If you thought you missed last week's newsletter, you didn't because there wasn't one. It's always a bit of a chaotic transition for us when the kids go back to school, as I'm sure it can be for so many other parents. For us it means waking up earlier, yet starting work a bit later. As the days just get shorter, we start working by work light cleaning onions and other busy work we can do while the kids work on homework, while trying to cram all the weeding, winter prep, cover cropping, and harvesting into the daylight hours.
We have been working on getting winter squash out the field that are ready, and are pretty happy so far with the yields (a little disappointed with the spaghetti squash though, so sorry if that's your favorite.) The cool nights make for sweeter and sweeter squash, brussel sprouts and other cool weather crops while the tomatoes and summer squash keep coming. We've also been getting all the drip tape out of the fields, which kept our crops happy and alive to this point, but is way more work than laying it was. We've been trying to salvage as much as we can for reuse. This is usually thrown out, but we feel that's a waste of money and nonrenewable resources.
Our last few rotational plantings of lettuce are all coming on at once. We seed these as transplants every 2 weeks, but it seems due to the heat and dryness they all came on at once. Sometimes even the most meticulously planned things can still be held slave to the weather. But we are grateful they didn't all bolt, or get eaten by deer or woodchucks, as has happened many times before. So enjoy some salads this week! Other greens are coming on beautifully as well. Our fall plantings of swiss chard and kale are growing and we will be able to cover and harvest these into the cold days of fall shares, and the earlier plantings of kale are coming back with new growth after stopping harvest during the dry spell. So those of you who really love your greens can look forward to that!
Tuesday members who did not get their eggs can expect double egg shares this week. Again we apologize for the absence of the eggs last week. It was beyond our control and we know a big inconvenience to many folks. Also, we know many members look forward to seeing the occasional fruit in their shares and may be looking forward to apples, but we have been informed by our usual apple providers that the cost has nearly doubled, and this is out of our budgeted price range. As many may know this spring was a bad one for apple growers across the state with a late heavy frost killing buds and the dryness setting fruit back. We will try to source some organically grown (non certified) apples from another grower, but if this doesn't work out, rest assured there will be plenty other great produce coming your way.
While we have been busy getting potatoes, squash and sweet potatoes out of the fields, and have been watching more carrots bulk up, there are so many warm season crops that are still coming on that we want to make sure we get these to you while they are prime and hang onto storage crops for later and fall shares. If you'd like to add the fall share, please email us. It seems the system is giving folks trouble signing up. Please keep in mind there are no egg shares for the fall season, all egg shares end the last week of October.
This week's shares are as follows:
Small Shares: 2 heads of lettuce, 1 lb onions, hot peppers, cilantro, tomatoes, garlic, oregano, red mustard greens, summer squash.
Regular Shares: 3 lettuce, braising mix (a mix of various brassicas great lightly sauteed or in salads) broccoli florets, chinese cabbage, onions, hot peppers, cilantro, tomatoes, spinach (we only had enough for Tuesday and Wednesday's shares, we will substitute something for Thurs and Sat) garlic, sweet peppers, oregano, and summer squash.
We have been waiting all season for cilantro. We reseeded this 4 times to get to this point. The bunches will be small, but we wanted to make sure we got it to members for making some fresh salsa. Oregano, I recently learned is another herb that you can add to fresh salsa and is traditionally used in Mexican cuisine.
We hope everyone enjoys their shares this week, and some of the last weeks of warm season crops. We can usually expect a frost at the end of September in or region, and though we can cover many crops to protect from frost, we don't have enough row covers to cover them all. Before we know it it will be time to get the woodstove going and to get the doors back on the greenhouse and high tunnels. So we are enjoying these warm days of September (albeit very chilly mornings!)
We have been working on getting winter squash out the field that are ready, and are pretty happy so far with the yields (a little disappointed with the spaghetti squash though, so sorry if that's your favorite.) The cool nights make for sweeter and sweeter squash, brussel sprouts and other cool weather crops while the tomatoes and summer squash keep coming. We've also been getting all the drip tape out of the fields, which kept our crops happy and alive to this point, but is way more work than laying it was. We've been trying to salvage as much as we can for reuse. This is usually thrown out, but we feel that's a waste of money and nonrenewable resources.
Our last few rotational plantings of lettuce are all coming on at once. We seed these as transplants every 2 weeks, but it seems due to the heat and dryness they all came on at once. Sometimes even the most meticulously planned things can still be held slave to the weather. But we are grateful they didn't all bolt, or get eaten by deer or woodchucks, as has happened many times before. So enjoy some salads this week! Other greens are coming on beautifully as well. Our fall plantings of swiss chard and kale are growing and we will be able to cover and harvest these into the cold days of fall shares, and the earlier plantings of kale are coming back with new growth after stopping harvest during the dry spell. So those of you who really love your greens can look forward to that!
Tuesday members who did not get their eggs can expect double egg shares this week. Again we apologize for the absence of the eggs last week. It was beyond our control and we know a big inconvenience to many folks. Also, we know many members look forward to seeing the occasional fruit in their shares and may be looking forward to apples, but we have been informed by our usual apple providers that the cost has nearly doubled, and this is out of our budgeted price range. As many may know this spring was a bad one for apple growers across the state with a late heavy frost killing buds and the dryness setting fruit back. We will try to source some organically grown (non certified) apples from another grower, but if this doesn't work out, rest assured there will be plenty other great produce coming your way.
While we have been busy getting potatoes, squash and sweet potatoes out of the fields, and have been watching more carrots bulk up, there are so many warm season crops that are still coming on that we want to make sure we get these to you while they are prime and hang onto storage crops for later and fall shares. If you'd like to add the fall share, please email us. It seems the system is giving folks trouble signing up. Please keep in mind there are no egg shares for the fall season, all egg shares end the last week of October.
This week's shares are as follows:
Small Shares: 2 heads of lettuce, 1 lb onions, hot peppers, cilantro, tomatoes, garlic, oregano, red mustard greens, summer squash.
Regular Shares: 3 lettuce, braising mix (a mix of various brassicas great lightly sauteed or in salads) broccoli florets, chinese cabbage, onions, hot peppers, cilantro, tomatoes, spinach (we only had enough for Tuesday and Wednesday's shares, we will substitute something for Thurs and Sat) garlic, sweet peppers, oregano, and summer squash.
We have been waiting all season for cilantro. We reseeded this 4 times to get to this point. The bunches will be small, but we wanted to make sure we got it to members for making some fresh salsa. Oregano, I recently learned is another herb that you can add to fresh salsa and is traditionally used in Mexican cuisine.
We hope everyone enjoys their shares this week, and some of the last weeks of warm season crops. We can usually expect a frost at the end of September in or region, and though we can cover many crops to protect from frost, we don't have enough row covers to cover them all. Before we know it it will be time to get the woodstove going and to get the doors back on the greenhouse and high tunnels. So we are enjoying these warm days of September (albeit very chilly mornings!)
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