Here's Jade, Paige, Kaylen and Michelle wiping the soil off each squash before boxing. Hard work paid off this week. The "Produce Squad" worked on Saturday as well, but, we have the entire harvest of winter squash in pallet bins or boxed. Whoop, whoop!! The steps are numerous to complete the project. Have to pick each squash up, examine it for imperfections, put it in a container like a 5 gallon pail or small trailer like the photo. Haul them to the pallet bin located in a central location for easy access. Wipe each squash off and place in the bin or box. Fresh air was abundant (one advantage these days). The chilling temperatures were not appreciated. The 26 degree temperature that greeted us on Sunday morning was the reason for working extra hard. Squash can take cold. Temperatures below 28 degrees for any length of time can damage squash and pumpkins, hence, the urgency.
A few of our Farm Share members are inquiring about boxes of food for the up coming cold seasons. Happily, we are doing some planning to accommodate these questions. "Our" restaurants that we normally service are still under great duress. We need to get good food to you other ways. Part of the reason for the construction in our Red Shed. First we are planning on a short Autumn Harvest, Farm Share Season. Details will be out in a couple of weeks. This will most likely be for 6 weeks. Week of November 9th to week of December 13th. In January we are looking at some other ideas to continue deliveries. Lots of details to work out in dealing with fresh produce and cold temperatures.
