Greetings Country Valley Farm CSA Members,
The cooler nights are with us now, and the days are getting cooler too. It is surprising that we have made it this far into October without a hard frost. On the farm, we have the lettuces and beans covered with low hoops and floating row cover; to help keep those crops growing as long as possible. The brassicas and root crops are fine with lower temperatures this time of year, and seem to get a bit sweeter as the plants convert the starches that they created via photosynthesis into sugars.
We are preparing for our annual garlic planting – we plant 15,000 garlic per year. We have a fallow field that we covered with sileage tarps in the late Spring. We are removing those tarps and will be hand hoeing furrows for the garlic to be planted in. The garlic will be planted the end of this month/beginning of next month. After planting, we will top dress the garlic beds with compost and organic amendments. Nature will work her magic over the winter and we will see garlic growing in the Spring.
Lettuces will be in the shares this week and for the next few weeks. We planted 512 lettuce transplants almost two months ago. Some of them didn’t make it and most are on the small side – but we seem to have plenty to include in the CSA boxes. We will take a few week break from the microgreens/sprouts to make space for lettuce. Tatsoi loves cold weather and will be in the shares starting next week. We may have enough beans for next week’s shares. Root crops will also continue to be in the shares for the rest of the season – with potatoes taking center stage this week.
This week’s shares include the following (Cooking Tips posted separately):
· Russet Potato (1 heaping pint) from our farm
· Thai Basil (1 bunch) from our farm
· Tulsi Holy Basil (1 bunch) from our farm
· Lettuce Mix (3-4 small heads) from our farm
· Garlic, Purple Pehoski variety (6 small bulbs) from our farm
· Decorative Gourd and Mini Pumpkin mix (3-5) from Cinzori Farm
· Baby Bell Peppers (1 pint) from Cinzori Farm
· Green Cabbage (1 head) from Cinzori Farm
· Celery (1 bunch) from Cinzori Farm
· Medium shares will receive extra potatoes, extra baby bell peppers, extra cabbage, and a bunch of red/purple curly kale
Thank you for your ongoing support and for sharing the joy of the community supported agriculture membership – it makes a big difference in our world and is deeply acknowledged.
Warm Regards,
Adam and the Country Valley Farm Team