The Fall Equinox rolled in in style this week with lightening that lasted for hours and rain and wind and cooler weather. It was a dramatic shift in weather from the very warm and dry weather we had been having. Fall is officially here and now it finally looks and feels like it. It even sounds like it with the constant cricket chorus and the crows cawing now and again in the distance. There is a quietness and stillness now as there aren’t as many bird songs in the trees.
On the farm we are now harvesting many of the brassicas that we have been caring for all summer. There were four successions of broccoli that were planted of the course of a month that we had planned to come on slowly over the course of the last four weeks of CSA deliveries that are now coming on all at once! There was over 1200 broccoli this week which is enough to give everyone three heads! The cauliflower is starting to mature as well. There was enough this week to give everyone 3 heads of broccoli and 1 head of cauliflower. 50 people received 4 heads of broccoli instead of cauliflower. With the cabbage, all the tomatoes and peppers and broccoli/cauliflower we had to leave out the winter squash and celeriac root because there wasn’t space in the box. We will plan to still give these items over the course of the last few weeks of CSA deliveries! There is a kohlrabi succession that is nearly ready for harvest that we simply could not fit in the box and will have to wait either in the field or the cooler until next week.
The pepper plants are still cranking out loads of very beautiful and colorful peppers. We think this may be our very best pepper year ever as we bring in two truck loads of peppers on harvest day. We expect this to continue until frost gets here. The tomato plants are also still giving truckloads of tomatoes. Last week was the tomato peak and it will likely go down a little steadily until the end of the season. We will get to continue picking tomatoes until frost gets here as well.
As the season winds down we will share with you some of our favorite fall seasonal gems. We will soon harvest our sweet potatoes and put them into the curing room. We will have new fun offerings like Brussels sprouts, leeks, daikon radish, parsnip, kohlrabi and a variety of winter squashes we have not shared yet. We are about half way done harvesting our potatoes for the year with
Strangely this season feels so much like a prolonged summer it’s hard to believe it’s really fall. Just three Summer Share CSA deliveries left? Although the warmer weather this fall is very comfortable to work in, many of the cool-season plants we have planted are maturing earlier than expected due to the warm weather.
Since last week’s newsletter we received 1 inch of rain and then another half inch of rain on Saturday afternoon and evening which has relieved us from having to do any kind of irrigating anymore. We’re now feeling like we have enough rain for awhile and some dry weather for doing all of the fall root-crop digging would be nice so we’re not slipping and mucking in the mud for digging which is also hard on our equipment.
Our annual Farm Potluck event was a success this last weekend as well. CSA Members and community came to the farm for wagon ride tours of the farm, raspberry picking, pony rides, cider pressing, a potluck and live music. The weather was perfect, the company was lovely, and the food was plentiful. I feel like everyone who came had a good time. The farm is almost done for event for this year.
This coming weekend we will host one more event of the season. Two of our crew members, Sawyer and Ellena, will be getting married on the farm this weekend. They are off this week busy preparing for a medium-sized ceremony and celebration to follow happening at the farm on Saturday night. We’re so excited for Sawyer and Ellena and are honored to be able to support them in their transition into married life. Sawer has worked 5 seasons on the farm and Ellena has worked 3 seasons here. This will be the second wedding to happen on the farm other than when Adam and I got married back in 2011. So far it seems to be good luck to get married here! We feel so lucky to have such hardworking, dedicated
Potatoes- 2 lbs gold potatoes. Freshly dug gold potatoes. Many of the gold potatoes looked very nice this year. There is noting like freshly dug potatoes for eating!
Onion– One per member.
Tomatoes– 5 lbs per member. A reminder that we pick any tomato with a ‘blush’. This means we pick any tomato showing any signs of color at all because they ripen so fast once they begin to turn colors. We recommend putting them out on your counter to ripen until they have reached the desired ripeness. Do not refrigerate your tomatoes unless the are getting over-ripe and you need to buy yourself some time. We also recommend removing them from the plastic bag as soon as you receive them. Condensation can build up in the plastic bag and cause the tomatoes to go bad. Herilooms of all colors, romas, slicers, oh my! It’s finally tomato season!
Peppers- 6-8 sweet peppers each! Wow! What a great week for sweet peppers! They are loving the heat and sunshine for ripening. Some thin-walled red peppers and some thick-walled red peppers. The thin-walled peppers ripen earlier and faster and the thicker-walled ones take a little longer to ripen and come into season. We also are sharing some thicker walled yellow and orange peppers.
Hot Pepper- Hungarian Hot Wax pepper tucked inside your tomato bag. These ripen lime-green to orange to red and are very mild on the spectrum of hot peppers.
Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes– One whole pound of sun gold cherry tomatoes this week! Imagine the hours it takes to pick 400 lbs of sun gold cherry tomatoes I love that we can give these in paper bags. One less item that we need to buy plastic for! Those little plastic clamshells are expensive and add up to a lot more waste!
Broccoli and/or Cauliflower- There was enough to give everyone three heads of broccoli and one cauliflower except that we were 50 heads of cauliflower short of being able to give everyone 1. So 50 people received 4 heads of broccoli! Wow!
Garlic- A mix of varieties going out this week. Garlic keeps well at room temp for months. It also does just fine in the fridge for longer storage.
Artost Cabbage– Artost is a lovely fall cabbage. It is not technically a storage variety but Artost are pretty solid and will keep for awhile yet in the fridge.
Next Week’s Best Guess: 3-5lbs tomatoes, sweet peppers, onion, garlic, broccoli, kohlrabi, cauliflower, Yellow potatoes, cabbage? Acorn squash? Cilantro
Recipes
Chicken and Broccoli Coconut Curry
Rigatone with Broccoli and Sausage
Cherry Tomato Tart (to die for!)
