Westfield Area CSA Blog

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News- October 9, 2008

Hello Everyone,

An unexpected frost this past Friday dashed my hopes for a late season harvest of string beans and zucchini. It was a very light frost but it was enough to burn the leaves of the peppers and eggplant as well. Today, Monday we harvested all of the remaining fruit from these two crops, in anticipation of another (predicted this time!) frost tonight. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News- October 2, 2008

Hi Folks,

We received some much needed rain this past weekend that has helped to germinate my final (almost) round of seed planting and enables the fall lettuces and brassicas to continue growing beautifully. Now I’m hoping for a nice warm Indian summer to allow a late planting of beans and zucchini to begin producing; at least for a week or two. We are transitioning back to the cool weather crops, such as broccoli (in 2 weeks) and the fall treats like winter squash and parsnips, but for now we will continue to enjoy the last of the summer veggies. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News-September 25, 2008

Hi Everyone,

We’ve enjoyed spectacularly beautiful weather these past 2 weeks but now we are in need of rain once again. There is a chance for some showers at the end of this week, meanwhile it’s back to moving the sprinklers around! Most of the seed I have been planting these past 2 weeks has germinated well, and I continue to plant, at least for a few more days. (more…)

Edamame

Edamame

The Japanese name edamame literally means “twig bean”, and is a reference to the short stem attached to the pod. This term originally referred to young soybeans in general. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News- September 18, 2008

Hello Everyone!

As I predicted the bountiful rain of last weekend has worked miracles on my fields. The fall brassicas and lettuces are growing spectacularly and the many thousands of seeds I planted before the storm have germinated nicely. I am taking advantage of the moist soil to continue planting more radishes, turnips, spinach, arugula and other mustard greens. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News- September 11, 2008

Hey Folks!

Well, we finally received the much needed rain that we’ve been waiting on. A little over 2” fell overnight this past Saturday. I had pretty much known that our best chance for a good soaking would be from a hurricane, but I dreaded the potential damage of high winds and severe downpours that can accompany this type of storm. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News- September 4, 2008

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all enjoyed a pleasant Labor Day. There won’t be much of a holiday for us here on the farm. With a market and deliveries to prepare for, a day off just isn’t possible, although we will try to knock off a little earlier than usual. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News- August 28, 2008

Hello Folks,

Another week has passed without rain and it’s begin- ning to make life a bit challenging down here on the farm. As I mentioned previously we are in the midst of a heavy direct seeding and transplanting cycle and both are greatly facilitated by a bit of moisture in the soil. We have been moving the sprinklers around to water in the thousands of brassica (broccoli, cabbage, etc-pay attention!) transplants we put in last week and they have rooted and are beginning to grow. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News August 21, 2008

Hi Folks,

The mild summer weather continues, leaving me with little to complain about on that front! We could use some rain though, as the scattered thunderstorms we experienced this past week came and went quickly and served only to interrupt our field work. Much of the crew’s time this week was again spent on bean picking. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News- August 14,2008

Hello Everyone,

I hope you have all been enjoying the beautiful weather this past week. The mild temperatures for early August are quite a pleasant surprise and have made the hard work my crew and I do a bit more bearable. It seemed as though most of the crew’s time this week was spent picking beans which are producing quite prolifically. (more…)