A couple of announcements and then some more stuff.
We are giving out the garlic, onions and shallots for WinterShare this week. If you ordered WinterShare please plan on picking it up at your usual pick-up location. Drop site WinterShare members should look for the package with their name on it.
We are giving out pumpkins for FlowerShare this week. If you ordered FlowerShare please plan to pick up your pumpkins at your usual pick-up locations. Drop site FlowerShare members should look for two pumpkins with their name on them.
We continue to take back the pint size plastic clamshells. Though the cherry tomatoes are quickly decreasing in quantity we can use the clamshells next season.
We are going to harvest the winter squash this week. Anyone want to help? How does Friday at 10:00 work for you? Looks like perfect squash harvesting weather. Let me know if you can make it!
Farm News
Wow! What a great turnout to process the onions on Wednesday!! I didn’t count the total number of people who showed up but it seemed like it was more than the number of fingers I have so I probably couldn’t count them all anyway. They got all the onions cleaned and bagged so now we can give out clean onions!! Thank you all for helping out on this project.
Also thank you to the few folks who showed up on Friday to lend a hand. We originally planned to harvest winter squash but ended up in the popcorn, potatoes and green beans. I don’t want to name names for all the volunteers since I may forget someone and I’m not even sure all who were here on Wednesday but you know who you are and be sure to know that we really, really appreciate the extra help!
I’m not sure if this happened to any of you but it happened to us. A couple week’s ago we harvested a bunch of potatoes. We then washed them and put them into storage crates to hand out the next couple of weeks. We’ve done this in the past with only occasional issues. This year we had another occasion. As we gave out the potatoes over the course of the week we found an increasing amount of rotten potatoes so by the time Saturday arrived I had to sort through those potatoes we still had and tossed at least 150 pounds. We were expecting the amount of potatoes we harvested would last two weeks but because of the rotting that didn’t happen. Hopefully all the potatoes you got survived until you ate them.
I’m not sure what caused the rotting. I have a couple of theories. The first is that since we stored them slightly differently than usual the potatoes stayed wet longer than usual which resulted in the rotting. The second theory is that the potatoes are infected with a pathogen that affects them post harvest while in storage; they looked and felt fine coming out of the ground. Of course there is the third theory that includes both of the first two theories. Whatever the reason we need to find a solution.
Our first strategy is to not wash the potatoes prior to storage. We are also storing them in burlap bags and having a fan keep the air circulating around them to keep any moisture from accumulating on the potatoes.. I haven’t decided if we will wash them prior to giving them out. Seems like you would wash them anyway so maybe it would be best to give you a little dirt with your potatoes just to reduce the possibility of rotting. Plus with how dry the soil is when we harvested them I don’t think very much soil is left on the spuds! So if you get potatoes that are a bit dirty please realize we are doing this for a good reason and not just to lessen our workload (though that is a plus!)
We harvested the popcorn this past week. Our friends from Rise stopped by to lend a hand. We harvested it earlier than we usually do since the last couple of seasons the four legged rascals got to it before we did. Typically we’d leave the popcorn on the plant for as long as possible so that nature dries it as completely as possible. But with the recent past’s issue with critters stealing the popcorn before we could harvest it we figured we’d get to it first but with the added issue of having to dry it out. Since we don’t have any place on the farm that is completely free of rodent issues we’ll send out the popcorn prior to it being ready to pop. Maybe this week. Maybe not. We fear that mice or even worse chipmunks or squirrels will find it and relocate every kernel of corn much like they do if we leave it on the plant. Whenever you get the popcorn please let it dry for a few month prior to trying to pop it.
Whose hole is this hole? Anyone here an expert on holes? We have a couple of these in the field where we grew corn. I never see footprints but frequently see scat. I think it is something without feet. Anaconda? Anyway, let me know what you think it is!
What will we have this week?
Purple Daikon radishes! We don’t have as many as we thought we’d have when we first looked at them but we’ll have a few. There will be more in the upcoming weeks. We also have potatoes, onions, garlic, peppers, some tomatoes, some cherry tomatoes, some tomatillos, some eggplants, some broccoli, some cabbage, some chard, some salad mix, arugula, some funky cucumbers and all the other things I’ve forgotten. The warm season crops are definitely winding down.
FlowerShare this week will be pumpkins. The flowers are still blooming but not as prolifically. And the pumpkins are being eaten by the deer. So, we figured why not harvest the pumpkins so the deer can switch to the winter squash and let the flowers grow for another week. I don’t know if the flowers will return but at least the pumpkins will get harvested before they are all eaten.
We also have CoffeeShare, ShroomShare and part of WinterShare. We will be giving out the garlic, onions and shallots for WinterShare this week.
Joke of the Week
How do you fix a broken pizza?
With tomato paste.