The summer really begins as we start the slide towards autumn. As the loss of daylight becomes noticeable, the vegetables planted in May are finally big enough to harvest. In June and early July, even as we enjoy long days and salmon runs, we lack ... well, just about everything -- at least as far as local produce is concerned. The fall root crops have run out and, except for salad greens, nothing is ready in the fields. But now things are happening. Things like tomatoes, broccoli, kohlrabi, strawberries, and squash. Since most farms in the Matanuska Valley sell their crops directly to consumers through farmers' markets, Tuesdays and Fridays are the main harvest days. Work crews, frequently made up of high school students on their summer vacation, cut and pull their way through the rows. On the big farms, the ones selling to the grocery stores, the process is at least somewhat automated. Farm hands surround tractors bristling with conveyors, trailers and diggers. The state fair celebrates this harvest frenzy,but it continues through September, not stopping until the first frosts descend on the plants. Then it's back to the root cellar, at least until the carrots run out again in the spring.