Sprout Farm Newsletter October 11th, 2025, sproutfarm.net open 9-5 daily

Hello Everyone,

Happy Columbus Day. We will be open Monday, but we expect things to be very quiet. How did you celebrate Columbus Day? Was that the day you raked the leaves into a big pile then jumped in and scattered all that hard work? It is almost exactly six months from Patriots Day so when I was a child the annual, put up or take down the storm windows, took up the entire day. When that was finished, we exchanged the last of the summer clothes for winter clothes.

Well, we got a tiny kiss of frost this week, just enough to settle on the roof of the car and coat the windshield. It melted away at the first hit from the defrost and the sunshine did the rest of the job. The weeds are fine along with the lettuce. I'm waiting for that frost that kills the weeds and sweetens the fall crops. I know it's coming and I'm trying to find excuses to ignore the weeds and imagine them dead. We still have corn because there was no hard frost off Cape. We may have to cut off a piece of the frost blanket roll to cover up the pumpkins if we get a hard frost warning. The frost was just the first event. On Wednesday while I was driving home at night, I saw a meteorite falling in the evening sky.

'Two meteor showers are set to captivate sky-gazers as they peak in October, with the Draconids making a brief appearance this week and the Orionids putting on more of a celestial show later this month.

The Draconid meteor shower, which is known to produce meteors during the evening rather than early morning, is set to peak at 3 pm. ET Wednesday, according to EarthSky.' It looks like there is a second chance to see these interstellar rocks later this month.

At this point you can tell there's not much news at the farm. The mums are coloring up the front while they guys are putting the frame for the new high tunnel in the back. We hope that this will bring into production some land that turns into a quagmire when it rains hard. I think the Woodland walkers are enjoying watching the building's progress. It is all but invisible from the front. I'm glad the plastic won't go up until well after the storm passes tomorrow and Monday.

We have pumpkins, straw bales, corn stalks, mums and lots of fall favorites in the stand. We still have tomatoes. As soon as this weather passes by Jay will be planting the garlic he saved from the crop he harvested in July. It is a good lesson to realize what it takes to grow, harvest a crop and save enough of it to plant the entire amount you need for next year. Our forefathers went very hungry maintaining that seed crop and I complained about all the seed catalogs that fill up the mailbox. We do live in a land of plenty. We have one customer who occasionally orders bags of corn and when he gets them, he brings some of them to a local post office for free distribution. He never forgot the real hunger he lived through as a child and he has found a way to make a difference directly from a farm. We donate too but we go through a local food pantry. Fall crops are not so perishable so they can stay out on those cool nights.

The kitten report: The huntress is still on the prowl. Wheezie brought in another rabbit last evening and hid away with her meal while we were up. Later that evening she finished up in front of our bedroom door. At least we knew what to expect in the morning. It's dangerous out there at night, next to the woodlands. The only thing that keeps the cats relatively safe is the deer fence that goes around the fields. Unfortunately, the cats don't confine themselves to the safe zones; the world is a feast and all they have to do is catch it. They all show up in the early morning for kibble and canned cat food, even the huntress although I don't know how she can find room for another meal.

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

Jay and Phyllis Sprout