Sprout Farm Newsletter November 1st, 2025 sproutfarm.net open 9-5 until Thanksgiving

Hello Everyone,

We've turned the corner. Halloween is over and now it's seven weeks until Christmas. When you have a child born on Halloween, these gift intervals become important. I think life is full of intervals. We just don't recognize them until they are pointed out. I hope you remember that Sunday the 2nd is the first day of Eastern Standard Time and you should have turned back your clocks if you can figure out how to find the 'clock' in settings. Clocks are everywhere but the one I like the most is out at the farm. It is a planting clock. We won't have to fine tune that one until spring, but it is a beautiful clock.

These last few newsletters are kind of sad. I just keep ticking off how many items are no longer on the shelves. Lettuce, Swiss Chard and Kale are coming to an end. Those beautiful, lush leaves of summer are now shrunken tiny leaves that couldn't make a salad for a baby, much less an adult. We still have tomatoes. They don't have a lot of seeds in them, and the seeds are where you get the 'tomato' flavor, but we have both red and green ones. Jay has picked all the turnips and he's waiting to see if the late broccoli will do anything or will the crowns be junior size like the kale.

We have a great selection of squash, including butternut. Our friends at Hanson's Farm made sure I went home with some spaghetti squash. We have some sugar pumpkins that are perfect for cooking.

We have some large decorative squash. They are very dense and heavy. There is a lot more to them than your stringy carving pumpkins and even more than your average sugar pumpkin.

We have thirteen varieties of apples. It was fourteen but we're down to thirteen. Jay says the crispest apples are: Jonagold, Spencer, Honey crisp and Baldwin. The season for Honey Crisp is coming to a close. He is surprised that Baldwins are so crisp and have a really good flavor. I prefer the Spencer for a nice crisp apple.

Last minute chores: Put a layer of mulch on top of the soil to help keep it insulated and prevent the soil from freezing. Dispose of any dead plants or leaves. Store any tools or gardening supplies that you won't be using over the winter. Store liquid chemicals indoors so they do not freeze. Mow your lawn one last time for the season. If you have a water feature in your garden, now is the time to drain it and cover it up. Also, drain and bring in any hoses. A fun chore is to start collecting dried plants and cones for holiday decorating. We can collect the greens when it gets closer to the holidays.

The kitten report: The weather is turning colder, and the cats are spending more time in the house. Twix has started to show up for breakfast and that's good because other creatures that like cats have been seen in the neighborhood. When the sun slants low on the horizon the south facing sun room is flooded with light and heat. Wheezie parks herself next to the doors waiting for the temperature to rise enough for me to open them. If only she could read the thermometer on the door she would know when to start waiting. A sunbeam in winter is a cat's best friend. She is still hunting. This week it is small birds. I think a lot of our habitat was disturbed when the sewer lines went to the back of the house. Small critters seem to have been displaced. Her hunting instinct is so strong that she regularly attacks a knothole on the baseboard in the living room.

It doesn't seem right that the gardens are going to sleep when the weather is some of the best we've seen for November. Get out and enjoy it while you can.

That's all the news for now. Stop by and see what we still have growing for you,

Jay and Phyllis Sprout