Hear the news from Essex Farm straight from Kristin Kimball‘s blog below:

“The carrots came in on Veteran’s Day. Carrots are one of our biggest and most important crops, and in past years, we’ve spread the harvest out over several days or even weeks. This year, we decided to try a different method, which would streamline the harvest, but also necessitate getting the whole crop in within a day. It would have to be a harvest of epic determination and military efficiency.

The kids did not have school so after breakfast the three of us bundled up and joined the crew in the field. Aubrey, Travis, and Matt were already at it, and Mark and Scott were just coming out, with Jake and Abby hitched to the walking plow. This was our big innovation: instead of prying the carrots out yard by yard with a pitchfork, we were going to try to plow them out with the horses. It would take precision. Plow too far away and the carrots would not come out of the ground, too close and they would break. Scott drove the team, and Mark guided the plow. The first few yards of the first row were a mess of broken carrots, but then they got it. The plow flipped a thick ribbon of soil upside down, leaving the carrots intact, their tips pointed to the sky…” [Continue reading this Essex Farm Note.]

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