Fall. It’s my favorite time of year. The days are getting shorter, the nights are cooler and the harvest, oh the harvest is rich! The leaves on the trees are starting to turn colors, the crickets fill the night with sound and the yellow-jackets seem to be coming from everywhere. Where were the yellow jackets all summer long? Why do they only come out in the fall? 
Pickin’ Spinach on Monday Morn
I love the fall day that begins with everyone wearing three layers of clothing and stocking caps. As the day warms up and the sun comes out, the workers begin shedding their layers and there are piles of clothing at the ends of the rows and in the farm truck cab. The sun is suddenly appreciated again. We do everything we can in peak summer to stay out of the blazing and brutal sunshine because we’re just drunk from overconsumption of it, but now, as the sun drops lower and lower to the horizon and mornings are cool again, we are thankful for it once more.
Fall offers foods that warm us. This week we are putting our first winter squashes in the box. The Spaghetti squash will go nicely with your home-made tomato sauce you’ve been making from all of these tomatoes and peppers. Fall means time to dig up the roots we’ve been tending to all season like the carrots, potatoes, celeriac, parsnip, daikon radish and more. Fall means the return of some of our favorite cool season crops like spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cilantro and radishes.
Last week’s two inches of rain came hard and fast, but the ground soaked up every drop of it and gave many of our fall crops a good drink that they have been needing to make it through to fruition. We truly believed that some of our cabbages grew from baseball sized before the rain to volley-ball sized after the rain.
Fall is an “F” word in itself, but it also leads way to the almighty “F” word that will bring a punishing end to some of our favorite crops. There is no “frost” in the forecast as of yet, but we farmers are aware of the looming possibility. We have just days left in this month to continue picking our beloved sweet and hot peppers, tomatoes and some herbs like basil. Potatoes should also get harvested before the frosts start hitting. Many of our fall crops can handle frosts for as long as late October until hard freezes begin to take down even the hardiest of crops.
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Thank you to everyone who came to the farm last weekend for the Fall Raspberry and Pumpkin Pick and Potluck! A great time was had by all! We had a fantastic turnout with somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-80 people that all went home with raspberries, pumpkins and a full belly from a fantastic Pot-Luck supper! Yee Haw!
Raspberry Pickers on Sunday’s Fall Raspberry Pick at the Farm!Savoy Cabbage or Napa Cabbage- The Savoy cabbage is round and shaped like a traditional head of cabbage but the leaves are savoyed (densely wrinkled), and are much more tender than a traditional head of cabbage. Savoy cabbage will store for a maximum of 3-6 weeks, which is not quite as long as a green cabbage which can sometimes keep for months at the right storage temperature. Some members received the Napa Cabbage instead of the savoy. Napa is also called Chinese Cabbage. Napa Cabbage is wonderful eaten raw in a delicious asian salad. Napa is also used in the fermented korean kimchi.
Tomato Bags- Another week of a huge 8lb bag of tomatoes. We do harvest our tomatoes with a blush. Allow your tomatoes to sit on your counter until they are ripe. You may put them in the refrigerator only if you need to buy yourself time to use up your very ripe tomatoes. Refrigerators usually drain flavor out of fresh tomatoes. You may also notice that as we get into our late season tomatoes like this, they become a little less perfect looking. Some of them my have more cosmetic imperfections. Next we we will still have tomatoes, but you can expect a much smaller giving as we are getting down to very few tomatoes left on the vines. Enjoy them while they last!
Spaghetti Squash- This is our fist giving of our hard winter squash. The spaghetti 
Pumpkin Picking on Sunday’s Fall Pumpkin Pick at the Farm!squah is very popular in the gluten free community. It is a very stringy squash once cooked up can be eaten in place of noodles. Make a noodle-free spaghetti dinner with some of your home-made spaghetti sqash with fresh tomatoes. Cut your spaghetti squash in half lengthwise, scoup the seeds out and lay the two halves down in a baking dish with a quarter inch of water in the pan. Bake them at 350 for about an hour until the squash is soft. Once warm enough to handle, scoop all of the flesh away from the skin. Eat the spaghetti squash like noodles.
Red Beets- A small giving of a few red beets for all! This was a difficult year for beets on our farm. We had poor germination on a few of our plantings, so not quite as many beets this year than we have given in previous years. Still more to come in the later boxes of the year though!
Mini Sweet (Lunchbox) Peppers– 3-4 Mini sweets this week per box. These are the really cute little red, yellow and orange peppers tucked in your tomato bag that are a new, fun variety that we tried this year. Mini-sweets were all the rage at the Dane County Farmer’s Market last summer sold in a pint clamshell, and we had to try growing them to see what the fun was all about. Don’t let these be confused with your hot peppers. These ones are sweet!
Cauliflower or Romanesco- A nice head of cauliflower for everyone this week. You may have received a romanesco in place of a cauliflower. The romanesco are the lime-
Farm Tour folks loading up for a Hay Ride around the Farm from Sunday’s Farm Tourgreen colored head of ‘cauliflower’ that is shaped like a fractal. Romanescos have a more nutty flavor and crunchy texture when compared to a cauliflower. A fun new vegetable if you’ve never had one before!
Sweet Bell Peppers- 6-8 Sweet peppers per member this week. Some are red, yellow, or orange. A big mix of pepper this week from the large and blocky red, orange and yellow bells to the specialty yellow canarios and orange oranos which are a longer sweet pepper that come to a point. We’re hoping that the peppers keep coming strong in your CSA boxes until frost hits.
Jalapeno Peppers- Two jalapenos per member this week. These turn red when ‘ripe’. Watch out for the red jalapenos in your box, not to be confused with your mini sweets!
Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers- This is the longer, lime-green colored hot pepper that sometimes turns an orange-ish color when *ripe*. These peppers are funny because they are usually picked lime green, but a small 10% of them will turn orange and get a touch sweeter as they “ripen”. Hungarian Hot Wax are also called “bananna peppers”. Despite it’s big name, these are among the most mild of all hot peppers. Technically they are considered a hot pepper, but they are not usually hot. Although sometimes they are!
Red Onion- A sweet red onion for all this week! 
Gotta love kids picking Raspberries!
Arugula- Yum! Such a nice return of the arugula! Arugula is great of home-made pizza with prochuto! Also wonderful eaten in salads.
Spinach- A wondeful giving of half pound bags of spinach for everyone this week! Such a tender treat when the succulent spinach returns in the cool weather! More of this great green coming soon!
Peanut Pasta Napa Cabbage Salad
Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes, Basil and Parmesan
Spaghetti Squash Noodle Bowl with Lime Peanut Sauce
