I decided to put off writing this week’s newsletter until the rain today. Thank you weather forecasters!
We are taking orders for the 2016 season! Sign-up today and reserve your spot for next season. By ordering today you lock in this year’s price for next season’s veggies. I don’t anticipate a price increase for 2016 but you never know. I do anticipate tighter availability however so if you are coming back now would be a good time to reserve your shares. To do so you can send in a $100 deposit or “purchase” a deposit from our online store. Either way works for us.
Another reminder of our garlic planting party. It will be Saturday October 10th from 2:00 to 5:00 with bonfire and potluck to follow. This is a great opportunity to get dirty (or not if you prefer to “pop” the garlic from the comfort of a lawn chair) and meet fellow farm members. Kids are welcome and encouraged to contribute! Please RSVP.
The Spud fund is doing well. We are at about $200! Thank you to everyone who contributed by purchasing extra potatoes. We still have a lot of potatoes so if you’d like extra and want to contribute to the spud fund please feel free to do so. We have more than half the potatoes left to harvest!
We are selling off the leftover winter share contents. If you’d like extra garlic ($10/pound), onions ($1/pound), shallots ($2/pound) or potatoes ($1/pound as part of the spud fund) please let me know. You can purchase them in the tent or we can deliver them to the drop sites.
Farm News. This is the time of year that separates the men from the boys. The wheat from the chaff. The sheep from the goats. This is the time of year we have been preparing for all season. All the sweat, hard-work and long days culminate in this fall event. The Superbowl, the World Series and Wrestlemania 2015 all in one event. What happens this time of year you ask? Squash harvest season. And fall cabbage season. And potato harvest season. This is the time of year when it seems like everything weighs far more than you’d ever expect. Maybe as we extend through the long season our bodies get tired and it just seems like things are heavier this time of year. But I don’t think so. I think Mother Nature planned it this way. In the spring, when our bodies are pudgy and soft from months of winter hibernation She gives us the light fluffy stuff like lettuce and bok choi. Then as the season progresses and our bodies are becoming more fit from hours of physical labor She adds cauliflower and peppers (which are surprisingly heavy even though they are filled with air). Then the fall comes along and here comes the winter squash. Ugh. Talk about heavy.
I suppose we could put fewer squash in each harvest crate. That would make them lighter. But psychologically that is impossible. Squash are like water — they fill the space available. You can’t look at a harvest crate with room for more squash and not put another one or three in it. It is just not possible. So you fill them to the top and suffer the consequences. One bright spot this season is my oldest son worked on the farm all summer and agreed to work a couple hours on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Guess which days we fill the bins with squash?
We have harvested most of the squash and pie pumpkins. There are a few we left behind thinking they may ripen over the next few weeks but for the most part we are done. We also harvested the gourds for FlowerShare and will be giving those out this week. The ornamental pumpkins for FlowerShare are not fully ripe yet so we left them out in the field for another week or two. I suppose we don’t really need ornamental pumpkins until October; why push it?
Our next big project other than our periodic potato harvest is harvesting the sweet potatoes. This will commence as soon as it turns cold enough to threaten the plants’ survival. Again, no need to push it.
What will we have this week? Great questions. New this week are leeks! Plus the beets are back for another round this fall. We also have carrots, potatoes, cabbage, winter squash (new this week is carnival squash — quite festive!), onions, garlic, peppers and celery. Plus there are a few odds and ends — items that are winding down or are in short supply.
No Meat, Cheese, Eggs, Fruit, Coffee or Ice Cream this week.
FlowerShare will be gourds.
SalmonShare, SeafoodShare and Tuna all arrive on Thursday afternoon.
That is all for now. As always, do not hesitate to send in questions, concerns, ideas, jokes, puzzlers, etc.