2023 CSA Newsletter #16

I hope that folks had a great start to fall. My family dove right into it with some pumpkin picking, a visit to Hollenbeck's Cider Mill and the baking of multiple apple crisps. 

We are continuing with our fall farm projects. Last week, we finally pulled all of the basil growing in the hoophouse. It was a good season for the basil but it was just becoming too labor intensive to harvest. We also have a crop in the adjacent bed that is starting to get a little unruly and we were running out of space to walk between the crops. I had mentioned in one of early season newsletters that we had replaced the failed sweet potatoes with ground cherries and cape gooseberries. These similar plants are in the Solanaceae family, and the cape gooseberries are starting to go wild. It is our first attempt at growing them and I am keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will cooperate enough so we can get a harvest. Another two tasks that we got through was seeding rhubarb and potting up rosemary. We do very little seed saving on the farm but collecting rhubarb seed is one of them. We collect seeds from our plants after they are mostly dried. We continue dry them for a few weeks in the greenhouse and then seed them in the fall for next season. We will plant them on the farm and have them available for sale. Rosemary is an extremely slow growing crop in our region, and it takes a full year for the rosemary to establish itself before we start harvesting it. So, the rosemary that has been in the share this season has been mostly from plants started last year (we have a few plants that are 2+ years old). It feels great to get through these fall tasks, but it is a fast reminder that the end of the season is quickly approaching. 

This week's CSA share will continue to have heirloom, beefsteak, cherry and sauce tomatoes. This was the first week where there was a significant drop-off in production across all the tomato types. There will be lettuce mix and kale for greens this week. The stir-fry mix should return next week if all goes well. Additionally, there will be scallions, sweet peppers, the specialty pepper choice, hot peppers and garlic to choose from. There will also be some cayenne (TBC) powder in the share this week. It is a blend of our three most productive cayenne peppers. For those of you who are new this fall, we are trialing different shelf-stable pepper products. If you end up taking and using it, please provide feedback. In the coming weeks there will be some other pepper powders and salts in the share, including smoked paprika for the first time. Last year, we trialed a regular paprika, but I decided to bring it up a notch by using a smoker prior to dehydration. Eggplant is taking the week off and will hopefully be back next week.

Have a great week folks!

-Farmer Todd