Week 22: Fermentation: It is Only Natural

This week was a good reminder that fall is definitely here and that winter is just around the corner. While it got up to around 80 early this week, a little bit of rain brought the temperature down in a hurry. The first frost of the year will be here soon and that will be the end of what we can pick. Now we still have plenty of produce to get; watermelons, tomatoes, collards, lettuce to name a few. We have sown the cover crop into the two gardens to add nutrition and prevent erosion back into the soil. It is a mix of peas, clover, barley, wheat that will grow and die to strengthen the soil over winter. We put away our watering system for the year since it had been cut and the gardens have just been watered by hoses instead.

The apple cider that we made for the Harvest Party that was not consumed needed to be pasteurized this week. When it is fresh, apple cider is delicious and safe to drink. If left to its own devices however, it will begin to ferment naturally, into alcohol and eventually vinegar. The bacteria can also be harmful to people such as botulism, E coli, and salmonella. To fix this all that you need to do is strain the cider, boil the cider, and scrape the foam from the top. The cider is then safe to drink again. We will be continuing to do this next week and then we will probably be all done with the cider.

In other news: Come by our farm stand on Thursdays for t-shirts, produce, or something else that we concocted. If you have any gardening questions please post on the blog or the Facebook page and we will try to answer your question as soon as possible if we can. Zach Arington