CSA Wk. 15, Sept. 30

Some of you have started asking when our last week will be. We advertised 16-18 weeks, and we were hoping for the latter. But things are dwindling fast, not just in the short days/not growing stuff I talked about last week, but also just we've harvested a lot of veggies this year and there aren't too many left :-) We definitely will get the 16 weeks, and want to do 17, but will have to let you know next week after the harvest if we think we can make it another week.

A quick note on the celery - don't expect this to be like the hearts at the store. This is very flavorful, intense celery, and tends to be much more fibrous. It is great diced small and used in recipes. Don't let the leaves scare you off either. They are edible and packed with all that flavor too. Dice them and use like an herb.

Medium Shares:
Red Cabbage
Kohlrabi
Sweet Lightening Squash
Tomatoes
Tomatillos
Carrots
Celery
Chard
Collards
Scallions
Sage
Garlic

Large Shares:
Red Cabbage
Kohlrabi
Acorn Squash
Tomatoes
Tomatillos
Carrots
Celery
Chard
Scallions
Leeks
Pepper
Summer Squash
Sage
Garlic

Will probably see you all today. I should be around working outside.

Thanks!

Wk 14, Sept. 23

No frost last weekend - phew, we still have tomatoes :-)

With the shorter days, and cooler nights though, things do not move along at the same pace in the garden, and fall crops of lettuce and spinach didn't seem to make it. We had hoped to be able to give them out again. Sorry. Kale will have to do as far as greens are concerned.

Here is a recipe for a yummy sauce you can make with your horseradish - it is great on meat!
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/11/Horseradish_Sauce47939.shtml

Medium Shares:
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Potatoes
Radish mix
Kale
Jerusalem Artichokes
Summer Squash
Tomatillos
Turnips
Parsely
Horseradish

Large Shares:
Same list as medium, except add cukes

By the looks of things, we hope to push 17 weeks out of the 16-18 week share we sold you. So, as we are on week 14, probably another 3 weeks. We will keep you posted.

Have a good one. See you later.

The Farmers 8

Wk 13, Sept. 16

Wow, was it cold this morning (and wet, not a nice mix). We actually started a camp fire while washing and assembling your bags. The weather report is calling for a possible frost tonight, and I am praying we do not get it, because there are hundreds more tomatoes to come and I don't want to lose them. I've been making tomato sauce all week. 12 quarts down, but we used about 60 a year, so NO FROST PLEASE!!!!!! Our gardens are too big to try and cover crops with blankets and such too, so we really just have keep our fingers crossed.

Trying to do a million things today before we head out for a weekend camping trip (yeah, going to be so warm), so this setup is different and hope I didn't leave anything out of have too many typos :-) You are on your own again this week (sorry I keep leaving) and the tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are on a table when you walk in the barn, and make sure you grab yours.

Medium:
Spaghetti Squash - this winter squash is stringy like spaghetti, hence the name. You can roast it, or boil it. It has a taste similar to other squashes, but actually isn't bad with actual spaghetti sauce on it.
Cabbage (yes, again - try making sauerkraut! I've got a large batch in my fridge right now)
Corn - these are the last of the ears, and have been husked for you, and any bad spot cut off. Would probably be best to use this corn in a recipe vs. corn on the cob.
Jerusalem Artichoke - nutty & delicious, also known as sunchokes. Skins can be eaten if clean. Great roasted, can make souop with them. They are super trendy in gourmet cooking right now so google a recipe and try them!
Kale - we just couldn't skip a week :-)
Sage
Mixed Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes - we are not sure what happened to our cherry tomato plants this year - we only ended up with 3 or 4. Thankfully, our good friends at Morgan Hill Farm in town had more than enough, so we traded, wait for it, CABBAGE with them to get you some organic cherries. So sweet!
Swiss Chard

Large:
Same as above, except add
Scallions
Cauliflower
Brussel Sprouts
Cucumber

CSA Week 12, Sept. 9

So I'm back from the lake and the garden sprung in to action while I was away, mainly with corn and tomatoes. I don't seem to have enough time to do with them what I should. I need to make sauce and corn relish and salsa etc. while its all here in bounty. This is a problem that may face you on a smaller scale each week with your produce - how to use it all up. I encourage you to be resourceful, look up recipies, spend a little more time cooking instead of ......you fill in your favorite time sucker here :-) I know from experience that it is worth the effort to eat fresh food, even if you freeze it now and eat it in the winter. Make quiche with summer squash, and freeze for the future, or try your hand at making corn relish and can it! Some things like kale & swiss chard you may have used up all of your ideas, but blanch them and throw in the freezer in a baggie and use in the winter in soup! Just some ideas - buy hey, if you are fine with composting it or feeding it to your chickens, that is your choice :-)

We had some damage from the hurricane last week, though nothing compared with the widespread devestation in Vermont. We lost some corn and peppers - no big deal, right - and had to pick all the peaches even though they weren't all ripe and freeze them. We had high hopes of using them in CSA, but there is that risk thing we talk about in the sign up! There is no guarantee with what will happen with the weather and gardening. All the rain we've had is taking up issues with my tomatoes, which are wilting fast, and many are bruised with squishy soft spots. We also haven't been able to get the eggplants to put out fruit for two years in a row. Odd. Regardless, we are phasing out of summer veggies like cukes fast, you probably see the last of them this week. Winter squash shows its face this week - don't feel you have to use it right away - they last for a long time. As do cabbages by the way. Things like corn and tomatillos are best used right away as their sugars convert to startches rather quickly, so make a nice Mexican meal with fresh salsa verde, some sauteed corn, and fish tacos with a lime/kohlrabi slaw.....something like that :-)

Fall weather is setting in - days are getting much shorter, nights are coming sooner, and getting cooler. This means that plants to do not grow as well. Our second crops of spinach and beans are trugging along slowly, and it's always an experiment to see if they make it to picking size. Fingers crossed!

If you have any questions about anything, please email or call.

Medium Shares:
Winter Squash
Swiss Chard
Kale
Cabbage
Beets
Potatoes
Cukes
Tomatillos
Onion
Tomatoes
Garlic
Corn
Parsely

Large Shares:
Winter Squash
Swiss Chard
Kale
Collard Greens
Cabbage
Beets
Potatoes
Cukes
Tomatillos
Onion
Tomatoes
Peppers
Garlic
Corn
Parsely

Sorry about leaving corn off the list last week, though I'm sure you knew what it was :-) Hopefully you didn't find too many worms in yours, if any. An organic bacteria was sprayed this year to help kill the larvae of the worm and hopefully it worked. Of all the ears I've opened (about 50) I have only seen a couple.

Thanks everyone. Have a great week.

CSA Week 11, September 2

Wow, September! Where has the summer gone! Busy as ever on the farms, with back to school time and so much to harvest. Things still look great weather wise with no sign of frost for a while, so hopefully we should continue with things like tomatoes and cukes for another couple weeks at least.

Sorry that I haven't given you lots of info. on your produce as of late, or ideas of what to do with it - I've been vacationing on the lake, and have rushed out of here Friday mornings to get back to enjoy it. So again today, I leave you short and sweet, and hope you will do the research for yourselves on what to do with your shares :-)

Oh, there are cabbages for all of you in a bin - they didn't fit in the bags, just too big. There are also summer squash that way again - maybe not as many as last week so share the wealth.

Have a great week. You are on your own again for pick up today. I will be back around next week so hope to see some of you then.

Medium Shares:
Russet Potatoes
Beets
Carrots
Russian Kale
Cabbage (take one)
Kohlrabi
Summer Squash/Zucchini Mix (take a couple)
Cukes
Tomatoes
Basil

Medium Shares:
Russet Potatoes
Beets
Carrots
Curly Kale
Cabbage (take one)
Red Cabbage
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Kohlrabi
Summer Squash/Zucchini Mix (take a couple)
Cukes
Tomatoes
Basil