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

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

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

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

Hello Everyone,

We continue to experience dry conditions, with no substantial rain now for over 3 weeks. We are moving the sprinklers around constantly to help germinate newly planted seeds and keep other crops growing rapidly.

I expect to sow the last few beds of direct seeded crops this week- arugula, salad turnips and some oriental mustard greens. We will also be transplanting another batch of lettuce plants this week, which will be ready for harvest in November. I will finally be done with planting for this year!

Tomatoes have become rather scarce at the moment, but a late planting of plum tomatoes and some heirlooms are getting close to ripening. Hopefully we can begin harvesting these by next week, and with some luck from the weather (no frosts) will continue to have tomatoes well into October.

We again have beets with tops, there will be a choice of white, candy cane, or an elongated red type-aptly named Cylindro. The beet greens are quite nutritious and can be steamed, sautéed or used in soup. We also have edamame soybeans this week. These Japanese treats are prepared by boiling in the pods and then slipping the seeds out with your teeth! We will also be offering celery or fennel as a choice this week. This will be repeated again next week, so you will have a chance to get both.

This week’s share will be: Lettuce, yellow onions, potatoes, sweet corn (conventional), peppers, eggplant, edamame soybeans, beets, celery or fennel, melons, choice of an herb, and maybe tomatoes.

Enjoy!

Farmer John

Hi Everyone,

Well fall is in the air, with some very cool nights this past week, but for now we will continue to enjoy summer vegetables. Peppers have begun to ripen abundantly to beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow. We still have lots of melons and watermelons.

The edamame soybeans are almost ready, but will need one more week for all the pods to finish filling out. These can be quite time consuming to harvest and so we need to wait until all of the pods on the bush are mature and can be harvested at one time. I am also waiting on a planting of lima beans to begin producing.

The Rattlesnake beans have slowed down considerably, probably due to the dry conditions for the past 3 weeks. It’s uncertain whether we can harvest enough to put in this week’s share. Cucumbers are also in short supply.

The fall broccoli and cabbage plants are growing beautifully and should be ready to begin harvesting in 4 or 5 weeks. As I mentioned previously we are out of lettuce for the moment, but I am buying some from another local organic farm to put in the shares this week.

This week’s share will be: Lettuce, Swiss chard, garlic, potatoes, melons, peppers, eggplant, carrots, tomatoes and choice of an herb.

Enjoy! Farmer John

Hi Everyone,

Summer is in it’s final weeks, but the summertime veggies continue to be abundant. While most of my tomato plants have been stricken with early blight, I have a late planting that should start to produce in the next few weeks. I also have second plantings of zucchini, cucumbers, and beans which if the weather stays warm will start to produce in early October.

This past week I was finally able to seed many cool weather crops such as spinach, radishes, turnips, broccoli raab and various other greens. Some of these will be ready for harvest in just a few weeks, while others will come in during October and November.

We’ve had a good run with the lettuce, with some in every share thus far this season, but we’re approaching a gap in my lettuce production. This week we will be cutting some romaine lettuce for bunching, that was direct seeded for salad mix. After this there may be a few weeks without lettuce in the shares. Melons continue to ripen abundantly, and the warm weather has insured their sweetness. There will be a choice of cantaloupe, honey dew, or watermelon, this week.

The share for this week will be: Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, red onions, melons, cucumbers, bu

Hi Everyone,

This past week’s cool and damp weather has caused new challenges for us on several fronts. Several days of overcast, drizzly weather created perfect conditions for the growth and spread of fungal diseases. Early blight in tomatoes, alternaria blight in carrots and various other fungi which affect the leaves of beets, squash, melons, and cukes all thrive under these conditions. Harvesting is made difficult because handling the plants when they are wet aids in the spread of the diseases. I will have to find the time this coming week to spray with one or more of the anti-fungal products approved for organic production. My favorite is a product called Sporan, which contains essential oils of rosemary and clove. If nothing else, the farm will sure smell great! Future deliveries of beets and carrots will most likely be made without tops, at least until second and third plantings begin to mature.

Another challenge of these wet conditions is planting the various fall crops which are direct seeded. Various varieties of veggies from arugula to spinach need to be sown in the next several weeks. I have most of the ground prepared for these crops, but the seeder does not function well when the soil is too wet. Fortunately dry weather is forecast for the next several days and I expect to plant radishes, turnips, bok choy, broccoli raab, and various types of mustard greens. Melons have begun to ripen and will be in the shares over the next few weeks as they become available in sufficient quantities.

The share for this week will be: Red leaf lettuce, beets, yellow onions, beans, cukes, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, choice of escarole or Swiss chard, sweet corn(conventional), and choice of an herb.

Enjoy!
Farmer John

Hi Everyone,

Last Friday we received over 2 ½ inches of rain, a lot more than I would have liked. Harvesting for the weekend markets was a bit difficult and now the fields are to wet to work the ground, so I am a little set back in planting the fall crops. On Thursday we planted a few thousand broccoli plants, the rain was at least beneficial to them.

We are continuing to harvest lots of beans and cukes and the tomatoes are also starting to come in heavily, including some of the heirloom varieties. The beans for this week will include an heirloom variety called Dragon Langerie. It is a flat wax bean with purple streaking and is quite tender and sweet. They are not a shell bean; use them as you would a normal string bean. We will also be shipping bunched adolescent lettuce, in between a baby leaf and a full sized head. It is very tender and makes a nice salad.

The share for this week will be: Tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, cucumbers, lettuce, garlic, choice of carrots or Chioggia(candy cane) beets, beans, choice of arugula or other mustard greens, sweet corn (conventionally grown-but freshly picked) and choice of an herb. There will also be eggplant for those groups which did not receive it last week as promised.

Enjoy! Farmer John

Hi Everyone,Last Monday brought us a little over 2” of precipitation in a slow steady rain that was able to soak into the ground. This past weekend we received about another inch. The ground is finally well re-hydrated and most everything is growing well. We have begun digging potatoes and will have a red skinned variety in the share this week. They are, as predicted, a bit small due to the dry spring and early summer. Hopefully the later varieties will be able to take advantage of the recent rains and achieve a more respectable size. We are currently in the process of planting fall crops. We will be transplanting Brussel sprouts, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower seedlings this week and seeding spinach, radishes, turnips, arugula and other mustard greens. We are also seeding lettuces, radicchio, kohlrabi in the greenhouse for transplanting in about 3-4 weeks. We have finished harvesting the radicchio and there is enough for everyone in the share this week. This time it will be the more well known round red type, although some will be a red trevisio type. We won’t have peppers this week, as I want to leave as much green fruit as possible to ripen to red, yellow and orange. Eggplant is still coming in sparingly, so there is not enough for everyone, so we will include some as an extra. Tomatoes are still not ready for at least one more week. Sorry!

The share for this week will be: Radicchio, carrots, kale, potatoes, cabbage, red onions, summer squash, cucumbers, choice of green or wax beans, lettuce (choice of various varieties), and choice of an herb- basil, parsley or dill.

Enjoy! Farmer John