Good morning shareholders,
Thank you again to everyone who participated in our mid-season survey. We heard from many of you that you miss the opportunity to sit down with the farm team to talk about the present and future of the CSA program. The farm team at Appleton wants to give you a voice to help shape your community agriculture program so we will be hosting a mid season shareholders gathering on September 28th at 6PM in the Carriage Barn. Please sign up by clicking on this Sign Up Genius link: Appleton Mid-Season Share Holder Meeting. This will be an opportunity to meet with Cathy Wirth, the Food Systems Director for the Trustees, Chris Ward, Acting Regional Director and former Appleton General Manger, Ashley Chapman, Shareroom Manager, and, of course, myself and the many familiar faces from the farm team that you may normally only see out in the fields or in the share room. You will be able to directly share your interests, ideas, and concerns with all of the staff involved in our CSA program. Your words can help shape the direction of our farm so please sign up and speak up - Ryan
In other farm news, we have Family Farm Day coming up next Sunday, the 18th. There will be tractors to climb aboard, ponies to ride, goats to hug, and plenty of farm games to keep your little, middle, and big kids entertained. We'll be offering our own 100% grass-fed burgers alongside Sal's Pizza, White Farm's Ice Cream, Kim Gregory's Pure Pastry, Mojo and more! Live music, the hay obstacle course, and potato sack races will provide a full day's fun. All the day-of details and admission info can be found here: http://bit.ly/familyfarmday2016
The Share
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Peppers
Chard
Beets
Squash
Garlic
Leeks
Bok Choi
PYO Cherry Tomatoes
PYO Hot Peppers
PYO Beans
PYO Flowers
Updates from the Field:
As for the fields this week, a little more rain and some
cooler weather have been very welcome. The drought is still technically
spreading. In fact, the USDA declaring Essex county a drought disaster
area last week but we have actually been able to take a short break from
irrigating over the last couple of days. The kohlrabi transplants, lately
given up for dead, have made a miraculous recovery and the fall broccoli and
kale are looking fresh and green but still several weeks from ready. We
are finally harvesting good size beets with healthy, attractive greens.
Overall I am pleased with the quality of the produce we have to offer, however
I have been disappointed by the quantity and variety we have been able to put
on display in the share. With so many of our summer crops failing and our
fall crops either stunted or delayed, a great deal of pressure has been placed
on the items we do have available in the share. We have been using up winter
squash, leeks, carrots, potatoes, beets and lettuce at a rate faster than
planned. My hope was to fill the share in with sweet corn for the next
couple of weeks but the official word is that Marini’s doesn’t have any more to
spare. The good news is that we will be getting fall carrots from
Piccadilly in two weeks and some of our replacement plantings may begin coming
in soon. Until then we will be making the best of things in the share
room.
P.S. We had some confusion last Saturday when the barn wasn't open in the morning. We'll make sure the doors are open before heading to the Ipswich Farmer's Market with our cheese so you can read the limits board and grab pint and quart containers. Sorry about that!
Volunteer Opportunities:
Upcoming Programs and Events:
