CSA Week 23

This Week’s HarvestIMG_3471

Carrots

Sweet Potatoes

Fennel

Brussels Sprouts

Kale

French Breakfast Radishes

Rutabaga

Red Potatoes

Garlic

Shallots

Beauty Heart Radish

Apple Share

Downing Land (variety developed by Downing Fruit Farm, red and yellow, mild and sweet), 20/20 (another apple developed by Downing Land. cross between Rome and Granny Smith, green tart and crisp) and Winesap (dark red, tart)

Recipes

Buttery Rutabaga with Kale and Browned Onions

Brussels Sprouts with Fennel and Onions

Root Vegetable Soup

Sweet Potato Sloppy Joes

IMG_3475Farm News

We have gotten at over 4 inches of rain in October which has added a layer of stress to our already demanding occupation. But this week we were able to breathe a sigh of relief as we got the first crop of 2018 planted- garlic! Getting to plant it this week was totally off our radar as we had gotten half an inch of rain on Monday. But we watched the beds Ben had hilled for the garlic dry out steadily all week and by Thursday evening it seemed like they might actually be dry enough to till and plant. Could we actually plant on Friday before the next round of rain? Friday is usually a market harvest day but considering the cold and wet 10 day forecast we made the decision to prioritize planting garlic over harvesting for market.  We gave ourselves 2 hours to harvest whatever we could for market and then it was garlic for the rest of the day. While Ben spread fertilizer and tilled beds, the crew and I cracked garlic into individual cloves which then get planted. By 2 o’clock we were planting and by 6 o’clock we were done. And just in time, too, because it started to rain what would turn out to be another 3/4 inch.

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Getting beds ready for planting
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Cracking the garlic bulbs into individual cloves
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The dibble wheel creates three rows of evenly spaced holes for the garlic to go and the planters sit on the seats
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Ben drives the tractor as slow as it goes and the crew plunges the cloves into the dibbled holes and then cover the holes up with dirt. (This is last year’s picture. We were down to the wire this year and too busy for me to pull out the camera!)

 

 

This is the last week for some of our biweekly members. Thank you for your support! We hope this experience opened you up to new vegetables or vegetables you thought you didn’t like and had you making creative and delicious meals. We hope it won you over and you’ll join the CSA next year too!