CSA Newsletter #18
It finally happened folks. I spied some patches of frost this morning at the farm. It was a good reminder that it can happen at any moment and erring in the side of caution is the best practice. It was a beautiful out yesterday and the hoophouse sides were rolled up a bit for some ventilation and cooling. I thought about lowering them but when I checked the over night low in the afternoon, I saw 37 and wasn't too worried. I breathed a big sigh of relief when I checked the hoophouse crops as the day went on today and saw minimal damage. Season extension at work, hooray! The remaining outdoor crops are unbothered by light frosts but prepping for a hard frost just moved up on the fall project list.
Speaking of fall projects, we continued the process of getting the garlic beds prepared for planting in the coming weeks. I had mentioned a few weeks back that I would talk about what happened to garlic this year. Well, I guess now is as good a time as any. We always plant our garlic in late October/early November for the following year. It can be a dicey time to plant because weather and timing are a huge factor. Last fall was extremely wet and the area that was prepped for garlic was a mess but we attempted to plant anyway. It was a wild scene. I had students literally getting stuck in the mud. We managed to get one bed planted with the hopes of getting back out there to plant the rest. That opportunity never came and the crop that came up was paltry at best. I wanted to have a little more control this season and the most well drained beds that we have on the farm are the ones that we have by the hoophouses. So, next year's garlic will be planted in a few of those beds instead of out in the field.
As we enter mid-October and week 18 of the CSA season, we are still holding on to the remnants of tomato season. Although they have drastically slowed and some of the beefsteaks and heirlooms are being harvested at their "blush" stage, tomatoes are still with us this week. There will also be hakurei turnips (with tops), greens mix, hot peppers, fennel and basil. I'm also going to put together a nightshade choice made up of small eggplants, havasu, shishito and bell peppers.
Have a great week!
-Farmer Todd