Greetings!
We are putting summer in the books and looking forward to the next three months of winter share deliveries. A big welcome to the new members who are joining us this winter. I hope everyone saw the logistics email that went out last night - please check it out if you haven't yet. There's an overview of our CSA program for new members, along with some updates for returning members, such as revised pickup windows for the winter season.
This past week was our first without any deliveries since May, and it was nice to gain a bit of breathing room. We are running with a smaller crew now - this week was Justin, Tato, and Sarah (for just one more week!!). Kara took this past week off but will be back next week and through the end of the winter season. We finished cleaning up fields (taking down trellis, pulling out plastic mulch and drip tape, storing away irrigation pipes), winterizing water infrastructure, and got one last round of cover crop seeded.
We finally see some seasonably cold weather in the forecast next week - three nights in the low 20s. Temperatures that low are enough to test even some of the hardiest crops, like kale and spinach. We'll be harvesting everything for the upcoming share before then.
Notes on select items in this week's share:
- Delicata squash: This will be you main chance to receive this farm-favorite variety - we'll have just a small amount of delicata left for future deliveries. Smooth texture with sweet and nutty flavor, and edible skin, to boot.
- Green leaf head lettuce: These petite frost-sweetened green lettuce heads will be only be available to a portion of members this week - the last of our field lettuce. The high tunnel salad mix is looking great and should be ready in time for the third box.
- Broccoli: Fall broccoli is always the best of the year. This final planting reached harvest maturity right after the final summer shares went out (you can't always plan it perfectly!!). We have picked the planting a couple times over the past week or so and iced them in our cooler to preserve quality until the first winter share. We checked them today for quality and they're looking great. It's a treat to have November broccoli.
- Watermelon radish: We love these mild and slightly sweet storage radishes on salads and for straight snacking. The outer white/green rind is a bit fibrous, so we recommend peeling down to the pink interior.
- Spinach: This week's spinach comes from our final outdoor planting and is deep green and frost-sweetened. In our pre-harvest check, we noticed some very small whitish spots on some of the leaves. It isn't something we've seen before and, honestly, we're not quite sure what's causing it. But we can say that it has no impact on flavor and we're choosing to include it in shares.
- Gold and red potatoes: Since we do not grow potatoes, we bring in spuds from our friends at Driftless Organics. This week, some will get gold potatoes and some will get red potatoes.
- Plus Carrots, Lacinato Kale, Garlic, Dill, and Onions!
Have a great start to November!
Dana
