CSA Update

Greetings from the Farm,

Autumn is upon us.  This time of year the vegetable plants demonstrate their awareness that the growing season is coming to an end.  Many crops progress quicker in their quest to make seeds and complete their cycle.  It is so wonderful to see the changes from day to day.  While we may hope for warm weather to stick around longer and for the plants to continue to produce; we know this is all part of nature and our role is very limited.  As this summer was especially cool and provided below average hours of direct sunshine, we feel the cold mornings even more....  All the same, we welcome the changing seasons and recognize our connections and reliance to nature. 

We are anticipating a hard frost tonight, perhaps even a freeze.  A frost occurs when the dew point drops below the temperature, this usually occurs when there are clear skies.  A freeze is when the actual temperature drops to 32 degrees Farenheit or below - which is in our forecast for tonight/tomorrow morning.  Today we will be harvesting as many of the tender crops as possible, and covering others.  We have 1,000 feet of thermal row cover that is 7 feet wide, so we can effectively cover 7,000 square feet.  We will be covering some whole rows as well as doing some spot-covering to try and extend the season of as many "summer" vegetables as possible.  The Fall crops are not so sensitive to frost and will actually enjoy the cool temperatures - especially the hard squash and cooking greens, which develop more sugars in the cool weather.

We will begin to harvest lettuces and radishes next week along with pumpkins and hard squash (like butternut and acorn).  The Broccoli are setting heads and should be in the shares soon as well. 

We had anticipated doing a "skip week" somewhere around the frost, but might not ending up needing one.  Our goal with the skip week is to extend the season later into  the Fall - to make sure we can continue to provide full shares, as well as include some of the Fall vegetables that aren't ready yet.  We will watch it day to day and week to week and send notice if we are going to do a "skip week".

This week's shares contain:

$3  Ming Choy (this is a "baby" variety of bok choy that has greenish stems and smaller smoother leaves than "mama" bok choy).  It is a great Asian vegetable and can be prepared as a side dish or the main dish.  Some folks chop it up and stirfry others steam the leaves whole to provide a different presentation on the plate.

$2 A Bunch of Collard Greens

$3  A Red Cabbage and 2 Green Cabbages

$3  Thai Basil (this would go very nicely with the Ming Choy, our personal favorite it to include tofu with the thai basil dishes, but you can also use your favorite meat)

$4 Basil for Pesto (this will most likely be the last of the Basil for this season, it already is showing it's distaste for the cold weather) - Pesto freezes well, and is an easy way to preserve the Summer and enjoy it later in the year.

$4 A pound of Green Provider Beans

$4 A mix of Heirloom Sweet Peppers (may include, Red Cheese, Sheepsnose Pimiento, Lipstick, Apple, Red Bell, Orange Bell, Yellow Bell, Flavorburst, Blushing Beauty)

$3 A pound of San Marzanno Paste Tomatoes

$26  Total Market Value

Thanks for your support,
Adam and Chandra