CSA Week 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Welcome to week 8!! This is the halfway point of our season together! I hope everyone has been enjoying the summer and the veggies/flowers during the season. As I’m sure you are all well aware, August is a time for transition, whether its getting the kids back into school, going back to teach (for those teachers we have!), or simply witnessing the days getting shorter - it can be a wild month! Now, I’m not here to remind you of what’s around the corner, it is always bittersweet when the days get shorter, but I do love August here on the farm. I am curious to see how we as a state transition to having our teachers and youngsters back in a confined space and I believe Vermont is in a very good position relatively speaking. Those of you directly involved are on my mind and I wish you the best!
This week on the farm we are turning some of the greenhouses over to winter production. It is funny to think about planting crops now that will be ready in late winter or even next spring! But with the shortened days and cool weather crops take a lot longer to produce until the days become fewer than 10 hours long. During the period between November 4th and February 4th when sunlight dips under 10 hours long, plants do not have enough sunlight to photosynthesize and grow so they just hang out until the spring. Right now is an interesting time of year where some aspects of summer growth are winding down and the next season is winding up!
Last Tuesday we pulled the garlic and I am so excited about this year’s harvest. The bulbs look big and healthy and we have them drying in the greenhouse on racks. After they have dried we will sort and clean them organizing the bulbs into what we need for planting stock in October, and what is available to eat, small, medium, and large! Coming soon!
On to the share!
This week we have:
Cucumbers!! I hope you are not on Cuke overload but they have been really plentiful this year. Just when I thought they were winding down we pulled another 200 pounds or so yesterday morning! Great with the lettuce mix this week.
Lettuce Mix - for all your salad needs. 5 oz bag. Big share got half pound.
A Summer Squash and a Zucchini - we have been sautéing them and recently we grilled them. Simply slice and put in some tinfoil and drizzle with a little oil. Season with herbs and salt and pepper. Cook until tender 15-20 minutes. Big share got double squash.
a bag of mixed sized carrots. These are the last of the summer carrots until fall! They were seeded in early March and are cleared out for winter crops now.
a pound and half of tomatoes give or take. Add to the salad, slice and add to a wrap fresh, or simply slice and add salt/pepper. Yum. We are just at the beginning of tomato season here at NAF so there will be more coming! Big share got a little more weight.
a bunch of green kale. You know, I love kale. I wonder if other people do too. Then I wonder if the CSA is getting too much kale. Then I think about the health benefits of kale. It is an absolutely amazingly healthy plant and especially in a time when we need immune systems to be at their highest, it seems appropriate to be eating lots of kale. We have a continuous bag of kale in our fridge. Here is some info.
Purple Cabbage! I love cabbage too! And cabbage inspires me to try my hand at German/Austrian/Polish/etc. foods. Here is a simple recipe for a cabbage-inspired German dish.
Thats it for this week. Moving into August we will start to see green beans, potatoes, cherry tomatoes, paste tomatoes, peppers (although they are a little behind this year), and then garlic, onions, winter squash and melons! There may even be some pumpkins in there too!! Its going to be a great second half to the season and thank you all for your support and interest! Here are some views from the farm.
The start of the garlic racks.
All in and drying!
The last seedling tray of butterhead lettuce to be planted. And it was the best looking tray of the season too! Hoping to get a few in the shares coming up.
This is our mixed greens production area. White row cover for pest protection, black 100x24’ tarps for weed suppression. 15-20# sandbags to hold everything down. Its a lot of work and has been especially challenging with the heat this season. 2021 is the year of weed free beds!!!!
Have a great week everyone!!! Thank you!!