Dear Kimberton CSA community,
It’s going to be a damp, dreich and dreary week at the farm with our first proper hard frost scheduled for Friday night/Saturday morning. We knew it was coming and, luckily, we have been preparing for it! There are four more pick ups for full and box shares and two pick ups left for partial shares. Thanksgiving is only a month away!
Our butternut squash is finished for the summer season, as is the bok choy, collards, tomatoes and peppers. Summer is officially…officially over!
Broccoli is still chugging along. Unfortunately, with this mild, wet, weather it is struggling a bit, similar to to the collards, with the last hold over of the summer bugs causing some damage. Its growing though! I’m not making anymore predictions on this crop.
WHAT'S IN THE SHARES THIS WEEK!
LETTUCE, ARUGULA, CABBAGE, SCALLIONS, CILANTRO, DILL, MIZUNA, MINUTINA, MUSTARD GREENS, CHARD, BEETS, SPINACH, & SWEET POTATOES
U-PICK:
BLACKBERRIES & HERBS.
Lettuce, dill and cilantro are going strong. These are susceptible to the hard frost, as cold temperatures can cause some superficial damage on the leaves. We’ll be wrapping them up tight at the end of the week and we’ll see what the damage is, if any, next Monday. Cabbage will remain on the share this week and chard, mustard and mizuna are back from a little hiatus.
Our spring spinach was a bit of a flop, but we have some nice winter hardy spinach on the share this week. We have some growing outside and in one of the tunnels. We’ll start with bunching the outside spinach and then we’ll be bagging the inside spinach. Spinach is one of the few crops that actually continues to grow in really cold weather.
Beets are another cold hardy vegetable and they will also be on the share this week. We’ll be bunching them for a while, until we need to top and get them out of the field. They are a pretty decent size. I always look forward to having beets.
In lieu of butternut squash, sweet potatoes will be making their first appearance on the share this week. They have been harvested, cured and are already in storage! This is the first time we have grown sweet potatoes since we took over KCSA four years ago and we are pretty happy with the results. Members should note that not all sweet potatoes were created equal! Some are much bigger and smaller than the ones you’ll find in the store. Also, the crew were literally on their hands and knees digging through the dirt for these festive treats.
And finally, we have a new green for our members: Minutina. Last year, we attempted to grow this and didn’t quite get the timing right. When it was ready to harvest in March (?!?) it very quickly became my favorite winter green! It is delicious sauteed with oil, onions and garlic and braised in stock with a splash of vinegar and hot sauce. It maintains a nice bite after cooking. MINUTINA…remember you had it here first!
Cheers,
Andrew
