Be careful what you wish for. For a couple weeks I have been hoping out loud for a couple three days of hurricane blow off. This is that nice fine rain that comes soft and constant and soaks the soil without washing a grain of sand away. We commonly get this kind of precipitation in the month of September and in many years it catches us up from a dry August and also signals the end of summer as it brings in our fall fungus infections riding that tropical wetness. With September behind us this year I had resigned myself to irrigating right through Halloween (another first). I’ve been watching Matthew develop and grow since last week, hoping that it would stay alive long enough to spin a few plumes of wetness our way. Little did I know it would grow into the largest October hurricane on record and defy all the models as it keeps moving west (instead of east into the cold Atlantic). What this means for the farm is that you are getting some lovely red veined spinach this week instead of next. Small greens tend to fair poorly in heavy rain, spinach especially as it yellows quickly after having all it’s nutrients washed from the soil. For the rest of the farm…we will watch as the forecast tightens through the week and look to lashing down greenhouses and tunnels, getting things under cover that could blow away in high winds, etc. Welcome to our new climate.

Thank You for Signing up for 2017

Thank you to those who have signed up online in the past week! Knowing we can count on your shares early allows us to refine our plans for crops, order seed before the winter rush, and take advantage of end of the year pricing on big ticket items like soil, fertilizer and supplies. Most importantly it helps us focus on making the farm productive and healthy. If you haven’t signed up yet here’s the link.

Cipolinni Onions

These little flat onions are pure magic. Sweeter than  your standard onion they are great roasted in the oven, cooked slow on the stovetop or caramelized.

What’s in the Share

Lettuce Mix

Tatsoi

Baby Bok Choi

Chard

Spinach

Carrots

Delicata

Radishes/salad turnips

Cippolinni Onions

A Poem

Things we don’t have to worry about in a hurricane…

Problems with Hurricanes

A campesino looked at the air
And told me:
With hurricanes it’s not the wind
or the noise or the water.
I’ll tell you he said:
it’s the mangoes, avocados
Green plantains and bananas
flying into town like projectiles.

How would your family
feel if they had to tell
The generations that you
got killed by a flying
Banana.

Death by drowning has honor
If the wind picked you up
and slammed you
Against a mountain boulder
This would not carry shame
But
to suffer a mango smashing
Your skull
or a plantain hitting your
Temple at 70 miles per hour
is the ultimate disgrace.

The campesino takes off his hat—
As a sign of respect
toward the fury of the wind
And says:
Don’t worry about the noise
Don’t worry about the water
Don’t worry about the wind—
If you are going out
beware of mangoes
And all such beautiful
sweet things.