August 24th, 2009. Just before the peak of the tomato harvest.
The tomato patch on October 18th, 2009.
We have been busy planting garlic and putting the garden to bed — pulling up the drip irrigation, trellis fences, stakes, and hoses. The only things left in the ground are the rutabagas, some carrots, some parsnips, and of course the freshly planted garlic. We will leave most of the parsnips in the ground until the spring thaw. Usually at the tail end of maple syruping season we will go harvest the rest for a sweet spring parsnip feast (or three).
We also spent quite a bit of time picking the last of the raspberries. We often felt like bears, ambling by the patch and getting distracted by the berries for a couple hours. Our friends and hunting companions stopped by to set up their deer stands, and ended up at the raspberry patch too! We sent the berries home with them, and last weekend for deer hunting Heidi brought back raspberry jam to share. What a treat!
My dad, Darwin, went on his first elk hunting trip to Colorado for two weeks in October. It snowed a lot while he was there, but it ended up being a good thing because the elk came down to lower elevations where they were easier to find. He came back happy and with some elk to put in the freezer. While he was gone my grandma Vangie and mom Carol and I (Chris) had a great time working together in the garden:
In your box this week:
- Tomatoes
- Broccoli
- Sweet Peppers
- Hot Peppers (in the bag with the carrots)
- Carrots
- Cabbage
- Eggplant
- Parsnips
- Zucchini / Summer Squash
- Beets
- Kohlrabi
- Onions
- Parsley
- Kale
- Rhutabaga
Sorry about the late posting — my internet connection was down, maybe because of the strong winds on Sunday and Monday. Today is a BIG DAY in the world of growing food:
FROST!
For this reason, next week, October 5th, will be our FINAL WEEK OF THE 2009 CSA SEASON. Please do your best to return any boxes, buckets, and lids you have around your house.
In your week #17 box:
- Tomatoes
- Broccoli
- Beans
- Cuke-nuts
- Kohlrabi
- Carrots
- Beets
- Hot Peppers
- Sweet Peppers
- Kale
- Baby Bok-Choy
- Eggplant
- Parsley
- Onion Chives
- Basil — with the roots still attached. Plunk them into a bucket of water, or plant them in a pot, and enjoy some indoor basil for a while.
- Rosemary – 6 sprigs of Rosemary rubber banded together with 2 sprigs of Sage. Wrap them in plastic and store in the fridge for fresh use, hang them in a cool, dark place to dry, or throw them in a bag in the freezer.
- Sage – same care instructions as for Rosemary
Carter has noticed a change in the temperature!
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- Thea slices the lid off the honey comb.
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- The frames are placed in the spinner to get the honey out.
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- Tristan spins while Thea and Dave hold the spinner down.
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- Jim and Thea dance while Dave plays guitar.
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- Our first ever garlic harvest!
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- Special thanks to the out-of-towners who spent part of their visit helping with Week #16’s harvest! L to R: Anna, Chris (me), Steph, Zannah.
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- Hello? Hi! How ARE you?
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- Hey, I stepped on a wasp . . . really! It’s not a spa!
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- Our own near-season’s-end gourmet ice cream shoppe!
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- “You been farming long?”
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- Some Mpls. CSA members split up their boxes on the front lawn as the sun sets.
In your box this week:
- Tomatoes
- Broccoli
- Onions
- Cabbage
- Cuke-nuts
- Garlic — one of each variety: Siberian, Leningrad, Schumacher
- Sweet Peppers
- Hot Peppers – long skinny green cayennes
- Beans
- Carrots
- Rainbow Chard
- Zucchini / Summer Squash
- Beets with Greens (eat both)
- Arugula
- Parsley
- Dill
- Winter Squash — Potimarron variety. Poor yields this year, so this is it for your winter squash this year.
It has been really nice to get some feedback in the last couple weeks. Here are a few quotes:
From Reid: “[Sept. 7th's] haul changed my opinion about green bell peppers. Up to now, green bell peppers were to me that vegetable that was used as filler (which I would eat around) in Buddha’s Delight at the local chow mien place, or the item on the typical party veggie tray that was really only palatable with the ranch dressing – kind of sharp and watery. The other morning my wife asked for bell peppers, which we’d just received from the Reimann Family Farm, in the scrambled eggs; I obliged. I ate all of my peppers (not around them!) and felt really satisfied. I suppose this is how bell peppers are supposed to taste like, full of flavor, slightly sweet, bold, refreshing. I really had no idea. Thanks for doing the bell pepper justice!”
Vanessa on tomatoes: “This tastes like GOODNESS!”
Molly: “Many, many thanks for your ease-filled, generous, affordable, incredible, tasty fruits of the earth. I hope to eat your food for many years to come!”
If you have any feedback on how the season is going, we’d love to hear it! You could just leave a comment on this post, or email us.
See you on Monday with the next box of sunshine!
~Chris.
Wow! Another beautiful weekend, and another beautiful box! Thanks for the great meal and games of bocce ball at the annual farm potluck on Saturday! If you have questions about the contents of your box, you can just ask in the comment section of this post. In your box this week:
My camera batteries were dead, so a special thanks to Amy and her iPhone for snapping this photo and then instantly emailing it to me!
- Heirloom Tomatoes
- Broccoli
- Beans
- Kohlrabi
- Onions
- Zucchini/Summer Squash
- Cuke-nuts — look like little watermelons, taste like super crunchy cucumbers.
- Beets with Greens (eat them both!)
- Kale — Red Russian variety
- Sweet Peppers
- Hot Pepper — the one with the rubber band around it. Poblano, Ancho, and Cayenne varieties.
- Dill – one young seed head, one dried seed head. If you can’t use them both this week, rub the brown dried seeds into a jar for winter use.
- Parsley
- Basil — maybe the last of the year? Basil is the most susceptible to frost damage, so it will be the first to go when the nights start getting cold.
- Nasturiums – flowers and lily-pad leaves, all parts edible.
- Eggplant — the gourmet non-bitter Rosa Bianca variety, enough for most people, there will be plenty more in the next couple weeks.
Alyssa originally held this up to be a super big smile, but you can tell this little girl was getting tired!
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- Thank You Mark!
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- Thank You Carrie!
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- Thank You Sue!
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- Thank You Dave!
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- And thanks to Mark & Carrie’s kids Alyssa and Carter too, who were taking naps when I had the camera out. This is a photo from a couple weeks ago.
If these thumbnails don’t show up for you, click on them to see the full size photo. I don’t know what the problem is — but I’ll try to figure it out later.
[It's getting dark noticeably earlier. This week I had to flash photo in the dark.]
In your box this week:
- Broccoli
- Kale – Dinosaur or Lacinato variety. Save some of your bacon from your BLTs this week, chop it up and fry it, then add in Kale and saute in the bacon grease for a classic side dish.
- Cabbage – either purple, green, or the wrinkly Alcosa varieties. Mostly cute little mini-heads of secondary growth from the plants.
- Parsley – Chop it up and add it to your lettuce mix. Add it to soup at the last minute. Add it to your pasta sauce. How about parsley pesto?
- Lemon Thyme
- Coriander – the seeds of the cilantro plant. Some are green, some are already dried. If you aren’t going to use them right away, let the green ones dry before you seal them up in a jar.
- Rosemary – use it fresh, put the whole sprig in a bag in the freezer for later, or hang it (out of direct sun) to dry.
- Dill leaf and/or Dill flower
- Tomatoes
- Sweet Corn – 18 ears per share
- Beans
- Lettuce/Arugula/Mizuna Mix
- Oxalis – aka Wood Sorrell. One of our CSA members says she remembers picking and eating this as a kid, and always called it Sweet Tart candy. Eat it raw to enjoy the tangy flavor.
- Flowers – some of them are edible: the white garlic chive flowers, the little purple oregano flowers, and the petals of the yellow or orange smooth petaled calendula flower.
- Cuke-nuts – look like mini-watermelons, pop them whole or sliced into your mouth for a crunchy cucumber zing.
- Sweet Peppers – mostly green or purple bell peppers, a few yellow banana peppers.
- Hot Cayenne Peppers – these ones are long, skinny, and green.
Pictures coming soon! And a special thanks to all of our harvesting help today! Sue, Dave, Mark, Carrie, Alyssa, and Carol joined Darwin, Vangie and me to get everything picked, washed, and packed-up in time for the delivery to your dinner table. Many hands certainly make the work lighter. Happy eating this week!
~Chris.
