by Russ Cerocke, Farm Manager
Welcome everyone! Fall is here, the leaves are falling, temperatures are falling, and the weeks left in our 2026 season are falling away one by one, how serendipitous! Not that we are happy to be done with our work, no, our work is what keeps us going. However, as many people enjoy 40-hour work weeks with holidays and weekends off, for farmers, the schedule doesn’t exactly line up. Fall and winter mean rest, family time, reflection, and reading, lots of reading! While in other professions, these opportunities are sprinkled throughout every week of the year, for us, the cold season is the only opportunity to unplug, albeit if only for a month or two.
For now, we are still at it! We have 2 more weeks of our Late Fall Season remaining and have been keeping 20+ items out each night for our fall pickups, what a bounty! With butternut squash, garlic, onions, potatoes, and lots of greens, we should have no problem filling our plates with goodness as we bulk up for the winter slumber. Over the next 2 weeks, we expect to keep these goodies flowing, along with a final round of carrots and beets, cabbage, lettuce, and fall roots, we expect that our farm subscriber friends will be happy with the spread. We also are planning to have at least 1 more open-to-the-public market this season, so please keep an eye on your inbox and social media so you don’t miss out on the opportunity to compliment your holiday meals with some fresh organic produce grown right here in the neighborhood!
As we wind down our season with the last of the markets and veggie subscriber pickups, we continue to supply food pantries with the excess fresh harvests, making sure that as many people can benefit from our work as possible. Beside the usual harvests and distribution, we
are elated to have finished off our garlic planting for the 2027 harvest. In a way, the next season has already begun! This year we will be testing out 3 new varieties of garlic. In addition to our traditional German Hardy White and Purple, we’ve planted out a patch of soft neck garlic for it’s longer storage potential, as well as 2 new-to-us varieties of hardneck garlic; Chesnok Red, and Dog Hollow Red, both sourced from Driftless Seeds in Wisconsin. We are looking forward to exploring these varieties’ flavors, and also hedge our bets against wetter weather, as Chesnok and Dog Hollow are both known for outstanding flavor, and better tolerance of soils with less-than-ideal drainage – of which we have plenty. Soon, they’ll be tucked into their winter beds with leaves brought to us by Naperville’s leaf collection program, keeping them warm, reducing weed pressure and feeding the soil.
Outside of harvesting and planting we have a few other activities going on that I thought I’d share, since running a farm can be a lot more than planting and harvesting. For one, we will be finishing up construction of a new in-ground greenhouse this winter (maybe spring, depending on weather). We look forward to using this 2000 square feet of protected, heated space to expand our offerings in the early and late season in the future. We are also close to breaking ground on another big project that has been in the works for several years – a new pole barn! And there’s some exciting work going on in the sensory garden, which has been re-imagined and will look very different the next time you visit the farm. And finally, we will be expanding a native wet-mesic prairie seeding in an area often too wet to farm, providing habitat for beneficial insects and pollinators, while reducing lawn-mowing.
Even as things wind down for the season, it is still an exciting time at the farm! We hope you have, and continue to enjoy this farm season along side us. It’s been such a pleasure working with our community to improve all of the great things we already have going on. Most of all, we can’t wait to see everyone back next season to get the cycle started again, as well as a few new faces to join the fun! Be well everyone, we wish you a happy and healthy holiday season, cheers!