Cooled off all of a sudden – a September thing. Only a week till the equinox (at the time of this writing), and the light is going really fast. The Carrots and Parsnips are thrilled by cool nights and the other cool season crops are pleased as well. The fall snap peas have been pretty disgusted with the mid and upper 80’s.
Meanwhile, the race is on between ‘ripe’ and ‘dead-from-frost.’ The fig trees are loaded with very immature figs, Peppers are loaded with green – not – red Bell peppers and hot peppers, Beans are loaded with immature beans, and the aforementioned snap peas are coming along. The times when a September frost comes are pretty sad, because the next few days are invariable in the mid 70’s just to mock the loss!
The other event that comes along is “are there any xxxx left?” Which is where rows start to get empty. The Potatoes are on a ‘watch list;’ the Russets are smaller than is desirable, and so filling the pint container can be a stretch. By the way, there are two rows of ‘fingerling’ potatoes being saved up for the Extended season. The trick with fingerling potatoes is, well, they are fingerling sized. The seed potato provider calls this an “assortment.” That means digging them is a bit of a surprise package: “Oh look! These are Red!”
The next four weeks will see the ‘slicer’ tomatoes get to be fewer and fewer. The best that can be done is to button up the greenhouse at night, but the fruit still gets cold, and that makes it slow way down. Bonus boxes are probably a thing of the past. That said, a couple of members have asked for ‘firm’ tomatoes to use because “I like to dice my tomatoes and the soft variety turn to mush.” If you have a preference that can be accommodated but you do need to communicate your desire.
Speaking of desires: Turnips and Parsnips. The Saturday farm-call members are pretty good at ‘yes, I want Turnips.’ In general, Turnips are a hit or miss (farmer’s choice, right?). Parsnips are something the ‘soup’ stars like, and that tends to correspond with the Turnips for soup folks. Not this week, but Parsnips are coming. It would be helpful if you declare yourself to be a Parsnip ‘meh, yeah, nah’ member. The block of Parsnips is the best that has been grown here, kinda forever. So… Yeah, speak up. Nominally folks will get one, some souper members might want a couple.
And that brings us to ‘the list:’
| Lettuce | Romaine (green), a green ‘bibb-romaine cross, ‘Red sails. there may be a “Cegolaine” floating around out there. |
| Brassicas | A few cabbage lurking… no luck on the Broc and Cauliflower yet. Broc was attacked by Rabbits, and is now under cover. Cauliflower is Not Heading Right. This is bad. |
| Roots | Red beets and White beets with greens. Carrots are plentiful and even bigger this week. possibly Turnips. |
| Greens | Curly Mustard, Red or White Chard, Arugula. Lots of chard available, if you want extra ask. |
| Herbs | Chives, Parsley, Basil, Celery – two stalks nominal, ask for more. There is LOTS of celery. |
| Misc | green beans – not enough for everyone, lots of blossoms and not ready pods. Still. Wednesday has a lot of members… Potatoes – Assortment – Nokatah Russet, Huckleberry, Cal White. Huckleberry last week, probably. Bigger bulb onion and a few green onions. Flower of the week: Cut Flowers or roses. Flower Gardner hasn’t decided for sure yet. And Tomato Cherries and Slicers. Tomatoes. Ask for firm if that is what you prefer. Cukes – should have one per box Bell peppers are now big and green, hot peppers are also big and green, may be some of the small yellows. Summer squash: Random choice of Hook neck, Zucchini, Patty Pan. Eggplant – Millionaire (tube shaped) or Rolandia (Round). Some of the green grapes are ripe. These are not grocery store grapes; more to come. Still working on this ripe thing. Apples may or may not be in your box. Green apples seem wormy (yuck). |
Coming Soon: Bell peppers, more beans
Coming not quite so soon: Parsnips. Are you thrilled?
BEEF: Still have Half of the big cow – good chance to buy a quarter of a beef of Hamburger and sausage… And 3/4 of a young bull left. That doesn’t look good – an amputee cow. Slaughter date November 5.
