Fall is upon us here at the farm, keeping us busy tidying up for winter, getting crops out of the ground, cover cropping, protecting plants from threats of frost, putting up firewood and closing up the greenhouses and high tunnel to grow great greens into the colder months.  So we've slacked on getting newsletters written and posted, and for that we apologize to our members for who rely on the newsletters to identify some of the greens and other crops in their shares. We will be going to an every other week newsletter with a brief email with the week's shares in between from here through the end of the year. 

   Last week everyone received 2 lbs of potatoes. These potatoes were from beds that didn't get as much water as they needed and were taken over by weeds. While the remaining beds are much more abundant, (and look much better)  we wanted to share that it was a true labor of spud love to get those potatoes for you. For perspective we filled 3 totes the same size as CSA share totes per bed and the other field are lifting 1/2 an apple crate per bed. So worry not there will be plenty of potatoes as the weeks go on, and we will probably open up the remaining less productive beds for gleaning within the next week or two. 

  This season although very dry and challenging is yielding her rewards. We have a greenhouse full of curing winter squashes, and will be lifting sweet potatoes this week weather permitting, all while plugging away at the potatoes.  There are beets, carrots, rutabaga, cabbages, and turnips bulking up out there as well. Daikons and watermelon radishes, and this week sent the first of the brussel sprouts.  We are starting to run out of storage space though!

   Brussel sprouts. Many people who swear they hate them have only ever eaten them boiled or cooked from being frozen. People who love them, have had them fresh, and roast or sautee them (they are also great on pizza!) I even heard that Wegman's sells a brussel sprout salad of shredded sprouts.  So these versatile mini cabbages will be showing up in shares over the next few weeks; packed with nutrients (one of the most nutrient dense in  the brassica family, even more than king kale,  we hope you find a way to enjoy them this fall. They happen to be our two daughter's fall favorite; the first stalk we bring in to cook is like a mini veggie christmas to them, and we're lucky to get any before they do. We like to roast them with olive oil and garlic, or sautee them, and to be honest I don't think I've ever eaten them boiled.  If you have a favorite brussel sprout recipe, please share with the class via the comments section or our facebook page.

   We took a break from sending some of the storage crops like onions, garlic, potatoes and winter squash to share some of the field greens this week. We had a mild frost Saturday night, but luckily none of our less cold hardy crops were affected. The winter squash is actually still growing and flowering. It looks like we'll have at least another good frost free week to give peppers and eggplant time to grow, and hopefully have enough for both small and regular shares next week.

   Our online store has taken the back burner this fall as well. We still have pantry items listed such as honey and pesto, but haven't kept on top of other items. If you know you'd like extra of something, please shoot us an email within 48 hrs of your delivery day and we can pack extras for you.  We will have plenty of Napa cabbage, daikon radishes leeks and hot peppers for kimchees,  and most greens and herbs we can pick extra of upon request. Potatoes, pie pumpkins and even horseradish will be available in bulk weights as well.  The tomatoes are slowing down with the cooler nights and shorter day lengths but may still be available in limited quantities for special orders. 

  Again a reminder if you are interested in a fall share (from the first week of November through the week of Dec 11) please email us to get signed up. There are still about a dozen shares left available for the fall 7 week share. Please be advised that we will likely be switching back to Thursday deliveries for the Syracuse area for this time frame. 

This week's share contents: 

Small Shares:  Lettuce, braising mix, brussel sprouts, swiss chard, summer squash OR green OR slicing tomatoes, hot peppers, and paste tomatoes.

Regular shares:  Lettuce, braising mix, brussel sprouts, mizuna, celery, fennel, hot peppers, paste tomatoes, and sungold cherry tomatoes. 

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    If you thought you missed last week's newsletter, you didn't because there wasn't one. It's always a bit of a chaotic transition for us when the kids go back to school, as I'm sure it can be for so many other parents.  For us it means waking up earlier, yet starting work a bit later. As the days just get shorter, we start working by work light cleaning onions and other busy work we can do while the kids work on homework, while trying to cram all the weeding, winter prep, cover cropping,  and harvesting into the daylight hours. 

   We have been working on getting winter squash out the field that are ready, and are pretty happy so far with the yields (a little disappointed with the spaghetti squash though, so sorry if that's your favorite.)  The cool nights make for sweeter and sweeter squash, brussel sprouts and other cool weather crops while the tomatoes and summer squash keep coming. We've also been getting all the drip tape out of the fields, which kept our crops happy and alive to this point, but is way more work than laying it was. We've been trying to salvage as much as we can for reuse. This is usually thrown out, but we feel that's a waste of money and nonrenewable resources.

   Our last few rotational plantings of lettuce are all coming on at once. We seed these as transplants every 2 weeks, but it seems due to the heat and dryness they all came on at once. Sometimes even the most meticulously planned things can still be held slave to the weather. But we are grateful they didn't all bolt, or get eaten by deer or woodchucks, as has happened many times before. So enjoy some salads this week! Other greens are coming on beautifully as well. Our fall plantings of swiss chard and kale are growing and we will be able to cover and harvest these into the cold days of fall shares, and the earlier plantings of kale are coming back with new growth after stopping harvest during the dry spell. So those of you who really love your greens can look forward to that!

   Tuesday members who did not get their eggs can expect double egg shares this week. Again we apologize for the absence of the eggs last week. It was beyond our control and we know a big inconvenience to many folks. Also, we know many members look forward to seeing the occasional fruit in their shares and may be looking forward to apples, but we have been informed by our usual apple providers that the cost has nearly doubled, and this is out of our budgeted price range. As many may know this spring was a bad one for apple growers across the state with a late heavy frost killing buds and the dryness setting fruit back. We will try to source some organically grown (non certified) apples from another grower, but if this doesn't work out, rest assured there will be plenty other great produce coming your way.

While we have been busy getting potatoes, squash and sweet potatoes out of the fields, and have been watching more carrots bulk up, there are so many warm season crops that are still coming on that we want to make sure we get these to you while they are prime and hang onto storage crops for later and fall shares. If you'd like to add the fall share, please email us. It seems the system is giving folks trouble signing up. Please keep in mind there are no egg shares for the fall season, all egg shares end the last week of October. 


This week's shares are as follows:

Small Shares:  2 heads of lettuce, 1 lb onions, hot peppers, cilantro, tomatoes, garlic, oregano, red mustard greens, summer squash.

Regular Shares: 3 lettuce, braising mix (a mix of various brassicas great lightly sauteed or in salads) broccoli florets, chinese cabbage, onions, hot peppers, cilantro, tomatoes, spinach (we only had enough for Tuesday and Wednesday's shares, we will substitute something for Thurs and Sat) garlic, sweet peppers, oregano, and summer squash.

We have been waiting all season for cilantro. We reseeded this 4 times to get to this point. The bunches will be small, but we wanted to make sure we got it to members for making some fresh salsa. Oregano, I recently learned  is another herb that you can add to fresh salsa and is traditionally used in Mexican cuisine. 

We hope everyone enjoys their shares this week, and some of the last weeks of warm season crops. We can usually expect a frost at the end of September in or region, and though we can cover many crops to protect from frost, we don't have enough row covers to cover them all. Before we know it it will be time to get the woodstove going and to get the doors back on the greenhouse and high tunnels. So we are enjoying these warm days of September (albeit very chilly mornings!)