In the news:
- The honeybees have been temporarily moved off-site to get settled with their new queen. It continues to be a healthy hive. They’ll probably be back in a few weeks. Thanks to Bill for all your work for the bees.
- We have a disease called late blight on the tomatoes. This will kill the field tomato plants. I am doing my best to harvest the tomatoes early so they don’t get damaged. if you find a brownish patch on a tomato, let it ripen and then cut the brown part off. The remaining fruit is perfectly fine to eat. Hopefully the tomatoes in the large high tunnel will stay healthy for awhile. Enjoy the tomato abundance while it lasts. Many other farms in the area are losing their tomato plants too. We are lucky that it has been dry for awhile; in wet conditions plants get infected and die very quickly.
- We’re looking forward to a community potluck evening in October. I’ll let you know the date soon (as soon as I remember it!).
- Our big farm dinner fundraiser is this coming Tuesday. Thanks to all who bought tickets and have offered to help with setup and breakdown. It’ll be a great time. A huge thank you to owner Jason and chef Nate of Caseus Fromagerie and Bistro for the great food.
- Please post recipes on the blog or send them to Dan Groberg dgroberg@friendsofboulderknoll.com and he’ll post them. And please LIKE us on Facebook!
- We could use pint and quart containers (the blue cardboard ones and the plastic kind with covers). It’s great if you return the ones you get; we can use them again. Large sheets of cardboard are always welcome. Just put them near the tool shed.
- Stay tuned for a new line-up of educational programs including moon and planet gazing through homemade telescopes, starting an organic garden (fall is the best time), making your own planter, making compost and compost tea.
- Since some have asked, last pick-ups are Group A, Oct 13 and Group B, Oct 20.
- We have been donating food to the Meriden and Waterbury soup kitchens with help from Kol Ami congregants. If you have extra food coming from your gardens I would be happy to include it for Monday delivery. You may bring it on Saturday when you come to the farm, and I will refrigerate it.
To Group A and to those who have switched to 9/1:
Our pick-up time is 1230 – 2 pm. As always, please email me (or text my cell phone) if you are going to be late picking up or you need to cancel your pick-up. You should tell me about a cancellation (or if you’d like to switch your pick up week) no later than noon on Friday. If you have someone else pick up your share, please tell them where and when to come for the food. It would be good for me to have their contact info in case we have to get in touch with them.
I anticipate that you will receive:
- leeks or onions
- tomatoes, a lot of them (You can put an unripe tomato on the counter and it will ripen in a couple of days. Don’t put tomatoes in the fridge – their texture and taste suffers a bit.)
- Sungold cherry tomatoes
- basil
- garlic
- cucumber/ squash choice (these are slowing down a bit) with a few eggplant, sweet pepper and tomatillo choices too
- watermelon (maybe 1/2 a big one) or apples
- sweet corn
- Elizabeth Ciarlelli’s now-famous tea bread
- Pick your own flowers!
Since it’ll be such a tomatoey share-out, take a look at the last week’s Hartford Courant food section (http://www.courant.com/features/food/sc-food-0817-roasting-tomatoes-20120822,0,5621191.story) for some amazing simple tomato recipes! And tomatoes freeze well too. You can then freeze or can the roasted tomatoes for a delicious winter sauce. Or just freeze them whole on a cookie sheet and put them in tight freezer bags (with the air removed). The skin will slip off with a light spray of warm water and they’ll be ready for a recipe.
Work needs
We still need 3 or 4 harvesters for 8:00 this Saturday! Thanks to Peter who has signed up to prep veggies, prep and staff the distribution. Please consider signing up for harvest during the next few weeks so Annmarie doesn’t have to chase people down.
Other work time available is:
- Thursday 8/30 (today): noon to 4
- Friday 8/31: noon to 5
- Saturday 9/1: Harvest!! 8-1030, Prep (one person needed) 930-12, Staff the distribution (one person needed) 1215 – 215, General work 12-3
- Monday 9/3: noon to 4
- Tuesday 9/4: 10 to 4 (weather permitting)
See you at the farm,
Brenda