Crisp air and clear skies…fall must be here. We have had several nights below 50 in the last week which is the true tipping point for our long-term summer crops. Once the nights drop below this magic number squash, tomatoes, peppers melons and the like stop growing until the sun warms them up each morning. If effect these heat loving crops go from a 24 hour growing period to one that is closer to 12 or less. As you can imagine this means the days for these summer favorites are numbered but as luck would have it the hearty fall crops like carrots, cabbage, spinach and broccoli are going full steam, unfazed by the cool evenings.
We finished the onion harvest this past week and got started on winter squash. Everyone’s favorite Delicata is looking good and will be making an early appearance in your shares very soon.
Edamame is ready in the upic field. These furry soybean pods are great steamed and tossed in soy sauce or salt. Pop the soybeans out of the pod in your mouth and enjoy (don’t eat the pod! its way too chewy).
Labor on Labor Day Potato Harvest
Our Crystal Spring Farm Labor Day tradition returns this year! Join us on Labor Day (September 4) at 10 am to help harvest our potato crop. This is a great community event where we use our digging machine to lift the spuds and then you join us to help gather them up! Look for the trucks and tractors in the field on the North side on Pleasant Hill Road. Please join us!
Farm Raised Pork for Your Freezer
Orders are coming in for pork. If you are considering filling your freezer with some outstanding farm raised bacon (and a few other cuts) don’t delay. Never had farm raised pork it is like nothing the grocery store has to offer. Raised on pasture and fed organic grain (in addition to gelato) our pork tastes great and you know where the animals came from and how they lived. Ask us for a info/sign-up sheet at pick-up or download one here.
What’s in the Share
- Slicing and Roma Tomatoes
- Summer Squash
- Chard/Kale
- Arugula
- Peppers
- Lettuce
- Onions
What’s in Upic
- Cherry Toms
- Tomatillos
- Flowers
- Herbs
- Edamame (one pint)
Collective sign of relief on the farm with our first rainfall of more than a quarter-inch since early June. Farmers and produce alike brightened up and stood taller after almost two inches fell on Friday. Look for fall crops to start coming in abundance soon. First of our storage onions are this week, no longer the sweet summer varieties, these are more pungent and cook down into sweet savory flavor better. Greens are also coming back with lettuce and chard coming back onto the scene.
We have been teased with these little rain events over the past week. While these spritzes have helped in the short term we are still in dire need of a soaking, multi-inch precipitation event. We will have a lapse in our supply of salad greens due to this dryness as we had trouble getting lettuce to germinate. Luckily we will have lots of good summer produce to distant you with in the meantime.
Flowers