Week 12 - Cool nights and sunny days

With cool nights and beautiful, sunny days, it’s starting to feel like fall. We’re picking the last of our melon crop this week and quickly shifting our focus to bringing in what looks to be a good winter squash harvest. Tomatoes are still coming in but the blight is starting to take down certain varieties. Despite the disease, we’ve had very good harvests and I’m pleased with the quality of the fruit we’re getting so far this season. The dry weather continues, which means the we will keep the water reel moving through our fall crops. I’m grateful that the work we did on the well this spring has allowed us to irrigate nearly every day over the past few weeks without any sign of slowing down.

We said our goodbyes to the summer seasonal crew this week, which is such a bittersweet moment. The farm crew works so hard together and forms a tight bond. But they are all moving on to great things and we wish them the best of luck.

This week the share will include:

Greens

Head lettuce

Rainbow chard

Cucumbers

Zucchini

Yellow squash

Tomatoes

Peppers

Onions

Potatoes

Watermelon

Cherry tomatoes - PYO

Hot peppers - PYO

Herbs - PYO

Despite our best efforts to keep a good stash of scissors for the pick your own field, every week many go missing. I’d like to encourage you to bring your own scissors if you plan on picking.

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

News from the Farm Store

Milk bottling on Thursday this week and next week. 

We would like to know more about what you like about our milk. Click Here to take our very short survey.

Regular store hours are M-F 11 to 6 and Sat and Sun 10-4. Sometime we may stay open a little later, but generally we close at 6 pm.

We are looking for one or two shopkeepers.  If you know of anyone who would like to join the team in the store on a part-time basis, please have them apply by sending an email to screighton@thetrustees.org .

Please remember to bring back your glass milk bottles. We generally bottle milk on Wednesday mornings and it is ready in the store on Wednesday mid-afternoon. THIS WEEK IT WILL BE BOTTLED THURSDAY.

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.  
We do limit the numbers and some dates are filling up so Sign up now!   

Family Farm Day is September 16th!   Join us for fun, games, and food.  Watch for details.  (and yes, it is a Saturday this year)

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. 

Sunday night concerts start Sept 24. 


Are you a runner?   September 23rd's Run for Amy is a great way to see the Great Pasture as you run a 5K or 10K.   The run is in memory of Amy Foster and will benefit Dana Farber and Appleton Farms.

Week 11

Week 11

This week our summer seasonal staff finish work for the year. Many thanks to Hattie and Marina, who are headed off to their freshman year of college at Connecticut College and Mount Holyoke College, Gina who is off graduate school at the University of Michigan, and Amory, who’s back to work in the Dorchester School district. We’re also losing Trey to a great opportunity to pursue an interest in environmental studies in graduate school at the University of Michigan. Although it’s hard to see them go, I wish them the best of luck. I can’t say enough about all the effort this team has put into the farm this season and how much we will miss them!

We’ve spent much of the past week moving irrigation around all the fields of the farm. With only two inches of rain since the beginning of July, we’re in full irrigation mode now. Unlike the spring, we missed a few evening thunderstorms over the past two weeks that folks in the surrounding areas experienced. I can’t say I’m a fan of irrigation and the extra labor involved in setting it up, but it’s absolutely essential in dry spells like this. We’ve managed to hit all our dry fields with water this week to keep everything looking good.

This week the share will include:

Greens

Rainbow chard

Head lettuce

Endive

Beets

Cucumbers

Yellow Squash

Zucchini

Tomatoes

Peppers

Onions

Potatoes

Melons

Cherry tomatoes - PYO

Hot peppers - PYO

Beans - PYO

Herbs - PYO

Despite our best efforts to keep a good stash of scissors for the pick your own field, every week many go missing. I’d like to encourage you to bring your own scissors if you plan on picking.

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.  
We do limit the numbers and some dates are filling up so Sign up now!   

Family Farm Day is September 16th!   Join us for fun, games, and food.  Watch for details.  (and yes, it is a Saturday this year)

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. 

Sunday night concerts start Sept 24, 

Are you a runner?   September 23rd's Run for Amy is a great way to see the Great Pasture as you run a 5K or 10K.   The run is in memory of Amy Foster and will benefit Dana Farber and Appleton Farms.

News from the Farm Store

Need dinner in a hurry?  Grab one of our grass fed beef steaks and click on this tip for defrosting quickly.   The article says it will defrost in minutes.  We tried it an it took about 35-40 minutes, but came out great.

Regular store hours are M-F 11 to 6 and Sat and Sun 10-4. Sometime we may stay open a little later, but generally we close at 6 pm.

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 10

Time to Water!

I’ve been putting it off and putting it off, but this week we finally connected the drip lines in tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant so we can start irrigating. All the recent showers that passed through the region the past few weeks seemed to miss us at Appleton Farms and some of our fields are getting pretty dry. Soon you’ll see sprinklers out to get water on newly transplanted and direct seeded crops to help get them established.  The good news is that weed pressure tends to be quite a bit lower when it’s dry like this and it’s allowed us to keep some of our new plantings fairly clean of weeds. This type of weather also slows the spread of disease, like the early blight in our tomatoes. In the end, we have no choice but take the weather as it comes so we might as well look on the bright side!

This week the share will include:

Head lettuce

Rainbow chard

Carrots

Beets

Cucumbers

Zucchini

Yellow squash

Green peppers

Sweet peppers

Fresh onions

Melons

Red slicing tomatoes

Heirloom tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes - PYO

Hot peppers - PYO

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.  
We do limit the numbers and some dates are filling up so Sign up now!   

Family Farm Day is September 16th!   Join us for fun, games, and food.  Watch for details. 

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. 

News from the Farm Store

Fig spread is back! It goes great with our cheeses!

Regular store hours are M-F 11 to 6 and Sat and Sun 10-4. Sometime we may stay open a little later, but generally we close at 6 pm.

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.

Camp Update

Seven weeks of camp has flown by!   The campers have worked in the garden, the kitchen, and the barn.   Thanks to all our great camp staff! 

Week 9

Tomato harvest begins!

The good news is our tomatoes are finally ready to pick! The red slicing varieties have a good flush of fruit that is starting to turn red and the heirlooms aren’t far behind. The bad news is our plants are infected with early blight, which is a fungal disease that lives in the soil and it is very destructive of tomatoes. The recent cool nights and heavy morning dew has facilitated its spread. Some varieties are faring better than others and all will bear fruit over the next few weeks. However, yields and fruit quality will suffer and the harvest season will be shorter. The disease hasn’t impacted the cherry tomatoes much yet and hopefully it will stay that way!

As we continue to plant the rest of our fall crops, we are shifting our focus to staying on top of the weeds and bringing in larger harvests. We finished pulling our garlic last week and that is curing in the greenhouse. The forecasted rain on Monday is right on schedule with what we need.

This week the share will include:

Kale

Chard

Head lettuce

Carrots

Beets

Cucumbers

Zucchini

Yellow squash

Tomatoes

Green peppers

Fresh onions

Potatoes

Watermelon

Korean specialty melons

Green Beans - PYO

Cherry tomatoes - 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

Campers are busy in the garden, barnyard, and kitchen.   We still have a few spots left the last two weeks of Farm Camp!

News from the Farm Store

Stop by and say hello to Ava Lins and Kate Kennedy, our veteran shopkeepers, or introduce yourself to Kate Crawford, our new shopkeeper, and to Staci Zarimba, Store Manager. Thanks to Fionna Collins and Lara Lafdahl who have helped us out this summer.

Regular store hours are M-F 11 to 6 and Sat and Sun 10-4. Sometime we may stay open a little later, but generally we close at 6 pm.

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.