Hi Folks, We had our first frost this past Saturday night. As warm as it has been, I was hoping we would
get a couple more weeks from the warm weather crops. The old saying “you can’t always get what
you want” is especially true in farming. I was, as frequently happens, taken by surprise by it, as it
wasn’t forecast until Saturday. I might have tried to cover a few crops, but by the time I learned of its
imminence, the workers had already gone home. Gone are the beans and the basil, the peppers and
eggplant, and the zucchini. The cold also blackened the leaves of the sweet potatoes, but that’s good
news, because now we have begun to dig them, and hopefully, soon so will you! So far the harvest looks
great, with good size and quality and overall yield. I pulled a few out of the ground last night and baked
them for dinner; they were quite yummy.

We are still waiting for the next round of broccoli to head up, which should happen in the next week
or two. In the meantime, we have some Napa or Chinese cabbage and some Bok choi to offer in this
week’s share. Some groups will get the cabbage this week and others the Bok choi, next week the
contrary. Both white and yellow cauliflowers are beginning to head as well, so look for these in the
share’s soon. We will give the spinach a rest this week and allow it to get a little bigger, ditto for the
chard and the kale. We had been thinning out the rows of spinach as we harvest; pulling the largest
plants and leaving the smaller ones with more space to grow. I planted the spinach at the back of one of
my fields, because in my experience it was not eaten by ground hogs or deer. Unfortunately, with fewer
of their favorites available to them, the deer seem to have acquired a taste for it. They did a fair amount
of damage before we were able to get it fenced in. We have now had to put a fence around a second
planting, which I thought was still too small for them to bother with; wrong again!

The lettuce for this week will be an old variety called Forellensclus, which means something like
trout back in German. It is a romaine type with red speckling, hence the name. I mention it mostly
because to the un-initiated it can appear to be going bad, but it is a very nice lettuce with a dense head,
full of many tender leaves. The squash of the week will be spaghetti. I was planning on sending acorn,
but it appears that the spaghetti squash is not keeping very well. This is not typical for winter squash as
most keep for months. I recommend that you use it promptly, or at least keep an eye on it, so that it
doesn’t spoil before you get to it. We also have a choice of edamame soybeans or flageolet beans in this
week’s share. The latter are the traditional ingredient in the French dish casoulet. They are shell beans
and can be used in any dish calling for lima beans or added to soups. They look just like green beans, but
you will be very disappointed if you try to prepare them as such.

Don’t forget about the Farm visit, this Sunday at Circle Brook Farm 141 Brighton Rd., Andover, NJ, 07821
11 AM to 4PM This will be a simple event, an opportunity for those who have wanted to visit the farm
and haven’t had the chance, to see how their food grows. The weather forecast looks good!

The share for this week will be: Forellenschlus lettuce, sweet potatoes,
Bok choi or Napa cabbage, choice of edamame or flageolet beans, yellow
onions, spaghetti squash, beets, choice of arugula or tatsoi and choice of
an herb. Enjoy! Farmer John