Turning the page into September feels refreshing. August can be a burly month to get through with the heat, the ripening of so much fruit and with our physical bodies feeling tired but the work load getting heavier. August feels a little like having a good friend over for dinner who has a loud and boisterous character and commands the room with confidence and style. But you’re really happy to see him leave. It was a good visit with our friend, August, but I’m happy to say that we’ll see him next year!
As the end of summer approaches, I always experience moments of melancholy thinking of summer coming to an end and the school year beginning. It’s a visceral feeling learned from my child-hood days distressed about going back to school. We homeschool our children and in the fall I feel torn some days feeling like I should be in the house working with the kids when I’m helping in the fields or when I’m working with the kids in the house feeling like I should be in the fields. It’s a balancing act I play until winter gets here, but somehow it’s working. They concentrate better when it’s colder outside and when they prefer to be in the house. They don’t concentrate as well when the weather is beautiful and they prefer to be outside.
I always worry about our homeschool routines in the fall. I worry we’re not doing enough early enough. Comparing a homeschool education to a public school education is such a tricky thing. I have to remind myself that by the end of the school year I feel like we’re up to grade level and doing very well. The kids do a lot of music practice, arts, farm chores and reading this time of year which I don’t always need to be in and around the house for to keep them on task.
But Ahhh, September, my sweetest friend. I’m so glad you’re here! In September, we say goodby to some of our favorite summer crops such as green beans, melons, and sweet corn. We will continue to pick tomatoes and peppers until frost hits (hopefully for another solid month). We will progress into fall crops such as carrots, beets, potatoes, winter squash, and fall brassicas. In the late fall we always have some very sweet treats such as sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, parsnips and more!
But wait! Don’t you think the CSA boxes this week are filled with gold?
Golden corn, golden melons, golden cherry tomatoes, golden tomatoes, Golden carrots, golden peppers. And with your golden glasses on, maybe you can see that the green beans are a little golden as well! Such a treasure!
This week will begin harvesting potatoes and winter squash. The first squash we bring in is the spaghettini squash and acorn squash. Potatoes are harvesting with our potato digger, and as long as we don’t have any equipment break-downs from soil that’s too wet or hitting rocks, we hope the potato digging goes smoothly. We can always go back to digging potatoes with our bed lifter that we dig carrots with, but it’s a much slower process.
Aside from feeling slightly somber about the back-to-school transition, fall is a very joyful time on the farm. We are on our home stretch of the farming season and bringing in the fall crops brings a kind of closure to a season. When some crops are safely harvested and in storage, we feel a sense of accomplishment and security. The days get shorter and cooler and the working weather becomes more pleasant and comfortable.
After twenty years of farming, a good crew of helpers and many of the tasks happening on the farm being ones we have performed many, many times we execute them with ease and comfort. The fall harvesting activities feel festive and pleasurable. September cloaks us in blanket of reds and oranges and yellows that feel warm and comfortable. I am excited for the turning of the page into September.
Farmer Adam found an arrowhead in the celeriac patch this week. He’s very excited about it!
What’s in the Box?
Melons- Most CSA Boxes got 2 melons. This could have been a cantaloupe and small watermelon or two cantaloupes. Some boxes got one large red watermelon. This is the final melon giving for 2025. Sniff-sniff.
Sweet Corn- 5 ears of sweet corn per box. Sweet corn is best eaten as soon as it has been harvested for maximum sweetness. If you think it will take you a few days to get it eaten up, keep it in the refrigerator and keep it cold until you get a chance to eat it. This is the final giving of sweet corn for 2025! So sad to see it go!
Tomatoes- 5 lbs per member. We grow a wide variety of tomatoes on the farm. Some are your standard red slicers, some are yellow slicers, a mix of roma tomatoes and also a variety of heirloom tomatoes. The heirlooms are all different shapes, sizes and colors. Heirlooms have a lot of ‘character’. They can be bumpy, have healed cracks, striping, and color variations. Some of the heirlooms are pink and purple. We pick tomatoes with any kind of a ‘blush’. Once a tomato has a blush they will ripen just fine if allowed to sit out on the countertop at room temperature. Do not refrigerate tomatoes unless they are getting over-ripe and you need to buy yourself time to use them up. We need to pick them slightly under-ripe so they can handle the shipment to you.
Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes- About .75lbs of sun gold cherry tomatoes per member this week. These are my favorite tomato in terms of flavor in the whole wide world! They ripen orange!`
Carrots- 1lb bag per member. Our famously delicious carrots!
Green Beans- .6lb bag of beans per member this week. We tried to mix the ‘dragon tongue’ beans with the green beans again. The dragon tongues have purple streaking on a yellow bean. The purple streaking disappears like magic when they’re cooked. Likely just one more week of green beans. It’s been a great bean season though!
Bell Peppers- 2-3 Bell Peppers per member this week. Sweet bell peppers could have been red, orange, yellow or even purple this week. Such gorgeous peppers!
Jalapeno- One green or red jalapeno tucked inside your tomato bag. These are hot
One Hungarian Hot Wax Pepper- Technically a hot pepper, but a very mild hot pepper on the spectrum of hot peppers. Eggplant- Not everyone got an eggplant. We picked around 350 of them, so some people did not get one. It really depended on what we could fit in your box and the size of the other items in the box.
Next Week’s Best Guess: Spaghetti squash, potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, brussels sprouts, onion, beets
Recipes-
Roasted Red Pepper Spread for Sandwiches, Crackers and More!
