(sorry for the late posting folks!)

Hi Folks,

We will be sending out the last few peppers as an extra this week, and
this marks the end of the summer crops. The cool weather crops are
thriving and look beautiful, although not always growing and maturing
as fast as I would like.

A case in point is the broccoli, which is big and beautiful, but still
heading up slowly and sporadically. We have planted nearly 7,000
broccoli plants; more than half of which were planted in early August
and so should be maturing.  We had enough last week to send broccoli
to a few groups and will have enough for several more groups this
week. Anyone who has not received broccoli after this week will
definitely get it next week and I expect to have enough for everyone
in the final regular season share.

Spinach is another crop which endures cold weather but yet grows very
slowly. I expect that the spinach will be large enough to bunch for
next week’s share. Also on the horizon is escarole and broccoli raab.
We have finished harvesting the sweet potatoes, and since I don’t have
great storage conditions for them, we will be shipping them out
immediately.

In the field, besides harvesting we are busy with clean up- removing
posts, trellising, plastic mulch and drip tape and preparing ground
for cover crops. We are also preparing beds for planting next season’s
garlic and shallot crop. And I am, as always working on fixing broken
equipment. This week’s project is the disc harrow which I need for
planting the cover crops.

The share for this week will be: sweet potatoes, yellow onions,
parsnips, acorn squash, radishes, choice of a mustard green- arugula
or tatsoi, red leaf lettuce, choice of endive or dandelion greens, and
choice of an herb.

Enjoy,
Farmer John