Squash Harvest

Kirsten holding our largest banana squash.

Oranghetti squash with frost damage.

Annamarie teaching the apprentices about frost damage and what to look for when we are harvesting.
Whitney taking a break in the squash bin.

Me harvesting carnival squash!

Fall is here. We have harvested 95% of the squash we planted in the spring, and have even cleaned up one of the fields. The end is near and it is both sad and exciting. I still can't believe that my job consists of harvesting pumpkins, for example, something that I used to pay money to go and do in my spare time.

The squash were one of the few crops that we grew from seed. Back in the spring we were racing to get the squash in the ground fast enough because there was a worry we were too late to beat the frost. Turns out that fear was partially correct. When harvesting, especially the spaghetti squash which aren't as hardy as some of the other varieties, it was apparent which ones had been hit by the frost - you could see dark spotted discoloration on the top of the vegetables.

The squash are still good to eat, they just won't keep as long as the others into the spring, so we had to make sure to separate them into their own bin to be sold or eaten first.

From memory, these are the variety of squash that we have on the farm: butternut, oranghetti, spaghetti, turban, carnival, delicata, sugar loaf, sweet meat, sugar pumpkin, acorn, blue hubbard, golden hubbard, banana, and red curry. Admittedly I have not prepared many of these varieties, but I look forward to doing so in the next few weeks.

We had our squash planted on three different fields. The field that was supposed to be the most productive, unfortunately was the least productive. The reason being that we tried to use landscaping cloth to discourage the bindweed from growing and inhibiting the squash from successful growth. In the end, the landscaping cloth, which is a black, permeable, nylon-like material prevented the squash from flourishing because it got so hot in the summer that it not only partially burned the plants but also allowed for all the water meant to hydrate the plants to evaporate. Long story short, the landscaping cloth will not be used again for the squash.