Hi Folks,
Well the seemingly endless summer has finally come to a close with a hard freeze last night. All of the warm weather crops, such as beans, peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini were killed. We were able to harvest some of these before the cold blast, so they will still be some for the shares for at least one more week. The Romaine lettuce was also slightly burned at the tips, but they are very large and dense heads, so there’s still plenty of good eating left.
There’s also plenty of good stuff still in the fields, that is essentially unaffected by this degree of coldness (pun intended). In the coming weeks the shares will be more centered around root crops, hardy greens, brassicas, and winter squash.
The share for this week will be: French fingerling potatoes, garlic, parsnips, Romaine lettuce, spinach, broccoli, peppers, daikon or Easter egg radishes, spaghetti and buttercup squash, choice of an herb, and choice of arugula, broccoli raab, or kale.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
Month: October 2007
Letter from Farmer John: October 23, 2007
Hi Folks!
The mild weather continues with another 5 or 6 days without much chance of frost. This means we can continue to enjoy summer vegetables alongside the beautiful fall greens and winter squash.
The unstoppable Rattlesnake beans continue producing and my late planting of bush beans is attempting to produce a crop, albeit painfully slowly. The tomatoes too, are ripening very slowly, but the ones I have sampled still have good flavor. The regular green spinach is still a bit small for bunching, so we will be harvesting a nice red veined variety called Bordeaux. The broccoli is still not maturing in sufficient quantities for delivery this week but should certainly be ready by next week.
For those of you for whom this is you last pickup (that’s the other CSA’s, not the Bloomfield-Montclair CSA), thank you so much for participating. I hope you have enjoyed the season! For the rest, there’s lots of great produce to look forward to in the coming weeks.
The share for this week will be: Boston lettuce, Acorn squash, Hakurei turnips, bok choy, red onions, Bordeaux spinach, All red potatoes (pink inside) tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans, ornamental gourds, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
Letter from Farmer John: October 16, 2007
Hi Everyone,
Well fall has finally arrived and despite the fact that there were no predictions for a frost, we had a very light frost this past Friday and again Saturday night. The cold slightly burned the summer squash and beans, but they are still alive and should continue to produce. The tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant remain relatively unscathed. We also received buckets of rain this past week, ending the long dry spell. It’s predicted to warm slightly this week, with no frost expected for another 10 days.
The broccoli is heading up nicely and will be in the share next week. The spinach is getting large as well and should be big enough to cut next week.
The share for this week will be: Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, sweet potatoes, summer squash, pumpkins, radishes, choice of Napa cabbage or kohlrabi, delicate squash, lettuce, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
Letter from Farmer John: October 9, 2007
Hi Everyone,
As I imagine you have noticed, the unseasonable warmth and dryness continues. There are predictions for some rain about midweek and a slight drop in temperatures into the weekend, but still no frost expected for the next 2 weeks.
This is great news as we can continue to enjoy summer veggies for another few weeks and perhaps even see a resurgence of tomatoes. We have begun heavily pruning the late planting of tomatoes to encourage the plants to ripen their fruit rather than continue to put their energy into flowering and excessive vegetative growth. There are over a thousand plants and several thousand pounds of green fruit that should start to ripen soon.
The peppers and eggplant continue to produce abundantly. Late plantings of beans are beginning to flower and the summer squash has small fruit growing.
Meanwhile we are busy harvesting the winter squash, pumpkins and gourds. Soon we will begin harvesting the sweet potatoes, which appear to have produced a good crop. The fall broccoli and cabbage are beginning to form heads and should be ready to cut in 2 weeks. The Hakurei salad turnips are beginning to size up and will be in the share this week. The greens are beautiful, tender, and nutritious and can be used in salads or sautéed/steamed.
We also have lettuce again, with Green leaf for this week and Boston and Romaine to follow in the coming weeks. We will also be shipping Tatsoi this week, a mild Asian mustard green which is great in stir fries or mixed into salads.
Next week we will de delivering pumpkins. While all pumpkins are edible, there are some such as Long Island Cheese and Jarradale which are better for making soups, cakes and pies. I would like to take a poll this week to know your preference for an ornamental or a cooking type, so I can bring the appropriate # of each.
The share for this week will be: Lettuce, potatoes, sweet corn (conventional), peppers, eggplant, Hakurei turnips, Tatsoi, white onions, Butternut squash, beans, choice of an herb, and some form of tomatoes (either cherries, slicers, plums, or small salad)
Enjoy!
Farmer John
Letter from Farmer John: October 1, 2007
Hi Everyone,
The weather continues to be glorious, with unseasonable warmth, but we still have not received any substantial rain. A passing front that had been predicted to drop close to an inch of rain delivered less than 1/8 of an inch. There isn’t any rain predicted for the near future, but there is no prediction of frost either, so hopefully our late plantings of tomatoes and beans will have a chance to produce a crop.
The tomatoes still have not begun ripening so they will continue to be scarce this week. We will begin deliveries of winter squash this week, starting with spaghetti squash. Next week we will have butternut, with acorn, delicate and buttercup to follow as we go through October. We still have an abundance of edamame soybeans, so they will be in the share again this week. We also have sufficient quantities of assorted string beans to deliver. There is no lettuce this week, but the next planting is growing beautifully and some should attain harvestable size by next week.
The share for this week will be: Garlic, Fingerling potatoes, arugula or mizuna (Asian mustard green), French breakfast radishes, peppers, eggplant, spaghetti squash, choice of celery or fennel, edamame soybeans, string beans, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John