Fall is the pinnacle of seasons at Covert Farms Organic Estate. It is not only the busiest with our visitors it is also the most bountiful with almost all of our crops available. With over 65 different varieties of produce coming online it is a huge relief when our staff is able to answer the phone and finally tell anxious customers that “yes we have tomatoes!” With a steady stream of “u-pickers” harvesting sometimes over a 1000 lbs a day from our fields, one can only imagine the family and kitchen parties taking place in order to preserve their hard earned tomato treasures. And not only tomatoes our famous corn has been planted in successive crops with each field coming into maturity every two weeks allows for our farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture or CSA customers to have a steady supply throughout the harvest. Our corn maze is also in full swing and many of the children who enjoy the maze also visit the farm through our educational tours with local schools. Primary aged children visit the farm for a “hands on” introduction to food and where it comes from. These tours take children through each step of farming from composting, to harvesting and culminate with a lunch made with ingredients fresh from the fields. Even with all this our working farm remains busy having finished our final plantings for over wintering vegetables all of our attention is laser focused on the approaching grape harvest. Starting in late July early August and continuing through the fall “Véraison” signals the stopping of our Organic grapes growth and the beginning of their ripening. This colour change signals that our grapes are going through the final stages of development and we need to get our winery ready for “crush”. Our first Organic grapes of the season are usually our Sauvignon Blanc and the end of fall is usually signaled by the Cab Franc Harvest, sometimes as late as the first week of November. So for Covert Farms fall is hard work but full of reward. As the year’s effort becomes apparent, all our work culminates into bountiful harvest meals and dreams of the new wines to come.
– Derek Uhlemann