Monday, November 25, 2013

2013 Fall Season, week 8

November 23, 2013

This week's harvest:
Butternut and/or Acorn Squash
Sweet Potatoes
Potatoes
Celery
Kale
Leeks
Onions
Garlic

This week's farm news:

Well, folks, this week wraps up this year's fall season! Thank y'all so much for your support throughout the season! We appreciate you and your hearty appetites more than you know!

And a great big Happy Thanksgiving to you all! We hope your hearts and bellies get filled to the brim with love and nourishment. Thanksgiving is such a special celebration for us - as we reflect on a bountiful season and really indulge in the fruits of our labors and give thanks to abundant nature. We feel so blessed by so much and all of you are such an important part of that picture... So thank you, thank you!

With great appreciation,
Eric, Cher, Ira, Opal, and Olivia

2013 Fall Season, week 6

November 9, 2013

This week's harvest:
Sweet Potatoes
Carrots
Kale
Butternut Squash
Potatoes
Celery
Lettuce
Sweet Peppers

This week's farm news:

The strong winds in the week shook lots more leaves from the trees. The landscape is beginning to have the feel of winter. We dug the remainder of our fall carrots (which are in your baskets today) and they are awesome! We were kind of blown away by their size! These are our winter storage carrots, so we put most of them into our cellar in bins of sand. Our children love fresh carrots so we love having them available for fresh wintertime snacking!

Otherwise the week was spent keeping up with chores, adjusting to the time change, keeping the fires going, and cooking lots and lots of amazing food... the fruit of our season's labors. It feels so good to be winding down and restoring our bodies with nourishing food and ample rest. These days are good. We hope you, too, are enjoying the season, keeping warm, and eating lots of hearty meals...

2013 Fall Season, week 5

November 2, 2013

This week's harvest:
Sweet Potatoes
Butternut and/or Acorn Squash
Potatoes
Daikon
Celery
Kale
Sweet Peppers
Greens choice: Chinese Cabbage, Arugula, Tatsoi, or Kohlrabi
Carrots

This week's farm news:

The week was just glorious. The autumn foliage seems to be in the height of its glory right now. While finishing up the garlic mulching project with Eric, Jesse, and Hannah, I just kept finding myself staring at the colors and the trees dancing in the breeze and leaves setting sail on their twisting, twirling journey to the ground. It's amazing I was able to get any work done at all! But we did finish the mulching so now the garlic is all tucked in under its blanket of hay for the winter. Hooray!

The weather turned turbulent and unsettled for Halloween with rounds of misty rain and lots of howling wind. It was kind of perfect. The kiddos always enjoy dressing up even when their trick-or-treating circuit only consists of two other houses. They still have a grand time of it!

And just so everyone knows, this farmer's market (here in the park) will continue for the remainder of the CSA season in the same location. Starting in December, the market will move to the indoor "Love" building (which is just across Charlotte Ave. and behind/across the street from McDonald's). We are planning to continue coming to the market in December so we'll keep you posted about that.

We can really feel the growing season winding down now. The forest floor is covered with leaves and the blue sky seems so much bigger. We are ready for a pause and a few deep breaths. Ahhhh...

Sunday, November 24, 2013

2013 Fall Share, week 3

October 19, 2013

This week's harvest:
Kale
Butternut Squash
Pumpkins
Ginger
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet Red & Yellow Peppers
Hot Peppers
Cilantro
Daikon Radish
Celery

This week's farm news:

The garlic planting was completed this week. We still need to lay a blanket of mulch on it for the winter but the biggest amount of the work is all done. There should be no shortage of garlic next year, as we planted a whopping 7,000-9,000 cloves. Hooray!

We also dug all the rest of the ginger this week, too. It looks like enough to see us through this fall season as well as give ginger beer making a whirl. And crystallized ginger... and very gingery kimchi - which was another big project for the week. We made our first batch of kimchi which will probably yield 8 gallons or so. Yum. The house is already permeated with the mingling smells of ginger, Chinese cabbage, carrots, daikon, onions, garlic, and hot peppers. It's making my mouth water! One of our favorite winter-time meals is a baked sweet potato with lots of butter and a big scoop of kimchi!

2013 Fall Season, week 2

October 12, 2013

This week's harvest:
Celery
Sweet Potatoes
Acorn Squash - "Thelma Sanders"
Daikon Radish
Kohlrabi
"Hakurei" Salad Turnips - medium shares
Cilantro and/or Basil (medium shares)
Onions
Tomatoes
Ginger
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Greens choice between: Tuscan Kale, Flat-Leaf Kale, Arugula, and/or Mizuna

This week's news:

The week started off with a big rain, all day long, last Sunday. It was welcome... More for the sake of having a day of rest than for moisture in the garden! Our whole crew was pretty tired after last week's sweet potato harvest.

After the rain, we had a few nights of the coolest temperatures we've had thus far this season. A lovely shareholder family came up to the farm for a few days of camping during those coolest nights, but a nice campfire and still warm autumn sunshine were just the ticket for warming up. One of their little boys and Ira are good buddies, so we had him stay with us the rest of the week. Since most of Ira's days are filled with little sisters, it was great for him to have some quality boy-time: fishing, riding bikes, racing cars, sleeping in a tent. What fun! Otherwise, this week we all got sore thumbs from "popping" garlic (breaking apart the bulbs) in preparation for planting. And yesterday was dry enough in the garden to get a good start on that project!