News from the Farm – Sept 28th

Hi everyone, I’m back from a great weekend at the Common Ground organic agricultural fair in Unity, Maine. Wow! What a lot of great people, exhibits and workshops to learn from and great local organic food to eat! I’m sure I gained 5 pounds this weekend.

Read on for this week’s news from the farm, including our current work needs, some tidbits on our current crops, and news about our upcoming special distribution.

Work needs:

We have one more harvest week after this one. I can’t believe how fast this season has flown by! Don’t worry too much if you haven’t finished your work hours. There will be things to do well into November. My goal is to get manure, cover crop or shredded leaves onto every bed before the winter, and to create some new beds. Please watch for Annmarie’s messages about available work times and sign up soon. We’ll do one more potato harvest this Friday and Saturday mornings. If you can come to help, please let Annmarie and me know. We can use one more person on the harvest tomorrow starting at 9. Please send Annmarie an email and call me at 645-1734 if you can come.

Food musings:

  • If you haven’t used your winter squash yet, it will benefit from a bit more time. It will get sweeter and will last for a long time in storage.
  • We are harvesting the leaves of the sweet potato plants now. You can eat them like any other cooking green – They are tender, nutty and delicious and can be prepared with kale, chard, tat soi or any other green. Just pull them off the stem and cook lightly. I’ve made a delicious saag with sweet potato leaves, tatsoi and chard. Next week we’ll harvest the tubers – I’m hoping for the best, as we’ve never grown them on this site.
  • The red, long, bumpy peppers are sweet Jimmy Nardello peppers, bred in Naugatuck, CT. I have heard from one member that she got a pepper that was hot instead of sweet, so taste a tiny bit before you use it. Sometimes seed batches contain an off-type seed or two. The sweet Nardellos are the most delicious peppers for frying or eating raw!
  • Tatsoi is delicious raw in sandwiches or salad or sauted or braised. It’s also beautiful enough to be used as a table centerpiece! You’ll need to give it and any other greens a good rinse after this rain. Ahh… my kingdom for a washing station with running water! Next season, we hope…

Special distribution:

If there is enough food remaining in the garden on Wednesday October 20, I will make one special distribution to current CSA members and to folks on the waiting list and members of Friends of Boulder Knoll (as space permits). The share will include a fruit selection as well as veggies (maybe cider). I plan to limit this distribution to the first 25 people who tell me they want to participate. The cost will be $16 per share for current CSA members and $22 for non-members.  If you would like to participate in the extra distribution please let me know. I’ll start taking money next Sunday during distribution. (Some people have already emailed me about this – Thanks for your interest. I’ll put you on the list.) As the time approaches, if I don’t think the remaining produce is adequate for the group, I will reduce the number of participants and refund people’s money if necessary.

Soup kitchen deliveries:

We will continue to harvest for the soup kitchens on Thursdays after the CSA season is over. I’d be happy to have help with this.

See you at the farm!
Brenda

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