Thursday, October 30, 2014

2014 Fall Season, week 4

October 25, 2014

This week's harvest:
Sweet Potatoes
Potatoes
Kale
Chinese Cabbage
Pie Pumpkins
Sweet Dumpling Squash
Garlic
Sweet & Hot Peppers
Onions
Ginger

This week's farm news:

Eric and I celebrated our fifteenth! wedding anniversary this week. On the same day, Olivia celebrated her 5th B-Day - so it was a big week for our family! Do you know what we did on that special day? Wrangled sheep (Ram lambs) into the truck and hauled them to a sheep sale in Bowling Green! After that, though, we did go out for pizza (rare treat!). When we got home, I made Olivia her birthday cake and we celebrated that special, growing little girl.

The weather this week was gorgeous. We had a few more very light frosts, but not a killing frost yet... So there are still peppers in your baskets this week! The leaves are really beginning to come down now. Here on the farm the colors are getting so beautiful... My favorite time of year!! Have a great week, friends!

2014 Fall Season, week 3

October 18, 2014

This week's harvest:
Sweet Potatoes
Potatoes
Onions
Ginger
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Kale
Butternut Squash
Greens choice (between Mizuna, Arugula, Red Mustard, &/or Parsley)

This week's farm news:

Well, I thought last week was wet and rainy... Ha! This week has proven to be even more wet and rainy. Wow! One overnight rain event poured down three inches! We've had more than seven inches these past 10 days or so. Needless to say, the farm is soaked. And we have had no chance of getting the garlic in the ground, or covercrops for that matter. Some years, that's just the way it goes...

Even though the garden was wet, we tromped around to harvest the remaining winter squash and pumpkins. The vines were all killed in the frost that we had - some of the fruit was not all the way mature, but it was time to get it all out of the field. I've heard green pumpkin pie tastes a lot like apple pie - I guess I'll have to give it a whirl with some of the under-ripe pumpkins!

2014 Fall Season, week 2

October 11, 2014

This week's harvest:
Ginger
Sweet Potatoes
Spaghetti Squash
Kale
Garlic
Onions
Potatoes
Greens choice (Arugula, Cut Lettuce, Mizuna)
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers

This week's farm news:

We had our first frost of the season this week. So it was farewell to most of the remaining summer crops. Somehow a few tomatoes survived, and the sweet pepper plants mostly just had their top-most leaves touched by the frost. The melons and summer squash were scorched, though!

Otherwise this week it was rain, rain, rain. Typically, October is our driest month of the year... That is certainly not the case this year! We are thankful for the rain even though it makes things challenging for us as we try to wrap up any remaining garden work for the season. So I guess what I'm saying is that we didn't accomplish much in the garden but had a nice week doing other things. We hope you had a nice week, too!

2014 Fall Season, week 1

October 4, 2014

This week's harvest:
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet Dumpling Winter Squash
Ginger!
Kale
Greens choice (between Arugula, Mizuna, Lettuce Mix, or Turnip Greens)
Potatoes
Garlic
Onions
Watermelons(!)
Tomatoes
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Patty Pan Summer Squash

This week's farm news:

Welcome to this year's fall share! It's crazy to be kicking off this first week with watermelons but oh, well... I'm sure no one will mind! We have had very dry conditions on the farm... With this cold front that is moving in, we did receive about 1/2 an inch. Certainly, we would love a bit more than that though!

The big project on the farm recently has been digging the sweet potatoes. We have just three rows (of 15) to go and that task will be complete for another year. The crop seems good and bountiful, which is such a blessing. And nothing marks the arrival of fall for my family quite like that first baked sweet potato fresh out of the oven. Yum, yum!

The summer crops are winding down for sure. This week might very well be the last of the tomatoes so enjoy them while they last! Have a great week!