Last week of the 2014 season! Please plan accordingly.
As the season comes to an end so does my inspiration for newsletters. But first here are a couple announcements.
Onions for sale. 10#s of delicious storage onions for $15. Last chance for delivery to drop sites.
Shallots for sale. 5# for $10. Quite the steal.
Winter FruitShare and MeatShare. I need the orders as soon as possible. See the previous newsletter for details.
We are taking orders for next season. $100 down holds your spot for 2015. There is an order form if you are new to the farm. Otherwise if your contact information hasn’t changed you can just send in a check.
Referral bonus. Refer a new customer to the farm and receive a $25 credit on your account. Just have them put your name on the “Where did you hear about the farm?” line of the order form.
What will we have this week? Everything that is left in the field or in storage. With this being the last week of the season we have a large assortment of possibilities. These include but are not limited to carrots, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, fennel, leeks, Brussels sprouts, shallots, onions, garlic, peppers, salad mix, beets, winter squash, pie pumpkins, kale, and sweet potatoes. Many of these items will be in short supply. Every day will be different. Even the delivery boxes may be different throughout the week (something we try to avoid so the pictures are fairly representative). But it should be a delicious week no matter which day you pick-up.
SeafoodShare and SalmonShare arrived at the end of last week. Plan to pick them up if you haven’t already.
Farm News
Much like I reflected last week on the lessons we’ve learned over the last twelve years of farming I thought I would focus in a bit this week and reflect on this season. Here are my observations starting with the bad news:
- The late start to the season matched the previous season’s late start, but once we got rolling the produce came on strong.
- Deer are not just our largest pest problem from a size standpoint but are now the most destructive. They have consumed some of just about everything we’ve grown this season.
- Flea beetles were also a huge issue this season and wiped out our rutabagas.
- The parsnips did not germinate very well. We’ll have to check the seeds and see if we need to purchase anew.
- The popcorn did not produce any ears. Odd. Makes for a poor popcorn season.
- The snap peas were not as plentiful as we’d like.
- The spring broccoli was not the quality we strive for. We’ll have to reflect over the winter to figure out if there is something we can do to get it back to where we’ve been in the past.
- The deer ate most of our edamame.
Now for some good news:
- Our sweet potato experiment was a success. The downside is I want another hoop house.
- The tomato cage experiment was a success. The downside is I need to purchase and build more.
- The sweet corn was fabulous and abundant. Now if we could just figure out what we did right…
- Lots-o-beans!
- Lots-o-carrots!
- Squash bug populations were down from previous seasons.
- Peppers were abundant but not as abundant as last season, which some would consider a success!
Overall I felt this season was as typical as they get. Some things did fabulous. Some things failed. And the rest fell somewhere in between. The end result I felt was a successful season.
Sometime in the next few weeks I will send out the annual end-of-season survey. This is your opportunity to tell me what you’ve always wanted to tell me but didn’t want me to know it was you telling me. I will send it out as a link in an email message so watch for it. And please fill it out; it should only take a few minutes (I use the free version of the survey site so I only get to ask 10 questions).
Q: What’s the ratio of a pumpkin’s circumference to its diameter?
A: Pumpkin Pi