetables are now saying we shouldn’t let them pick spinach because they want to eat it all. From Mother’s Day till Thanksgiving, we worked together to put a smile on people’s palates and food in their bellies.

The soil on Bluebird Farm is another thing to thankful for. The beneficial bacteria, earthworms, nematodes and mycelium, along with our hand-turned compost, all worked together to produce our bounty and are still working to ensure success. There is nothing like pulling up a handful of sweet soil, smelling the life and enjoying the soil’s great cycle.

There is nothing more grounding than working in your garden or fields, celebrating your successes and learning from your failures.

Touch the Earth and it will touch you back.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Mick Luber is an organic farmer at Bluebird Farm in Cadiz. He has more than 30 years of organic farming experience and is a regular at the Wheeling farmers’ markets.

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