Jack Frost

This week the cycle of seasons has hit home. Leaves are filling up every bin bucket and tractor seat left out for more than a  few hours and the sun, even when the skies are cloudless, has lost it ability to really warm us in the fields. We’ve all watched the trees change color for a few weeks now but the grass in the pasture is also beginning to yellow. The weeds that have geminated late are quickly changing their focus from growing leaves to producing as many seeds as possible, even though they are only an inch or two tall.

On our weekly field walk we’ve noticed the crops we still have in the ground have slowed in their growth and we come to the point where we can’t expect much more out them this season. That said we have lots of food out there still. Parsnips, leeks, turnips, cabbage, broccoli and hundreds of feet of greens look great and with the frosts we have forecasted for the coming days will only get sweeter.

Join the Farm for 2013

Current members can sign up using the link we will send via email. If you are interested in joining us again next season please sign up now.  We will start taking new members and past members who are interested in joining again on October 22nd but would like to give you, our current members the opportunity to renew with us first.  Sign ups will be online, (which many, but not all of you, used this past year) which makes electronic/credit payment and payment plans a  breeze.

Pumpkins for the People

We will have pumpkins for you this season. The crew  harvested over 700 many weeks ago and have been curing them in the barn.  This year’s crop is only jack o’lanterns.  In the past we grew pie pumpkins but the feedback we received was that people were using the pie pumpkins for decoration.  We should have enough for 2 per share but if you would like to donate one or both of yours to a family with more than 2 kids let us know.  Look for pumpkin distribution to happen the week before Halloween.

Sweet Potatoes

Our first round of cured sweet potatoes come in this week. Nothing warms you like one of these. Here’s our recipes.

When is the Last Harvest?

The last pick-up will be the last full week of October, the 23rd or the 26th.

The Farmer is Away…

I will be away this week on a short trip to Haiti. Maura and I have a friend who is coordinating a group of NGO’s involved in several social entrepreneur projects around Ouanaminthe which borders the Dominican Republic in the north of the country. My job will be to help talk with a local farmers cooperative and identify problems they have with all stages of planning, planting, harvesting and getting a crop to market.  Once we can understand the core problems the larger goal will be identifying where micro finance and social entrepreneurship models might be of help.

I’m quite excited to be able to meet and work with farmers and will report back next week with photos and more information. If you would like to read more about The organizations I’ll be working with or an article from the New York Times about social entrepreneurship here are a few links –  Community Enterprise Solutions Earthspark  NY Times

While I’m away you can trust that the farm will be in tip top shape under the skilled eyes of Ailish, Jacqueline and Mike.

Upic…?

Upic is in it’s twilight this week as the weather cools. There are still lots of flowers and hardy herbs like thyme and dill so feel free to take these home before Jack Frost does.

What’s in the Share?

Asian greens

Arugula

Buttercup/Acorn/Sweet Dumpling Squash

Potato mix and match

Kale

Chard

Kohlrabi

Spinach

Sweet Potatoes

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