We had a couple balmy 50 degree days this week and were able to clean up the fields once and for all. We had some tomato posts remaining in the fields and lots of drip irrigation tape and irrigation main lines to gather up and store for the winter. Various harvest containers scattered throughout the barns got stacked in their final resting spot for the winter. It was nice to be able to do all these tedious clean up tasks in comfortable weather! A welcome and noticeable difference to this years cleanup was not having to pull out the black plastic that usually gets used in tomatoes, squash, peppers, ect. That is because this year we switched to biodegradable paper as our weed suppressant. Once we tweaked the equipment to lay the paper with out it ripping, we were pleased with effectiveness of the paper. And how nice not to have trash bag after trash bag of plastic leave the farm. Plus, it really does biodegrade! We planted our garlic this fall in beds that had the paper this summer, with no hint of any remaining paper. Speaking of garlic, it is starting to sprout! The first sign of life for the 2014 season!