The Share
- Lettuce
- Greens
- Beets
- Cabbage
- Kale
- Chard
- Onions
- Garlic
- Potatoes
- Carrots
New this week
Winter Squash
From the Fields
I have been tactically avoiding talk of the weather for the
last few weeks in my posts mostly because the conditions and their effects have
been pretty evident: September has been a particularly hot and dry month in a particularly
hot and dry summer. This past week with
the fall equinox a lovely change has swept across the fields. Each morning we have been surprised to see
the ghostly vapors of summer expelled and dissipated into the autumnal chill
with each exhalation. A few deniers
might try to claim that we are just in a brief cold snap but this weekend we received
as much confirmation of the end of summer as a farmer is likely to get. A much unexpected frost has laid our basil
and beans low and brought a timely end to our tomatoes, eggplants and
peppers. We had hoped to try October
cherry tomatoes this year, (I hear they take on a subtle taste of pining) but
it was not to be. Hopefully we all got
our fill of summer’s bounty over the last few months to tide us over until next
year.
Whenever we
experience one of these moments of change during the CSA season it takes me a
little time to change gears. Just a week
ago our days were overwhelmingly full of harvest. The share room was filled with the best of
late summer and early fall. Now suddenly
we have more time for all the projects and tasks that get put on hold through
the crazy summer months but it is disorienting to suddenly step outside the
perspective of our tunnel vision. The
next few weeks we will be trying to prepare as much of our land as possible for
winter by establishing rye and winter pea cover crop. To do this we need to finish harvesting our
bulk crops, remove any trellising, fabric mulch and drip irrigation from the
fields, mow any remaining crop residue, till this residue into the soil and
plant the rye and pea seed. Thank
goodness we don’t have to do this while also harvesting tomatoes and summer
squash!
Although a part of the season is coming to an end we still
have the better part of a month and a half of CSA season to go. Coming up in the next few weeks we will have
leeks, turnips, sweet potatoes, cauliflower and plenty of greens that you haven’t
seen through the hot summer months. I
hope all of you are as excited for the fall as we are and if roasted roots and
savory stews are your milieu then check out our Thanksgiving Share while space
is available. Signup forms can be found
at the check in desk and in the dairy store.
-Ryan
