CSA Week 24

This Week’s HarvestIMG_3533

Brussels Sprouts

Carrots

Purple Top Turnips with Greens

Cabbage

Mustard Greens

Onions

Sweet Potatoes

Broccoli

Beauty Heart Radish

Parsley

Apple Share

Golden Delicious, Fuji (red and sweet) and Winesap (red and tart)

Recipes

Roasted Sweet And Sour Turnips (scroll down for recipe. Add turnip greens or mustard greens to the pan with the vinegar mixture to cook)

Turnip and Cabbage Soup

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Old Bay and Parsley

Broccoli Pesto with Tortellini

Farm News

Week 24 already?! This year has gone by faster than any of our previous years farming. I like to think it’s because as we become more seasoned farmers we stress out less. I’m certainly sore and tired, but I don’t feel as mentally drained as I have in years past.

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Over all we think this year went well. We had our share of disappointments but we also had major successes. We had a couple rounds of successful melons and we able to distribute more cantaloupes and watermelon then ever before. Our raspberries had their first year of major production. We learned a lot about managing and harvesting them and hope to give even more weeks of raspberries next year. We grew new crops successfully such as Brussels Sprouts, romanesco and rutabaga, adding even more diversity to the farm shares. We grew some of our biggest cabbages and best cauliflower ever. IMG_3310

We need to continue to build our soil fertility and had major problems in fields that are compacted and depleted of nutrients. Yields in our tomato, peppers and sweet potato field were not close to what they should have been. These fields will get a rest next year and be sown solely to cover crop.  We continue to struggle with sweet corn but will keep trying as it is heavenly.  And we found ourselves too busy in August to keep up with the greenhouse seeding– giving us a current lettuce, spinach and salad mix shortage.

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The good news is that all of our problems are solvable. We’re gearing up to have a bigger crew next year which will help us keep on top of weeding, planting and seeding.  We are to the point that we have bountiful CSA boxes for 24 weeks even if we have a crop failure or two and that’s a really good place to be. Over the years we’ve built up our equipment arsenal and added much needed infrastructure to the farm. With every acquisition the farm gets more productive and after 10 years of farming here we are beginning to fine tune our craft.

Since we began our farm we have been committed to growing healthy food in healthy soil. Of course we are only one side of the equation and we couldn’t do what we do without the continued support of our customers. We realize that buying into a CSA is not as convenient as shopping at the grocery store, and it is with this in mind that we would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of our CSA members for supporting our small, family-owned organic CSA!IMG_3564