Farm News- October 15, 2009

Hello Everyone,

We had our first frost of the season this past Saturday night. I must confess that it caught me by surprise. I had last checked the weather websites on Friday and they were calling for a low of 37 degrees, giving a safe margin of error.

I was expecting a frost this Tuesday and was planning to cover a few crops and do some final harvesting on others. It was a bit of a shock to see the fields blanketed in white when I awoke at dawn on Sunday to head off to market. It was a very light frost but it burned the beans and the peppers slightly and finished off the winter squash vines that were still growing.It was repeated again on Sunday night and I expect we will have frost again on Tuesday, and apparently there is a possibility of snow flurries this Thursday evening. I had been hoping for a mild fall with no frost until late October, but we just don’t seem to be catching any breaks this season. It really isn’t a major catastrophe except for the fact that I’ve been promising beans for the past 3 weeks and now there won’t be much of a crop.

We are attempting to harvest the few beans on each plant that have achieved reasonable size, but it is a painfully slow process. Hopefully we can pick enough for a small share for everyone and I can guarantee they will be the thinnest beans you have ever seen.The sweet potatoes on the other hand are mostly quite large, with one monster weighing in at 5.25 lbs.

As previously mentioned broccoli is beginning to head up, but unfortunately not in sufficient quantities for distribution this week.

The share for this week will be:
Sweet potatoes, choice of green leaf lettuce or endive, radishes, yellow onions, mustard greens, carnival squash (similar to acorn), red potatoes, choice of string beans or edamame, peppers, and choice of an herb.

Enjoy!
Farmer John