Summer CSA: Week 13

Howdy folks,

We have briefly entered into fall over the past week. A friend of mine who farms on the north side of town even got a little bit of frost on Saturday morning on his sweet potatoes. No signs of frost at Powisset but it has been cool and crisp. We've been adding to that fall feeling as we harvest our winter squash. This is one of my all time favorite harvests. The whole crew works together and I am always blown away by the beauty of these delicious fruits. This week we will be enjoying one of my favorite squashes, delicate. Delicata  is a winter squash though it is belongs to the same species as most types of summer squash, Cucurbita pepo The fruits are torpedo shaped with green or orange pin stripes running lengthwise. Unlike many winter squash the flesh of delicate is edible making them very easy to prepare with no need to peel them.

Other happenings on the farm this week include a lot more coyote activity. I witnessed one hunting the Canada geese on Sunday morning. Just as I arrived she sprung out of a vegetable field. She didn't catch one but it was quite dramatic. Sunday also marked the Outstanding In The Field dinner. We had an incredible meal that included Powisset vegetables and pork, created by chef Josh Lewin and his talented team at Juliet in Somerville. If you are unfamiliar with Outstanding In The Field check out their website: http://www.outstandinginthefield.com/.




In the share this week:
Ripe peppers
Delicata squash
Potatoes
Onions
Fennel
Lettuce
Radishes
Tomatoes
Carrots

No cooking greens this week as we are between plantings. We've been battling flea beetle and fusarium wilt (a fungus) all season in all our brassicas (kale, collards, cabbage). Our third planting of kale needs a bit more time to grow before we start harvesting it.

If you are looking to something to do with your fennel this week here is a recipe to roast it:  http://www.food.com/recipe/roasted-fennel-406749
I really like roasted fennel on pizza or tossed with pasta with fresh tomatoes, Italian sausage, and mozzarella.

A little note about ripe peppers as well. Powisset has the unfortunate honor of supporting a pepper fly population. The pest is hyper regional. one farm may be effected while the next farm over is not. These flies lay there eggs on the calix (green top that attaches to the stem of the pepper plant). When the egg hatches the larva then bores into the fruit of the pepper. This week we will do our best to cull the fruits that have been affected. If you find that you have an infected pepper fear not. You can remove the soft spot that the larva creates. The rest of the pepper is perfectly good.

Reminder that next week the CSA will be open until 6:30 on both Tuesday and Thursday. This is because on Saturday the 16th we will be celebrating our harvest festival. The CSA will be open on the 16th however the pick your own fields will not be open for picking.

Your farmer,

Zannah

 

Summer CSA: Week 12

 The Trails and Stewardship Teams built a pergola
in the pollinator garden 

Howdy folks,

It has really felt like fall around the farm over the past week. This morning I chased a few Canada Geese out of the fields. They are migrating through and a sure sign that fall is on the way. I also spotted a young coyote trotting through the fields this morning. We made eye contact for a bit then he turned and trotted off. The fields are full of mice this time of year so the coyotes and hawks become quite active.
With the cool nights the summer crops are slowing down. The weather also brings a heavy morning dew which is great for keeping greens from drying out as we harvest them. I love these clear crisp days. They are great for harvesting winter squash, onions, and sweet potatoes. It is however pretty dry out there and we have been utilizing our newly upgraded irrigation system.

Our summer squash and cucumbers have succumbed to powdery mildew as well as downy mildew. Other summer crops are looking a little tired. We are however about to enter a time of year when greens like lettuce and mustards flourish once again.

Weirdo winter squash discovery

Over the last two weeks we have said goodbye to several summer crew members as they return to college. We are feeling the loss in the labor force as well as missing their stories and jokes. These last weeks of august can be hard. The crew is shrinking and those that remain are tired. The fall harvest will get heavier but soon we will have fewer chores pulling us in so many directions. We will be able to focus just on the task at hand; harvest.

The weeds are certainly slowing down and we will eventually manage to clean the fields up but it still feels like a jungle out there. I've been systematically mowing areas as we harvest the crops that have been growing there all summer. We will continue to mow, disk and cover crop as the fall progresses. By the beginning of November we will once again be putting the farm to rest for the winter.

Upcoming events:

The Fall Harvest Fest is fast approaching! The day will be filled with arts and crafts, food vendors, farm tours, and much more.
The day of the festival is Saturday, September 16th. This is a CSA distribution day. Pick Your Own will be closed on September 16th.
We will stay open until 6:30 on both Tuesday (9/12) and Thursday (9/14) to try and accommodate folks. I apologize ahead of time for any inconvenience this may cause folks. We are expecting a large turnout on Saturday.

Irrigating fall carrots

For more information on Harvest Fest please follow this link:
http://www.thetrustees.org/things-to-do/greater-boston/event-33152.html?srpage=2

In this weeks share:

Potatoes
Tomatoes
Onions
Garlic
Choice of cooking green
Lettuce
Fennel
Peppers
Eggplant

PYO:
Cherry Tomatoes
Husk cherries (ripe fruit tends to fall to the ground, don't  be afraid to harvest these as well)
Tomatillos (ripe fruit tends to fall to the ground, don't  be afraid to harvest these as well)
Hot peppers
Sample a few raspberries

These two have been awfully frisky on these cool mornings

New in the Farm Stand

We have some exciting new items on offer in the farm stand including:

Maple Brook Mozzarella - delicious with our tomatoes

Grey Barn Prufrock Cheese - this cheese is out of this world delicious

Sidehill yogurt - if you are looking for a slightly more nutritious snack than the outstanding Crescent Ridge ice cream that is also available in the farm stand

Your farmer,

Zannah

 

 

Summer CSA: Week 11

The crew harvesting onions and shallots

Howdy folks,

We have past the halfway mark for the CSA and with that I want to do a brief check in about where we are at in terms of value of that food. Thus far the share value has averaged out at $43.37 per week. The first few CSA distributions tend to be on the light side and as we progress into late summer and fall the value of each weeks share increases. Last weeks share value was 59.75.

Last week we spent hustling to get more fall crops transplanted and the first of our winter storage crops harvested. The clear dry days we have had have been perfect for onion harvesting. It has been one of the best onions harvests I've experienced and we have crammed them into pretty much every available space in the barns and high tunnel in order to let them cure. Like garlic, storage onions need to be laid out in a dry area in order for them to release excess moisture and for their skins to toughen. These onions need at least a few weeks to cure. If cured and stored properly they can last up to 6 months.

Another of my favorite late summer tasks is harvesting winter squash. Our crop looks great and we will start bringing it in this week. This year we've grown a variety of my favorites including kubocha and delicate squash. Winter squash also needs to cure in order to toughen the skin for long term storage. We are going to have to get creative with our storage space as the onions are taking up so much space already. This is a good problem for a farmer to have.



Onions laid out in the high tunnel to cure 

We've been chipping away at the weeding of the herb garden. We did not get as far as I would have liked but it will be open again for picking this week (thank you for your patience). The farm is super weedy this year and frankly its driving me bonkers. We have had really great growing conditions with ample rain. This has meant great crops and robust weeds. My timing has been off a few times with tractor cultivation and  when that happens we often resort to hand weeding which is cumbersome and slow. Being at peak harvest time we don't have much extra time to hand weed so here I am with a really weedy farm. If you feel so moved to pull a few weeds while you are harvesting your pick your own please have at it.


Tim laying out nice sized onions in the high tunnel

This weeks share:
Tomatoes
Peppers
Onions
Potatoes
Eggplant
Summer squash and Zucchini (this is a maybe, we have downy mildew and the plants are going down fast)
Cucumbers (also a maybe due to downy mildew)
Lettuce (I've been reminded that summer lettuce can be bitter, try a sweet dressing or use olive oil to balance the bitter flavor)
Beets
Cooking greens


PYO:
Cherry tomatoes
Hot peppers
Herbs
Flowers
Raspberries (there are not enough for folks to pick a 1/2 pint however please feel free to walk through and sample a few. Please be mindful that there are other CSA members who would also like to taste the raspberries.)

Your farmer,

Zannah

 

 

Summer CSA: Week 10

Howdy folks,


Don't miss the newest addition to our tractor fleet next time you're at the farm

It's been a very busy week at the farm and I am feeling a bit strained sitting in front of the computer
rather than fixing the broken boom sprayer, figuring out the electrical issue that has the John Deere tractor out of commission, the list goes on. Therefore I'm going to keep this blog to the nuts and bolts.

In this week's share:
Fresh onions
Lettuce
Cooking greens
Tomatoes
Summer squash and zucchini
Cucumbers
Celery
Eggplant
Carrots
Beets

PYO:
Cherry tomatoes
Hot peppers
Tomatillos
Flowers

This week we are going to close the herb garden in order to give us a chance to get a handle on the weeds. Please be respectful of our efforts and steer clear of the herbs for this week.

Thanks!
Your famer, Zannah

Summer CSA: Week 9

Howdy folks,
 

Cultivating fall radishes. Before

It's week 9 (A-L for people with a half share) of the summer CSA. This week finds us finally harvesting tomatoes. We have had a mix of cool cloudy days and hot muggy days throughout the summer. The cool cloudy says have really slowed production of some of our summer crops, like tomatoes and eggplant. Fear not, they are both present in this weeks share.

We have almost reached one of my favorite miles stones in the season. Around mid August the weeds that we often struggle to reign in all season begin to slow there growth. This summer it has been a mad dash to try and keep up with the weeds. It seams like whenever we get one area of the farm under control another one has been taken over by lush amaranth, lambs quarters, and galensoga. I'll take a weedy farm over a farm struggling through a drought any day though.

This past Friday Tom, the well contractor, returned to the farm to excavate and lay a new irrigation line from the well out to the vegetable fields. Tom and his team were able to complete the work very quickly and with little disruption to the farm operation. We may notice some disturbance on the right hand 


Cultivating fall radishes. After

side of the driveway. The upgrade to our irrigation is nearly complete. Tom and his team will soon return to test the system and give us the all clear to fire it up.

This week we have a special guest star in the farm stand:

FRESH ORGANIC WILD MAINE BLUEBERRIES

For sale by the pint or in 10 pound boxes. Blueberries will be located in the refrigerated case in the farm stand. The Maine blueberry season is short. Get them while they last.

In this weeks share:
- Lettuce
- Peppers
- Tomatoes
- Eggplant
- Summer squash/zucchini
- Onions
- Carrots

Tom and his crew laying the new water line

- Cucumbers
- Basil

PYO:
Cherry Tomatoes
Hot peppers
Perennial herbs
Flowers

We are going to give the kale and chard a break this week. I want to get a handle on the pest pressure in these crops before we plant our tender fall broccoli and spinach transplants.

Your farmer,

Zannah



Summer CSA: Week 8

Howdy folks,

Wrapping up another epic garlic harvest

In addition to transplanting, weeding, and harvesting we spent the past week bringing in our garlic crop and hanging it in the rafters of the hay loft. Over the next few weeks the garlic will cure. The skins will lose excess moisture and the flavor will become much more potent. We will grade the garlic and hold onto the largest heads for seed garlic to plant in November for next year's crop.

Today our new well pump was installed. We are upgrading from a 1hp pump to a 5hp pump. This upgrade should greatly improve the volume of water we are able to pump and our ability to irrigate the vegetable fields. In addition to the new pump, we are also having a new waterline dug from the well head (located across from the workshop at the front of the farm) to the green house. Previously, the irrigation water traveled through the barn plumbing and out to the fields. By removing this step, we should see less loss in water pressure from the well to the fields. The waterline is going to be installed on Wednesday and Friday. The line will be buried below the driveway and parking areas. If everything goes according to plan, parking will not be disrupted on CSA days. If there is a need to change the parking for CSA pickup, I will send out a special blog post in order to relay that information.

Last week I had a few CSA members ask me for recipes to help use up their zucchini and summer squash, so I am including a few links below to recipes:

Sunshine winter squash looking good.
Winter share sign-up coming soon

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013043-greek-zucchini-fritters
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/3660-zucchini-salad
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/17643/chocolate-zucchini-cake-iii/
http://www.marthastewart.com/1014060/sausage-stuffed-zucchini

This week's share:
- green peppers
- head cabbage
- onions
- lettuce (just one head this week)
- carrots
- summer squash and zucchini
- cucumbers
- choice of cooking greens
- garlic

Tomatoes are just starting to ripen. We won't have enough for the CSA this week but watch out, they will be rolling in soon!

Your farmer,

Zannah

Summer CSA Week 7

Week 7




Cosmos

Zinnia

This week we are hustling to bring in the garlic harvest. The cooler weather will make this epic task a bit easier than what I have experienced in years past. I feel as though the garlic harvest always takes place during the hottest week of the summer, not this year!After we pull the garlic from the ground it is bundled and hung in the eaves of the hay loft in the main barn.. There it will hang for several weeks so that the heads can cure and we end up the storage garlic that you are probably most familiar with. Once the garlic has fully cured we will cut it down and grade it. The largest bulbs we will save as seed garlic to plant in the fall for next years crop. The rest of the garlic will be distributed in your shares throughout the rest of the summer and fall, as well as part of the winter share.
This week we are taking a break from lettuce in the share. We have loads of other delicious summer crops coming in like eggplant and basil. Lettuce really shines in cooler weather and although

The greenhouse is full of fall crops including these beets

 it is 58 out as I write this, the 90+ degree temperatures we had last week did not do our lettuce any favors.
This week we are also hustling to get our a lot of our fall crops direct seeded and transplanted. Once the tomato crop comes in (it's looking really good out there!) our afternoons will be taken up brining in the harvest leaving little time to seed and transplant fall beets, leeks, broccoli, chicories, and roots. This is a big week and I am thankful for the cooler weather.


Small share: Odd week, folks A-L this is your week!


Direct seeding fall greens and roots

In the share this week:
Eggplant
Cucumbers
Summer squash and zucchini
Carrots
Basil
Fresh onions
Cabbage
Choice of cooking greens

PYO:
Herbs
Flowers

Your Farmer,

Zannah