Sunrise on the farm
Here we are at week 21 with only one more week left after this. We lifted the rest of the bed of daikon radishes with the help of a couple work share members. With the snow warning Sunday night, we figured they'd be safer in storage, however we are giving CSA members a break from them this week. The total after thinning and thinning and thinning this bed for over a month was close to 1200 lbs! Some have been sold to Grindstone Farm and Syracuse Real Foods Co-Op this week, but there will be plenty for members next week.
Next week we will be offering 1 lb jars local honey in shares from Bender's Busy Bees. This honey is raw and bees are untreated with antibiotics or other chemicals (yes, they use them on bees too) and the bees will have a temporary home here next season if all goes as planned. Duane and Linda Bender were my neighbors at the Pulaski Farmer's market last year and suffered a terrible loss of their hives from the intensely cold winter we had. They are working on getting replacement colonies for next spring, and think they'd be happiest on an organic farm, and we'll be happy to host those lovely buzzers! If you'd rather not have the honey due to allergies or personal preference, please contact us so we can substitute the honey with produce.
Many member are sad to see the reason come to a close, and were wondering how to get their local organics until next season starts. My suggestion is this, for those who can make it; Saturdays at the CNY Regional Market. We will continue vending there through the winter as I have done for the past 2 winters for Grindstone. We still have eggs and some crops growing in the high tunnel and will be bringing Grindstone Farm's high tunnel crops until the end of November when they usually clear them out and uncover them. We'll also be bringing many of the items for sale on their online store, both local and non local and ALL organic. There are also many other great farms there throughout the winter months, with storage crops, greenhouse veggies, meats and dairy. If the market is out of the question, consider Grindstone Farm's Healthy Boxes which are delivered to most of the same place our CSA delivers to. You can sign up for weekly eggs from us on the website from the interim months of Nov- May. This option is available for Regional Market and On Farm pick ONLY, or can be coordinated with your Grindstone Farm win
After reviewing some of the responses to the survey we put out last month, I'd like to clear up a few things. First an apology for not keeping up as well with the blog and harvests as promised. It has been a task on top of farming to get photos posted and a worthwhile blog written up, especially towards the end of the season while we are busy tidying up for winter, getting the last crops out of the ground and all the nuances that go with having three children in school. I did do my best to get a general harvest list out to members throughout the season, and while not exactly what ended up in boxes, it was the best we could do since often times items going into shares changed at the last minute due to quality and availability.
Also it seems from some of the responses that perhaps many folks were just not sure what a CSA is. While there is a member agreement that has to be acknowledged prior to signing up, who really reads those things any ways? Some of the crops that didn't do well, or we didn't grow were sourced from Grindstone or Gingerich organic Farms, such as onions, sweet potatoes, the cabbage, blueberries etc. However, this is a unique arrangement compared to many other CSA's which only offer what they grow and does well. This, having been our very first season in production on our own; had its ups and downs. Some crops did better than expected, some far worse than we'd hoped.
Next week we will be offering 1 lb jars local honey in shares from Bender's Busy Bees. This honey is raw and bees are untreated with antibiotics or other chemicals (yes, they use them on bees too) and the bees will have a temporary home here next season if all goes as planned. Duane and Linda Bender were my neighbors at the Pulaski Farmer's market last year and suffered a terrible loss of their hives from the intensely cold winter we had. They are working on getting replacement colonies for next spring, and think they'd be happiest on an organic farm, and we'll be happy to host those lovely buzzers! If you'd rather not have the honey due to allergies or personal preference, please contact us so we can substitute the honey with produce.
Many member are sad to see the reason come to a close, and were wondering how to get their local organics until next season starts. My suggestion is this, for those who can make it; Saturdays at the CNY Regional Market. We will continue vending there through the winter as I have done for the past 2 winters for Grindstone. We still have eggs and some crops growing in the high tunnel and will be bringing Grindstone Farm's high tunnel crops until the end of November when they usually clear them out and uncover them. We'll also be bringing many of the items for sale on their online store, both local and non local and ALL organic. There are also many other great farms there throughout the winter months, with storage crops, greenhouse veggies, meats and dairy. If the market is out of the question, consider Grindstone Farm's Healthy Boxes which are delivered to most of the same place our CSA delivers to. You can sign up for weekly eggs from us on the website from the interim months of Nov- May. This option is available for Regional Market and On Farm pick ONLY, or can be coordinated with your Grindstone Farm win
After reviewing some of the responses to the survey we put out last month, I'd like to clear up a few things. First an apology for not keeping up as well with the blog and harvests as promised. It has been a task on top of farming to get photos posted and a worthwhile blog written up, especially towards the end of the season while we are busy tidying up for winter, getting the last crops out of the ground and all the nuances that go with having three children in school. I did do my best to get a general harvest list out to members throughout the season, and while not exactly what ended up in boxes, it was the best we could do since often times items going into shares changed at the last minute due to quality and availability.
Also it seems from some of the responses that perhaps many folks were just not sure what a CSA is. While there is a member agreement that has to be acknowledged prior to signing up, who really reads those things any ways? Some of the crops that didn't do well, or we didn't grow were sourced from Grindstone or Gingerich organic Farms, such as onions, sweet potatoes, the cabbage, blueberries etc. However, this is a unique arrangement compared to many other CSA's which only offer what they grow and does well. This, having been our very first season in production on our own; had its ups and downs. Some crops did better than expected, some far worse than we'd hoped.
That's farming. Just glad we grow so many different crops and not just 1 or two as found in moncrop systems even within the organic farming realm. I can't imagine if we had to count on our dismal sweet corn crop to sustain us!
This week's shares are as follows:
small shares: brussel sprouts
Fresh carrots, purple and orange
Rutabaga
lettuce
dandelion greens
sweet peppers
fennel herb
Regular shares will get all of the above and:
Red Kuri winter squash
leeks or green cabbage
rainbow swiss chard.
We do hope that if this was your first CSA experience and you were disappointed that you don't rule out CSA's altogether. There are many different models of CSA's and each are different in the crops they grow and the sizes/price. If you haven't taken a moment to fill out the survey, please do so here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/R6VGGSP and thanks to those who did. Customer feedback helps us tremendously in planning for next season.
This week's shares are as follows:
small shares: brussel sprouts
Fresh carrots, purple and orange
Rutabaga
lettuce
dandelion greens
sweet peppers
fennel herb
Regular shares will get all of the above and:
Red Kuri winter squash
leeks or green cabbage
rainbow swiss chard.
This week's regular shares
For those unfamiliar with Rutabaga, they are a sort of turnip and sweeten in the cool night frosts. They can be stored in the crisper bagged in the fridge for a month or more. Great addition to soups, or roasted veggies, or on their own. My mother always makes them at Thanksgiving mashed with butter and caramelized onions. Martha Stewart takes a different spin on mashed rutabaga here: http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Mashed-Rutabagas-Martha-Stewart-192969
The largest rutabaga we grew; this one will be our Thanksgiving root!
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