It did indeed frost last night. Heavily. The difference in the color and visible aliveness of the tender plants is obvious even as the frost had melted off in the early morning sun on the field. This image is from the shady area behind the barn where the frost was still hanging on.
Dead are the peppers, remaining squash vines, most of the loofah leaves.
I crouched to watch/listen to the ice crystals melting off the kale leaves. Hoping what they say about kale is correct (that it’ll stay green all winter, even under snow) because today I was going to harvest it for the csa shares.
In a sense I feel validated for all the frantic harvest I did last night. On another hand, I wish I had been wrong and that the frost had held off another couple weeks.
There’s an immediate difference in the smell of the air. Like you can smell the broken cell walls and the liberated leaf moisture.
The mountain to the west is beginning to turn. This is what those leaves were waiting for.
