Farm News- September 27, 2012
Hi Folks,
Well, autumn has definitely arrived. We’ve had some quite chilly nights here at the farm and daytime temps are forecast to barely reach the 70’s this week. While it’s good to be done with the extreme heat of the summer, we are hoping for another 3 or 4 weeks of frost free weather. The winter squash crop still needs some time to mature and we have a late planting of beans that is just beginning to flower. We received nearly 2 inches of rain from last Tuesday’s storm and while we had strong winds for several hours did not sustain much damage.
As previously mentioned high winds on the Saturday before last, stripped all the flowers off the pole bean plants, so we are experiencing a pause in our bean production. I had expected to have salad turnips for this week but they are still a bit small, so you will have to look forward to them for next week.
The broccoli is starting to head up more prolifically and we have begun to harvest some cauliflower. A few groups received broccoli last week and I expect we will have enough for a few more this week and the remainder of the groups for next week. We do have abundant arugula, tatsoi and other mustard greens. You can anticipate baby bok choy, broccoli raab as well as escarole and endive for next week’s share.
We also have a nice crop of radicchio which is just a few weeks away. We will begin distributing winter squash this week, starting with spaghetti squash. I don’t expect a bumper crop of winter squash this season so there will probably be one or two weeks when it will not be in the shares between now and the end of the season.
We have a beautiful crop of parsnips and will begin digging them in the coming weeks. Also just around the corner- sweet potatoes!
The share for this week will be:
Red lettuce, carrots, arugula, choice of tatsoi or other mustard green, red potatoes, peppers, yellow onions, summer squash, spaghetti squash, possibly broccoli or cauliflower ( if not we will send kale in their place).
Enjoy!
Farmer John
