Farm News – October 10, 2022

Hello Folks, we had our first hard frost here on the farm on Sunday morning. It killed the eggplant and severely damaged the peppers. We covered the beans and a few other tender crops, but they still received some minor damage. Most of what remains in the fields currently are cold tolerant crops. All the brassicas and mustard family crops can endure temperatures well below freezing. Lettuce and herbs such as cilantro and dill are also amazingly resistant to the cold.

The sweet potatoes are one of the most sensitive crops, and they now have completely black leaves, although the stems remain green. They will not continue to add any mass to the sweet tubers that lay below – good news for you, as we can now begin to dig them in earnest. It looks like a beautiful crop and I’m betting that you will dig them too!

We will have beans for those who did not receive them last week. We are offering some regular green cabbage as a choice with the Napa cabbage and some collards as a choice with the kale. We will also mix some Carnival squash with the acorn squash, as we did not have a great harvest of the former owing to the drought. These two are pretty much interchangeable.

The share for this week will be: Lettuce, kale (or collards), beets, choice of arugula or tatsoi, shallots, sweet potatoes, acorn or carnival squash, Napa (Chinese) cabbage, daikon, and choice of an herb. Premium shares will also include dandelion greens and edamame soybeans.

There will be Fuji apples for the half fruit share that is owed, to finish out the fruit share season season.

Enjoy!  Farmer John