CSA Newsletter #16

Well, folks, we have officially made it to fall. I love all the seasons but I think that fall may be my favorite. The changing colors of the landscape, the crisp air, bonfires with sweatshirts, apple picking and no more mosquitoes! Has it been a bad year for them or what?

We are making the final turn into the homestretch of the farm season. I know the end of the season is approaching when I start having dreams/nightmares about sudden frosts, forgetting to turn off the water at the barn and snow. I've had two so far. 

We keep plugging away at all the non-harvest jobs that need to get done. In between the rain last week, we were able to get some spinach planted that should hopefully be ready right around the end of the CSA season. We also kept cleaning up the tomatoes and peppers in the hoophouses and greenhouse as needed. The heirlooms are definitely slowing down. There are a handful of plants that we have harvested all the fruit from. The next thing that we will do is clear them out to create more airflow and minimize disease spread. Another big task that got started in the past week was to start weeding our fall crops. In an ideal situation, we would be able to cultivate the beds with hand hoes while the weeds are small and minimize the time we need to spend hunched over on our hands and knees. But this season has been anything but ideal. As someone who is always looking for a silver lining, I will say that because of all the rain, the mostly shallow rooted weeds are easy to pull. 

The CSA share this week is all about peppers. Both the sweet bells and fryers had a big surge in ripening this past week and will be our featured veggies. In the food preservation class that I co-teach with Chef Amanda, we have made a sweet pepper relish and hot pepper jam over the last two weeks. The hot peppers continue to crank out and there will still be shishito peppers, although they are slowing down significantly. There will still be heirlooms, sauce, beefsteak and cherry tomatoes in the choice. The heirlooms and sauce are slowing down but there are plenty of beefsteak and cherries this week. Lemongrass will be in the share for another week, along with garlic and kohlrabi. The kohlrabi this week will have their greens attached. Don't compost them! They can be used in a quick stiry fry. Kale is making it's long awaited appearance, as well this week. Most of the bunches are Red Russian along with a handful of Lacinato.

Have a great week!

Farmer Todd