Learning Quickly
Only one month remains in our 2021 CSA season! For many established CSA programs, week 20 is the final week of the full season. Wisely or foolishly, we wanted to push it. We wanted to challenge ourselves to start early in the spring and extend late into fall- to motivate us and to necessitate challenges from which we can learn quickly. We wanted to get our first box out in mid-May and strive to deliver our final box in November.
It’s looking like we’ll pull it off! Thanks to your support, we’ve sustained through the season, we’ve learned many lessons along the way, and we’ll be able to provide produce well past this fall’s first frost.
This week, we’ll be continue to include the last of our summer garden’s fruits as well as more cool season salad ingredients:
Winter Squash as available (Butternut or Spaghetti), Mild Peppers (Bell, Carmen), Hot Peppers (Jalapeno, Anaheim), Red Okra, Arugula, Swiss Chard, Kale mix, Mini Romaine heads (“Tendita”), Radish or Turnip as available, Eggs, and Flowers.
Our Spaghetti squashes have been slow to ripen, though we’ve cleared the field and are allowing them to cure in the hoophouse. At this point, the vines have died back, forcing us to reluctantly and disappointingly pull whatever is left regardless of maturity. We will be distributing our remaining winter squashes as they’re available. Depending on what is ready, this week, you may receive a Spaghetti or a Butternut.
In the root vegetable department, carrots are coming soon and another succession of beetroot is on its way. Our Turnips aren’t performing as well as our Radishes, but we’ll incorporate them as soon as is appropriate. Kohlrabi and Rutabagas are yet to form, but the greens look healthy and encouraging. We’re trying to stay patient and delay our Sweet Potato harvest as long as we can stand.
We have a 50-foot row of Broccoli which by now has outstretched a gorgeous deep green canopy. We should soon see heads and side shoots forming. Our Bok Choy chinese cabbage is persisting, hanging in there until the late summer pests are inevitably frosted out. These seemed to be a hit in the spring and we look forward to getting them back in the rotation.
We’ll soon be finished with all summer crops though there remain a few late bloomer peppers left to pick. They’re holding on tight, impressively, until the bitter end. Summer beds are flipped and cover crops are taking their place including mixes of oats, peas, vetch, wheat, and rye. Okra leaves have fallen like midwest maples leaving a skeleton stand of six-foot naked canes poking out of the mangled mess of weeds and vines. Even the humble woods surrounding the property has started to thin. The farm rests on a hill, enveloped and isolated by the surrounding tree lines during the summer. As the foliage falls, we’re able to see the distant rounded blue hills again.
Thanks again to everyone for your flexibility regarding our egg production. We’re giving our laying hens all the attention that we can, providing a comfortable, nourishing, entertaining existence for these little dinosaurs. They’re giving us all they can in return.
As we near the end of our 2021 program, we’d love to hear your feedback and conclusions. We will certainly provide an anonymous formal evaluation in November, but if you have anything to share about what worked and didn’t work for you, we’re anxious to hear about it. Not enough hot peppers and okra right? (wink)
Thank you all for your reliability this season, for your persistence and contribution to our project. The pace has slowed around here, giving us much needed and appreciated time for rest and reflection.
Happy October, have a great week and let us know how you’re using this week’s share!
Erin & David