Hi All –
Sitting here after a day’s work thinking about a nap before bed… then it hits me… “In the box email! you need to write the in-the-box email!”
Well then, now you know the inner workings of the geezer CSA farmer.
The farm news this week is as follows:
- Pesky mole invader had a fatal accident. (false grief)
- Pesky Rabbit invader continues to build a subdivision in the raised beds of the green house. Thus far the live trap is ignored, the subdivision extended to a new bed.
- Pesky birds (sap-suckers, robins, various others) assault on the fruit trees continues unabated. Picking all the fruit is now obligatory, it cannot just hang out.
- The cauliflower finally deigned to show up. It is quite lovely; the cheddar (orange) is particularly striking; the white is really really white. The broccoli is a bit ashamed for just being green. It is not easy being green when the cool stuff has those amazing colors.
- About a zillion jars of Jelly were produced. Note that it is far better to leave the room when a jelly maker is in task mode. The noise that comes out makes the “I need to help” overcome years of experience that ‘help’ is often not. help. And is going to get you chewed out for getting in the way. The jelly maker kindly rewarded the absence of the eager helper with some nice fresh biscuits to go with the frothy stuff that is pulled off the jelly.
So, as you can see life at the farm is filled with adventure.
There are a very few heads of cabbage forming – the danger is that there are lots of cabbage moth larva chewing away – so, those of you who are looking for cabbage will need to exercise caution for those green critters. There will be a sincere attempt to police the heads of cabbage for invaders; but. They are tricky little things.
Last week the Sweet Potatoes which were put out were intentionally small diameter, hoping that they would be cured enough to be good. The farm test kitchen chunked them and then put them in soup – fun to eat, the texture kinda gets really soft when cooked that way. Some of those technicolor carrots were added – which cause some perception issues: “is that a carrot or a hunk of sweet potato?” When you guess wrong your taste buds get all confused there for a moment. Both are good, but they are definitely not the same. As we move along, the sweet potatoes will be larger, for sure. Well. They can hardly be much smaller.
Apples are going to be with you for the rest of the season, as well as winter squash. Lettuces are doing fine in the cool dark of fall, but most things take longer to progress. The cauliflower mentioned previously has a pair of ‘early’ varieties, the cheddar and white. There is another whole set that remains hidden, which is running a little later. The Broccoli in theory would be setting smaller florets after the first large one is harvested. In practice, that seems to be slow. It is a bit of a challenge to project how much of the brassicas will persist.
Flowers. This is looking like it may be finis for flowers. Other than the Stock, the bulk of the flowers are dead and gone, and the roses truly detest the continuous bouts of rain. SO. Hope you enjoyed the flowers; if something miraculous happens you might get more. But. The other thing that is giving up are herbs. The Basil plants that did so very well got burned despite being in the greenhouse cuddled up to their buddy Eggplant; in fact, most of the herbs are flicking it in for the season. Garlic is available, Chives, some Parsley. This is the story of Extended season.
Which, of course, takes us to tomatoes. Cherries are still coming on, but the larger (slicer) tomatoes don’t do so well in the cool and dark. If all goes according to plan, which might happen someday with some plan, the green slicers will be boxed and brought into the house to shelf ripen. Other projects intruded on that this week, so, if we have slicers you may get one. In the same department, last week was the gleaning of the least damaged bell peppers and hot peppers. Hope you enjoyed them.
My, this is a wordy little note. Being tired can loosen the chat valve, evidently. So. Now you know.
in-the-box week 2 Extended Season:
| Greens | Nice Lettuces. Some Spinach. White and/or Red Chard; Kale – not much of it, ask. Asian Mustard (ask) – maybe a floret of Broccoli, one head Cauliflower, unless you are Cauliflower-phobic. Cheddar or white? Cabbage – one or two available. |
| Crunchies | Carrots. Yep, that’s the crunchie. Oh wait, there are Dragon Radishes – those daikon style – if you ask. |
| Herbs | Garlic, Parsley, Arugula, Green Onions, Chives (ask), Fennel! yep, ask if you want a fennel! |
| Other | Cherry Tomatoes,
4-6 apples or more. Yellow Crabs? Gallon or more?; Quince? – Last week to ask for these Pumpkin or Green skin winter squash. somewhat larger sweet potatoes. |
On Deck:
- Cabbage – we will see – some small heads forming now.
