CSA Week 20

This Week’s Harvest

Cilantro
Tomatoes
Jalapeños
Hakurei salad turnips
Radishes
Purple kohlrabi
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Kale
Potatoes
Spinach
Garlic
Red onions

Farm News

While the unseasonably warm October we are having makes for pleasant working conditions, it’s not ideal for our crop plan panning out as planned. The warm weather is speeding crops along quicker than anticipated so it’s throwing us off. For example the broccoli this week is our third and final planting and is supposed to come ready in Novemeber! The warm weather also means the entire crop comes ready at once so my picking window is super short. Had the broccoli come ready later in the season, the cooler daytime highs and cold nights would effectively slow the crop down. The maturing heads could stay on the plants without worry of over maturing. This week I don’t have that wiggle room and the entire 600 ft planting was ready to pick yesterday.

Final broccoli harvest in 2017 came on November 3. After this week there won’t be any more broccoli to pick unless there are some side shoots.

I should have picked the cauliflower that’s in the box this week last week, but I was too busy picking the earlier planting of cauliflower. The warm weather sped up our second planting making it come ready the same time as our first! Not ideal!

This picture is from last season on Oct 21st.. Same timing on the cauliflower seeding and planting, but picking it 10 days earlier this year.

At the same time that this is aggravating, we don’t really want to make adjustments to our crop plan because every fall is different. We’ve also have the opposite happen- were a planting doesn’t make it and freezes before we even get to harvest it.

The best strategy is to plant as much as we are able so when things don’t work, we have other crops we can rely on. The warm weather may be wreaking havoc on our brassicas, but the tomatoes are loving it. We did not think the final planting of tomatoes had a chance of ripening, but we pulled over 100 lbs off a row yesterday. So enjoy the tomatoes as they linger a little longer.

Third planting of tomatoes ripening up

Recipes

Cauliflower and Broccoli Salad

Kale and Spinach Soup

Aloo Gobi

Italian Baked Beans and Greens (use any greens you’d like)

Kohlrabi Slaw with Cilantro, Jalapeno and Lime

Coming up next week (our best guess)…. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, arugula, parsley, braising mix, tomatoes, radishes, salad mix, garlic, bell peppers and more!