Turkey Hill CSA Blog

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - 2008, Week 11

On the farm

This week, fall has really set in. The early mornings when I get out to the field are cold! A few mornings have even felt like frost, but its not that cold here yet. The harvest is clearly slowing as the cold and shorter days approach.

We picked a huge haul of cauliflower and cabbage this week. everyone should get a red or crinkly green cabbage this week, and a couple/few heads of cauliflower. The broccoli has diminished a bit, but should keep producing for a few more weeks.

The cucumbers are slowing down a bit, and the squash can't be farm behind - these crops sense the cold and just stop growing. The tomatoes and peppers are showing some signs of ripening, if the fall lasts a bit longer i'll have some for the boxes.

The sweet corn is just starting. we are including a few ears in this week's box, but next week we'll really pick the corn and you will get more - it just isn't quite ready. I think you will taste the difference when you get the corn next week. We should have corn for at least a few weeks.

We tried to start picking the potatoes this week, but the size is still a bit small. I got enough for everyone to have some this week, but I'm going to give the plants a few weeks or a month to size up before I really harvest the beds.

The onions are really sizing up now! Don't worry if you can't eat all the onions we will be putting in the box for the next six weeks - just put them in a cool dark place and they will store for a long time. Use the yellow onions first, the red and white onions last longer in storage.

The chard is finally slowing down and this may be the last week, the kale still looks great so we should be able to harvest kale for a bit longer.

The carrots are really producing now, but we may take a break on harvesting them to let the longer ones size up. If you can't eat them all, just top them and store ina bag in the fridge. From time to time you may want to rinse them, but they should last for quite a while in the produce bin.

The winter squash is sizing up nicely, with a good crop of delacatas and acorns (the earliest) already ripened. We need a few more weeks of frost free weather to get a good crop of the rest.

This week's box (probable box)

Salad Mix - yum!
Broccoli - still coming
Cauliflower - white, orange ('cheddar') or purple ('grafitti') -
Chard or Kale
Summer Squash - Zucchini & Patty pan - lots
Cucumbers
Carrots - they just keep coming
Basil - use fresh or dry it
Onions - reds this week
Garlic - keep saving this up!
Cabbage - red & savoy
Sweet Corn - Delectable bicolor, chop the end 1" off before shucking if you feel a wormy tip.


Fruit Share

Peaches - Delicious peaches, from First Fruits Paonia
Early Akame apples, from First Fruits Paonia
Green Bartlett Pears, from First Fruits Paonia

Peaches end soon, more apples & pears over the remaining weeks. Hope to get some plums next week.

Note: I hope you enjoyed the nectarines for the last two weeks. The flavor was really good, but they were a bit ugly - they were 2nds - sorry about the appearance of the fruit - small sizes, marked up - the 1sts were in very limited supply.