10/15/2026
Last night was Plainsong last CSA pick-up for the season.
We are sad to see this end, chatting with you all each Wednesday, being bound together by sharing the same food (I almost wish you all could sit out there with us for the two hours of CSA and get to know everyone else who comes, who has the sibling of your tomato, etc!). But also, the end makes sense. Temperatures have dropped enough that we can’t ignore the change anymore. We no longer wash produce in the morning, the well water too frigid for our hands even with thick rubber gloves on; instead, we save what we harvest for the warmest hours of the afternoon when getting wet doesn’t mean cold deep down to our bones. The hoops close up tight at night, holding on to any last bit of warmth they can for the peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers. But even still, the plants know it’s the end of their season. The fruit comes more slowly now (and is sometimes very small, see picture below), and the leaves have started to change. A few weeks ago, we pulled up the last of our fall carrots and packed them away in big storage bins to distribute into the winter. One volunteer/CSA-member noted how strong the carrots smell when they’re just pulled out of the ground, and we stood there in the field for a few minutes discussing this fragrance—what memories (bad and good) it brought around, and I tried to soak it up, realizing it might be my last time wrapped up in carrots in Michigan. So, it’s all bittersweet. I am grateful for the season, for the abundance we’ve experienced and shared, and I am sad to see the end, not quite ready yet to put it all to rest for the winter. - Erin, farm fellow
