During this contentious election season I was recently reminded of the song “Hail to the Chief”. You know the one the United State Marine Band plays whenever the President of the United States makes an appearance. Da Da da-da da da-da-da-da-da da da. Anyway, I was reminded of this song yesterday evening during veggie pick-up. I was minding my own business waiting for the last few members to show up for their veggies when I heard a random thud on the tent. I figured with the sudden wind it must be twigs or small branches falling from the trees. The thuds got more frequent and then the rain started to fall. Since nobody was here I retreated into the wash area to watch the rain fall. It is then that I discovered the sound of the thuds wasn’t branches but hail, in October, in Minnesota! Whaaat?
I watched the hail for a bit as it increased in intensity and size. Wow, I haven’t seen hail like this in a while. In fact, this is the worst hail storm we’ve had at Fresh Earth Farms. Want to see for yourself?
I surveyed the property briefly after the storm and didn’t find any structural damage. The swiss chard was pretty torn up so that may be over for the season. The carrot tops got flattened as did the salad mix. But most everything else (not that there is a lot left in the field at this late juncture) survived with minor blemishes. I suppose if we are to have a hail storm sometime during the season, having it during the last week of the season is the most preferable!
Speaking of the last week of the season, what will we be getting? New this week is sweet potatoes! They did pretty well and look good. Make sure you store them for a few weeks to sweeten up! Leaving them on the counter should be fine. New also this week is Brussels Sprouts. We have been trying to find a good Brussels sprout variety for many years. We’d like one that grows big sprouts and is resistant to the black stuff that seems to infect our sprouts every year. We tried a new one this season and it seemed to be resistant to the black scourge. Unfortunately the sprouts grew to only about peas size. But we planted our usual BS and will give it out this week. They are not the best sprouts; they have the black stuff on them again this season. Typically you just need to peal off the outside layer of the sprout if it has turned black. We’ll also have carrots, potatoes, onions, leeks, shallots, garlic, some peppers, some beets, some kohlrabi, some kale, some daikon radishes (they make great soup!), some popcorn and some other odds and ends that we have left. If the salad mix recovers from the hail (not holding my breath) we’ll have some of that as well.
CoffeeShare, SeafoodShare, SalmonShare and BreadShare this week.
Be sure to sign-up for 2017! Either bring/send in a deposit check for $100 or sign-up online. If you want to pay through the web site you’ll have to pay the whole amount; our store software doesn’t provide for partial payments. However if you only want to put down a $100 deposit at this time you can send in a check. Sign-up today and lock in this year’s price for next season’s produce!
Also tell your friends, neighbors, etc. about us. Have them put your name in the “Where did you hear about us?” box of the order form and we will credit your account $25.
Winter FruitShare is a go. It has been added to our online store. If you’d like to enjoy delicious, certified organic fruit all winter long please order winter FruitShare as soon as possible. The first pick-up will be Wednesday November 16th. The season will run until June 7th (fifteen weeks). Payment plans are available; select your payment option at checkout (but please don’t select “Deposit Plan” for FruitShare; it is intended for people ordering veggies for next season). As always, feel free to contact me with questions.
Garlic planting is still on for this Saturday. We need more volunteers and a bunch of hot, dry days to dry up the soil from yesterday’s rain and hail. Planned start time is 2:00. Planned end time is 5:00 but with 50 people we’d be done in an hour! If you can’t make it for the whole event feel free to come for part of it. We’ll have a bonfire and potluck once we’ve finished the planting. Please let me know if you can join us!