Week 21

Our rain gauge measures up to five inches of precipitation, after this point it is safe to assume that the fields are pretty well soaked.  By 9am on Thursday morning the rain gauge was overflowing and the deluge showed no signs of abating.  The stalwart farmers trudged through boot sucking mud, driving rain and chilling wind to harvest turnips, greens and leeks.  Your move US Postal Service.

Fortunately the weather cleared up for Saturday’s event and we had a great evening with lots of fantastic food.  I want to thank Steve and Carmen of Organic Rainbow who donated apples for the cider press and provided a fantastic cooking demonstration.  Thank you to Susan Wood who really knows how to whip up a party.  And of course thank you Alison Hoffman for organizing and planning last night’s event. 

We are getting pretty close to full with Thanksgiving share signups.  At this point we can no longer accept orders for pie or cranberries; however both will be available in the dairy store for the rest of the holiday season.  If you are hoping to purchase a winter vegetable share this year I would recommend getting your order forms in as soon as you can. 

What’s in the share: Greens, carrots, leeks, turnips, fennel, celery, beets, cabbage, garlic, winter squash, potatoes

What’s new: Popcorn, butternut

Harvest Dinner This Week!

You may have noticed a thin layer of papery litter strewn across the shareroom floor last week; the by-product of separating cloves of garlic for seed.  The time of year for garlic planting is upon us.  We grow two varieties of garlic.  Most of our shareholders are pretty familiar with the strong spicy flavor of our red garlic by now, however we have been holding off on putting our white garlic variety in the share until after planting time.  This is because we are doubling the amount of white garlic we grow for next year and we want to make sure we have enough seed.  German Extra Hardy garlic isn’t quite as pungent as our red variety but it matures earlier, grows uniformly large and produces four or five extra large (easy to peel!) cloves.  Our hope is to have even amounts of red and white garlic next season.

 Thanksgiving shares are still available although we cannot take any more pie orders at this time.  Pies will be available in the Dairy Store soon for anyone who missed the chance to order through us.  Cranberries will continue to be available as long as supplies last.  Get your order forms in early to secure your Thanksgiving share!

As the title of this post suggests, the potluck Harvest Dinner will be happening on Saturday of this week.  This is our chance to come together as a community and celebrate the bounty of the season.  If community building isn’t your thing it is worth showing up just for the food.  You are unlikely to find a better spread this season.  As an added bonus you can catch my (very brief) toast to the wonderful employees and volunteers who helped to make this season happen.  Mark it on your calendars for this Saturday from 4 to 7 in the Carriage Barn.  We hope to see you there!

What’s in the share: Greens, collards, carrots, leeks, garlic, winter squash, potatoes, beets, turnips

What’s new: Shunkyo radishes, celery, fennel

Week 19

We will continue selling Thanksgiving shares until we reach our share quota but THIS IS THE FINAL WEEK TO ORDER FROZEN PIES.  Please make sure to hand in your order form early in order to give the bakers plenty of time to do their thing.

The Harvest dinner is rapidly approaching!  We have dragged the old cider press out of the barn, pulled the banner out of storage and printed up some lovely invitations for everyone.  On October 25^th please join us at the Carriage Barn (the CSA barn just can’t comfortably hold us anymore) between the hours of 4pm and 7pm.  Fun, games and music will be followed by a potluck dinner so dust off your grandma’s best recipe and bring enough to feed the farmers.  Hope to see you all there!

What’s in the share: Kale, collards, cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, greens, winter squash, leeks, garlic, potatoes, beets

Week 18

Was it just last week that I was asking for rain?  Maybe we do have the ear of a benevolent deity after all.  It is very satisfying to see the carpet of green swiftly filling in patch field.  We still have a little bit of seeding to go but by and large all of our fields that have finished producing this year are now covered for the winter.

We still have 9 beds of sweet potatoes to dig and with wet soils and more wet weather on the way I really want to get these beauties out of the ground.  This may mean prioritizing the sweet potato harvest before some other crop that may keep better in the field.  Taking a break from potatoes this week will give their sweeter cousins a better chance.  (Sweet potatoes and potatoes aren’t actually botanically very close.)  

The Appleton Farms Harvest Potluck is coming up this month.  On Saturday October 25^th please join us in the Carriage barn for fun, games, bluegrass music and a shared meal.  Bring your friends, family, flatware and most importantly a delicious dish to share with everyone.  More details to follow soon.  We hope to see you there!

Thanks giving shares are still available.  You can pick up a sigh up sheet in the share room.  If you are ordering frozen pies, remember to get your orders in by October 15^th.  Order forms may be turned into the CSA shop keeper.

If you receiving this blog update via email and it is not arriving before your pickup day please try visiting the website directly.  The blog is updated by Monday morning so you should be able to get this week’s share list along with some top notch farm reporting before you arrive for pickup.  Have a great week and we’ll see you soon.

What’s in the share:  Greens, kale, collards, broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, garlic, red onions, winter squash, red beets, PYO sunflowers, parsley, cilantro, dill, beans

What’s new:  Easter egg radishes, cauliflower