First Fall Share

No photo? Kji is harvesting and delivering solo today, as I'm up in Canada co-teaching a workshop at Foxglove Farm. He does have the technology to take a photo and post it, but I'm guessing he's going to be too busy. While my internet connection is working, intermittently, my phone is not, so I don't even know what's in the share, although I'm guessing it's something good. It'll be a surprise this week, or maybe you could let me know so I don't miss out altogether.

Cantaloupe?

Can you tell which one of these melons is cantaloupe and which is musk melon? Today we gave some shares Delicious 51 which is a musk melon (although commonly referred to as cantaloupe here in the states) and some shares got Sivan which is a cantaloupe (commonly referred to as a charentais here in the states). They're tricky to tell apart, but the give away is the stem end. The Delicious stems slip off when they are ripe so there is no remains of the stem, and the Sivan don't so there's a stub of a cut stem. We harvested the Sivan a bit under-ripe - at this point they're totally edible and have good flavor, but they will soften a little on the counter and give off amazing melon scent from their butt end when they are ripe (no joke). The Delicious are ripe, but neither is especially sweet this season due to the cool, wet weather. Oh well, maybe next year.

Happy end of summer, see you next week in the fall.

Final Summer Share

This week is the last of the summer and although we've missed out on a few of the crops we were hoping would make it into the summer share's it's been a decently full one. We're still waiting for the peppers to ripen, there's lots of fruit but it's slow with this weather. We did manage to get a half melon in today's shares, Delicious 51. Unfortunately the cool wet weather isn't optimal for developing sweetness in the melons but there's lots of melon flavor and texture there. I have a friend who makes melon soup with cayenne and almond milk which is delicious and these would certainly work well there - or just scooped out with a spoon directly to the mouth would work too. We have a few more tomatoes today, salvaged from the mass of split fruits caused by the inch of rain we got in the last few days. The lettuce likes the rain, and we've got more of the fresh beans today as well, although those are awfully slow with the weather as well. Summer squash and cucumbers continue to produce and we dug a few carrots as well to finish things off.

Open House/End of Summer Party - Tomorrow!

From SHF CSA

Yep, it's the end of summer already. Actually summer ends with the equinox on Wednesday evening and Thursday we'll wake up to the start of fall. For our CSA shares we've decided that Thursday is the honorary last day of the summer season - but the party will be this weekend.

Saturday, September 18, 4pm to dark at the farm. Rain or Shine.

We'll be giving tours of the fields, playing lawn games, picnicking, firing up the wood fire oven and baking pizzas with farm veggies, and if you come on the early side we'll be cleaning up from the summer and making everything tidy in preparation for the fall. Bring picnic food for yourself or to share and something to eat off of, your favorite lawn games, and appropriate shoes and clothing for getting a little dusty - or muddy depending on the weather. If you're not sure where the farm is and you want to come just hop over to the website (listed on the right) and send us a note.

Still planting

Thursday's share this week looks very similar to Monday's. I thought we were done planting chicories for this winter but Danny came by with the crew from Meriwether's Skyline Farm and dropped off some extra starts he had from his new project up in Ridgefield. We were a little short when we planted ours so Kji and I prepped another 35' of bed and plugged 'em in. I'm thinking that'll be the last planting of the season - oh, except for the over winter crops like garlic, onions, favas, and also the cover crops we should be seeding soon.

Summer Waning

A quick update, as I'm racing off to deliver by bicycle for the first time and time is a little tighter that way. I'll try to post a photo or two of that experiment soon. Meanwhile, in the share this week is a head of lettuce, and the varieties are a little random as we get to the end of the season. Lemon cucumbers are starting to come on and the summer squash and tomatoes continue to crank out a decent number of fruit. We've got a bit of basil and a few french fillet beans from what is turning out to be a very slow to ripen planting. The big item this week are beets from beds that didn't germinate well, which translates into lots of space per beet, which again translates into big beets. Enjoy it all and come find us at this weekend's party - more on that soon too...

Packing shares

Tomato sampler

Today we hauled in a good number of tomatoes so there's a bit of most of them in each share. We're growing sungold cherries, and Chadwick's cherries which are almost small slicer sized. We also have tigerella, which is kind of like a big cherry as well, and has a bit of tiger striping. The plain red slicers are moscovich and the dark tomatoes are black prince. There's a bit more fennel. Apparently the mice really love the roots of these and we lost quite few to their chewing. Parsely is making its first appearance. I never used to eat parsley but it does sweeten up nicely when sauteed a little in oil and added to vegetables, or pasta or whatever you like. There's a little summer squash, as always, and there were just enough cucumbers for everyone to get one today. The cucumbers are coming on incredibly slowly. It got hot this afternoon, but the angle of the sun is much lower, so it's shining right against our bodies, warming us up, but it's glancing off the ground and not really warming the soil up the way it did a few weeks ago. The final item in the share today is a small bunch of raab. This was intended for the fall shares, but it has actually come on sooner than expected and so we're giving it out today. It's just enough for a little side, or to chop up and toss in with some pasta or rice.

Kji and the giant carrot