2023 CSA Newsletter #19

As we approach the end of the CSA season, I want to take the opportunity to highlight some of the work that my students are doing this semester. In addition to the farming internship and food preservation class that I have previously mentioned, I also have a few other classes that I am teaching/co-teaching this semester. One of those classes is the Sustainable Farming and Food Systems Capstone. This is a project-based course for students who are getting ready to graduate from Tompkins Cortland with their Sustainable Farming and Food Systems degree. I have four students this semester and I'd like to share with you the great work that they are doing over the coming weeks. First up is Kaitlin. Kaitlin was in one of our early cohorts and returned to TC3 this semester after a long hiatus to finish her degree. She is an accomplished horticulturist, owns her own Nursery business and is a greenhouse grower at Cornell. Her project is about exploring the viability of saffron production in the Finger Lakes. As part of this project, she will be giving a lecture at CCE-Tompkins on November 7th and hosting a hands-on experience at her property on November 11th. This will be geared to both home gardeners and growers, so if you are interested in learning more about saffron production, you might want to attend Kaitlin's lecture/workshop. More information and a link to registration can be found here.

Speaking of lectures, I had the pleasure of giving a talk to my first international audience as part of the Partners of the Americas Education and Culture Environmental Protection and Resilience Professional Exchange Program. It was exciting to be asked to be a part of this and to engage with professionals from the Caribbean. I also hosted students and staff from Cornell's Statler Hotel Leadership Program for a farm tour and talk. In both of these activities, I had the opportunity to highlight the food systems work we are doing here at Tompkins Cortland with students in our Farm to Bistro programs. As for farm work, we just kept plugging away at our end of the season projects.

Let's talk about this week's CSA share. This week there will be Napa cabbage, collard greens, kale and the Asian greens mix of bok choi and tat soi. There will also be scallions, sweet peppers, hot peppers, the specialty peppers choice and garlic. The tomatoes are slowing down big time but there will still be cherry, heirloom, beefsteak and sauce tomatoes in the share. I will be combining the beefsteak and sauce this week. There will also be a small amount of fresh (aka baby) ginger in the CSA share. This will be the one and only week for ginger this year. If you haven't had fresh ginger before it should be refrigerated in a bag and used within two weeks or frozen. We usually end up freezing it in my house and just grate it as needed for whatever we are going to use it in. 

Have a great week!

-Farmer Todd