Archive for the CSA Newsletter Category

I think most people in New England would say that fall is their favorite season. The temperatures moderate, the air is crisp and the colors are spectacular with all the pumpkins and the changing leaves. The grass you see sprouting up in the field will make the farm look like Ireland in the next couple weeks. 

Well it’s starting to feel like fall, my favorite time of the year. In the next week you’ll see the farm get transformed with all kinds of pumpkins and gourds, large and small, corn stalks with big orange bows and gorgeous mums.

I’m so impressed that so many of you have already signed up for the winter share. And what’s most impressive is that most of you have signed up for the whole winter (Nov-early March). We are pretty excited about the storage crops that we have already brought in from the field. The most we have ever harvested at this time of year is 12. This year, we have already brought in 20 bins! Thanks to talented farmers and the irrigation you helped us secure, our yields have been incredible this season. I hope you love parsnips because they are the best we have ever grown. So far the sweet potato is gorgeous so, keep you fingers crossed. And we have plenty of potatoes, carrots and beets too.

First, I wanted to remind people that Labor Day weekend is comng up AND that there aren’t pickups at the farm that day. Please let us know what other pickup day would work for you, for just that week. Thanks! Last week I briefly touched on freezing produce as a form of food preservation. Have any of you given this a try yet? Having corn this winter, right out of our fields and into your freezer, will make an amazing corn chowder! This week I would like to address another method of food preservation: Drying.

As the weather turns cooler, my thoughts turns towards food preservation. Maybe it is the cool weather? Maybe it is the shear abundance of food coming in from the fields? Either way, I start to think about how to save produce so that I can enjoy it into the fall and winter seasons.

If you are planning on canning or freezing tomatoes or making your favorite sauce or salsa this year, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for, our 11th Annual U-Pick Tomato Event. The tomato field will opens Saturday, August 18 at 8:00a.m.. All our tomatoes are organic.

People come to the farm for all different reasons. You come for the fresh produce. Others come for a birthday party, pumpkin picking or maybe lunch and an ice cream. Right now, and for the two weeks, many people are coming to the farm for the the sunflowers.

If there is one crop that the crew loves to harvest, it’s watermelon. I’m not sure if it’s because it brings back memories of playing ball or the idea that when it’s time to stop for a break, there’s a nice, sweet, juicy melon waiting for them but, they love their watermelons.

Our watermelons and cantaloupe are picked ripe. The crew can tell when they are ready when the tendril on the vine, closest to the melon is dried up. With watermelons, we look for the tendril and a yellow spot on the melon where it was laying on the ground.

Three years ago now the farm crew planted a small orchard of peaches and this week they began to harvest them. They might be a little small (we need to do a little more thinning) but they are delicious. Sweet and juicy only begins to describe them. If you need to gorge yourself on something, I would vote for the peaches!

Up until now, we have dug them with a machine, crated them in the field, and then walked them through what feels like beach sand to a 16 bushel bin. As you can imagine it was back breaking. Now we just stand there and let the machine mow the plants, dig the potatoes and the conveyor sends them into the bin. All we have to do it sort the rocks out. This make potato harvesting pleasant and will save the crews energy for other tasks that need to be done. It will also save a few trips to PT or the chiropractor. HURRAY!