Week 8 Watermellons!

Watermelons are ready for harvest!

It’s one of my favorite days of the summer. Nothing quite says summer the way a juicy, field warmed watermelon tastes crack open on a hot day in July. The actual harvest itself quite a lot of fun, too. We first go through the field on a scavenger hunt and make rows of the ripe melons, which then literally get tossed through the air to someone who places it in the bin. Everyone in the crew gets into it, and we’ve only dropped one melon so far this year!

Just when I was ready to fire up our irrigation pump for the first time this year, mother nature came through with a couple inches of light, steady rain to get us through another week or two. This week also offered a much needed reprieve from the hot, humid weather we’ve been experiencing the past couple weeks, which made everyone on the crew happy.

This week the share will include:

Green curly kale

Rainbow chard

Head lettuce

Cabbage

Fennel

Beets

Carrots

Summer squash

Zucchini

Cucumbers

Onions

Potatoes

Watermelon

Green beans – PYO

Sunflowers – PYO

Herbs - PYO

Just a reminder, we only allow one pickup per week but the choice of day is up to you. If you cannot make it for one of the weeks, you can always send a friend to pick up your share for you. Please remember to bring your tote bags! The shareroom is open Monday & Thursday 2-7pm, Tuesday and Friday 12-5pm

Upcoming Programs and Events: 

Friday Night Dinners: Join us for dinner by Chive and music in the Stone Paddock. The family-friendly dinners feature food grown or raised on our farms (as well as other local area farms.)  Dining on the farm is one of the best ways to enjoy the flavors of the season! Ticket prices include full dinner buffet, non-alcoholic beverages, and dessert. Beer and wine is available for purchase.   Sign up now! 

Saturday Hay Bale Hangout: 

Every Saturday  10AM-2PM Member Child: $5 Nonmember Child: $10Join us at Hay Bale Hangout and spend the day at Appleton Farms. Stop by anytime between 10AM – 1:30PM for fantastic farmyard meet and greets! Hands on activities start at 10AM and run every half hour.  Once you’ve paid, stay for an hour or all day! Cash only please. No additional cost for adults. 

Camp Update

This was Farmer Appreciation Week at camp!  Our young farmers learned about milking and growing crops.  We still have a few spots left in Farm Camp!

News from the Farm Store

Introducing Round Point, a new cheese created by our resident Cheesemaker. Round Point , a soft, full-flavored cheese.   It is now available at the store and will be part of the Cheese Share! 

Please remember to bring back your glass milk bottles. We bottle milk on Wednesday mornings and it is ready in the store on Wednesday mid afternoon.

                                       

Week 7 - Sunflowers and Garlic!

The shifting of the season is one constant on a farm where nothing is ever quite the same. It's something I really enjoy about this profession and something I've learned to embrace. Sure, there are plenty of routines and schedules we maintain but no two tasks are quite the same. We cycle through plantings and move to new fields, sing new songs, and no matter how much planning we do, you never quite know what the days ahead will bring. Try as we do to plan and learn and improve, there's a certain amount of mystery in growing vegetables that makes it all worthwhile.

We're hitting the heat of the summer and share contents of the next couple weeks will reflect that. We stop growing greens for about a month this time of year because they are tender and don't hold up well in the heat. These are crops we keep covered with a protecting fabric to exclude the pesky flea beetle, which chews holes in the leaves. Temperatures sizzle under that fabric and the greens wilt right down.

Many have noticed that absence of head lettuce this week. We aim to have head lettuce every week of the share and we're right on time with our plantings. We've had trouble with deer getting the lettuce before it's ready to harvest. Despite our efforts electric fencing and flash tape, they march down the rows nibbling the hearts out of every head. We started planting lettuce inside our main field which has a permanent and more effective fence, so head lettuce will be returning to the share soon.

Green beans and sunflowers are ready to pick! We have many plantings of all the upick crops and hope to have a steady supply into the fall. The tomatoes are showing nice fruit set so far but aren't quite ready for harvest and the first eggplant and peppers are nearly ready to pick.

This week the share will include:

Green curly kale
Rainbow chard
Carrots
Beets
Fresh onions
Fennel
Summer squash
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Pointed head cabbage
Green cabbage
Napa cabbage
Green beans PYO
Herbs PYO
Flower bouquets PYO
Sunflowers PYO

Just a reminder, we only allow one pickup per week but the choice of day is up to you. If you cannot make it for one of the weeks, you can always send a friend to pick up your share for you. Please remember to bring your tote bags! The shareroom is open Monday & Thursday 2-7pm, Tuesday and Friday 12-5pm

Upcoming Programs and Events: 

Friday Night Dinners: Join us for dinner by Chive and music in the Stone Paddock. The family-friendly dinners feature food grown or raised on our farms (as well as other local area farms.)  Dining on the farm is one of the best ways to enjoy the flavors of the season! Ticket prices include full dinner buffet, non-alcoholic beverages, and dessert. Beer and wine is available for purchase.   Sign up now! 

Meet the Machines:  Sunday July 23 4pm 

Balers and bucket loaders and harrows, oh my! Pack a picnic and spend a summer evening at Appleton Farms meeting our machines. 

You'll get to climb aboard backhoes, check out manure spreaders and try out the view from our tractors. Afterwards, enjoy music and your picnic brought from home in the stone paddock. When you’ve gotten your fill of machines try your hand at some lawn games or get your face painted. Also make sure to say hello to our goats, sheep, and bunnies in the barnyard! Limited picnic tables will be available, but feel free to bring your own lawn chairs or blankets! We'll have free lemonade and water available for all. 

Saturday Hay Bale Hangout: 

Every Saturday  10AM-2PM Member Child: $5 Nonmember Child: $10Join us at Hay Bale Hangout and spend the day at Appleton Farms. Stop by anytime between 10AM – 1:30PM for fantastic farmyard meet and greets! Hands on activities start at 10AM and run every half hour.  Once you’ve paid, stay for an hour or all day! Cash only please. No additional cost for adults. 

Camp Update

The first two weeks of camp were a great success!   Highlights included a farm to table dinner (cooked by the campers) and a visit from a local veterinarian who showed campers how to care for animals. 

We are still enrolling for Farm Camp!  Openings in one week sessions! 

News from the Creamery

Introducing Round Piont, a new cheese created by our resident Cheesemaker. Round Point , a soft, full-flavored cheese.   It is now available at the store and will be part of the Cheese Share! 

Our Cheese share started on July 10^th.    It is not too late to sign up for the next 9 weeeks.   Sign up at the store or email screighton@thetrustees.org.   

Get 2 cheeses selected by our Cheesemaker on a biweekly basis.The share is open to all Trustees members and includes 10 weeks of cheese over weeks (every other week).   You can get details and sign up at the store. Cost is $150 (retail value is $200). A Cheese Share also makes a great gift! If you are just signing up, we will prorate your share.

                                       

Sunflowers and Garlic News

Garlic Harvest Time is Here!

If you want to help, we will be pulling half of the garlic, this Saturday July 22 at 9 am.  Join us in the field to reap the winter's rewards.







Sunflowers and Green Bean ripened mid-
week, so if you missed these crops in the U-pick you are welcome to come back on Friday or Saturday.  If you already got some this week, please remember you are only allowed to take these crops once a week in order to leave enough for everyone.

Week 6

We had technical difficulties with the blog last week and we were unable publish the our weekly update. We apologize and hope the issue is resolved. Thanks for your patience.

With warm weather and plenty of rain, almost everything is growing very well. The peas came and went in a flash and the tomatoes seem to shoot up inches everyday. Some of the summer crops are coming in very nicely, like zucchini and cucumbers, and others show promise of bounties to come. The weeds seem to grow just as well as the crops, but our steady and dependable crew is always up for the challenge. I can’t say enough about the tremendous effort they put in everyday.

There have been a few questions about limits on items in the share and if those limits will change. We typically limit things like greens and bunched items because of the amount of labor that goes into growing and harvesting those vegetables. Our goal is to put out a high quality and diverse share each week. By imposing limits on the more labor intensive crops we are able to do a better job on the farm overall and have a more consist quality and diverse offering.

We updated our CSA handbook to include the new “flexible day” policy, which you can find here: http://www.thetrustees.org/assets/documents/places-to-visit/2017-FINAL-Shareholder-Booklet.pdf. As a reminder, we no longer need to know which day you’re coming to pick up your share or if you need to switch pickup days from week to week. We only allow one pickup per week but the choice of day is up to you. If you cannot make it for one of the weeks, you can always send a friend to pick up your share for you.

This week the share will include:

Arugula

Baby kale

Broccoli raab

Baby bok choi

Mustard greens

Head lettuce

Green curly kale

Rainbow chard

Radishes

Scallions

Fennel

Red cabbage

Green cabbage

Beets

Zucchini

Summer squash

Cucumbers

Please remember to bring your tote bags! The shareroom is open Monday & Thursday 2-7pm, Tuesday and Friday 12-5pm.

News from the Creamery

Introducing Round Piont, a new cheese created by our resident Cheesemaker. Round Point , a soft, full-flavored cheese.   It is now available at the store and will be part of the Cheese Share! 

We are excited to announce our new Cheese Share starting the week July 10^th.    It is not too late to sign up!!   Sign up at the store or email screighton@thetrustees.org.   

Get 2 cheeses selected by our Cheesemaker on a biweekly basis.The share is open to all Trustees members and includes 10 weeks of cheese over 20 weeks (every other week).   You can get details and sign up at the store. Cost is $150 (retail value is $200). A Cheese Share also makes a great gift!

Upcoming Programs and Events: 

Friday Night Dinners: Join us for dinner by Chive and music in the Stone Paddock. The family-friendly dinners feature food grown or raised on our farms (as well as other local area farms.)  Dining on the farm is one of the best ways to enjoy the flavors of the season! Ticket prices include full dinner buffet, non-alcoholic beverages, and dessert. Beer and wine is available for purchase.   Sign up now! 

Saturday July 15:   Natural Parenting Expo will be happening in the Stone Paddock from 10-4.  Stop by or see their info here.  There is an admission for the event itself.

Sunday July 16:   For many years, local horsemen have hosted carriage driving events on the Farm.  This year, the Waldingfield Driving Trail (an event of the Carriage Owners of New England and the American Drive Club) will have an "obstacle" in  the center of the Farm.  Come between about 1:30- 4:00 to watch.   Carriages will be coming through the Farm in 5-10 intervals.   

Saturday Hay Bale Hangout: 
Every Saturday  10AM-2PM Member Child: $5 Nonmember Child: $10

Join us at Hay Bale Hangout and spend the day at Appleton Farms. Stop by anytime between 10AM – 1:30PM for fantastic farmyard meet and greets! Hands on activities start at 10AM and run every half hour.  Once you’ve paid, stay for an hour or all day! Cash only please. No additional cost for adults. 

Camp Update

The first two weeks of camp were a great success!   Highlights included a farm to table dinner (cooked by the campers) and a visit from a local veterinarian who showed campers how to care for animals. 

We are still enrolling for Farm Camp!  Openings in one week sessions! 

                                       

Week 4 Update

Due to some technical difficulties we are resending the Week 4 Blog.  Sorry if you didn't get it the first time or are getting it twice!

Week 4

The summer starts become a blur starting about now. Harvests are

larger and one day seems to blend into the next. The days become more predictable. Greens harvest, followed by head lettuce, then bunches. We try to spend the last couple of hours each day working on projects like staking tomatoes or hand weeding carrots.

By this point in the season, the crew can recite my pep talks about setting goals and staying focused. But always in good fun, with jokes and laughter and singing. Amidst the bustle of daily operation, it’s easy to take for granted the beauty that surrounds us here on the farm. So today I stopped for a few

moments to take it in!

Please note:  CSA pickups will take place on July 4^th.  The store will be closed.

The share for week 4 will include:

Arugula

Baby kale

Mizuna

Tot soi

Baby lettuce mix

Head lettuce

Radishes

Beets

Scallions

Bok choi

Broccoli

Napa cabbage

Kohl rabi

Green curly kale

Rainbow chard

Summer squash

Zucchini

Peas (PYO)

Herbs (PYO)

Flowers (PYO)

Please remember to bring your tote bags! Also note: the shareroom hours are:

Monday & Thursday 2-7pm, Tuesday & Friday 12-5pm.

The u-pick field is open on Saturday 8-noon, but there is no share pickup. If you are not able to make it to pick up your share, you can always send someone to pick it up on your behalf. 

From the Creamery:

We are excited to announce our new Cheese Share starting July 10^th. 

Get 2 cheeses selected by our Cheesemaker on a biweekly basis.The share is open to all Trustees members and includes 10 weeks of cheese over 20 weeks (every other week).   You can get details and sign up at the store. Cost is $150 (retail value is $200). A Cheese Share also makes a great gift!

Sign up now at the store!  

Watch for our new cheese... coming soon.   Our resident Cheesemaker has created Round Point , a soft, full-flavored cheese.   It will be part of the Cheese Share! 

Upcoming Programs and Events: 

Friday Night Dinners are HERE! 

Join us for dinner by Chive and music in the Stone Paddock.

The family-friendly dinners feature food grown or raised on our farms (as well as other local area farms.)  Dining on the farm is one of the best ways to enjoy the flavors of the season! Each Trustees farm offers a unique dining experience accompanied by music, games, and scenic views. Menus are created a few weeks in advance and are posted on the website. Ticket prices include full dinner buffet, non-alcoholic beverages, and dessert. Beer and wine is available for purchase. 

Sign up now! 

Saturday Hay Bale Hangout:

Every Saturday  10AM-2PM 

Member Child: $5 Nonmember Child: $10

Have you ever collected warm eggs from the chicken coop or seen how fast sheep will run for their morning helping of grain? Join us for our NEW weekend Hay Bale Hangout and spend the day at Appleton Farms. Stop by anytime between 10AM – 1:30PM for fantastic farmyard meet and greets! Hands on activities start at 10AM and run every half hour. Greet our goats, make a wool bracelet, cuddle a calf, farm story time, collect chicken eggs and more! In between activities hang out in the Carriage Barn and explore our all-day learning stations or picnic outside in the Stone Paddock!  Once you’ve paid, stay for an hour or all day! Cash only please. No additional cost for adults. 

Camp Update

We are excited for the start of camp on Monday!  

We are still enrolling for Farm Camp!  Openings in one week sessions!