Star maker, dream breaker, soul taker

Dear KCSA community,

 

The planets and the stars were in alignment Saturday night. The new moon and clear skies made Jupiter, Saturn and Mars all very shiny and bright. Looking through a 100x telescope made those lights into planetary bodies, with moons of their own (Jupiter), rings (Saturn) and a bright red glow (Mars). I must confess that I didn’t get to see Saturn but this was my first time seeing anything through a telescope and it was pretty spectacular. Thanks, Marylin!

 

Saturday was primarily a root day on the biodynamic calendar and the roots on the share this week will continue to be watermelon radishes! Our beets will be ready soon. We’re still hanging in for the carrots. Although summer is over, the weather this fall has been quite favorable, so we are hopeful they will be ready before the end of the season. We are enjoying this weather whilst it lasts. Just as summer was late, so is winter…but it’ll be here and we need to be ready!

Over the last few years we have grown Romanesco in the winter. Romanesco AKA Roman broccoli is a cross between cauliflower and broccoli that looks like it has been printed on a 3D printer. Anyway, every year a few would be ready in time but for the most part they’d take forever to size up during November leading to quite a bit of wastage.

 

This year we have swapped the cauliflower-esqe Roman broccoli for just plain old regular broccoli. It’s been on the share, but we are now faced with the same issue where basically all the plants have started to head up but are taking their sweet time to size up. The good news is we are three to four weeks ahead of the Romanesco curve, but for this week, at least, we’ll be swapping out the broccoli with sweet red cabbage. Broccoli will be back!

 

Cheers,

Andrew

A year of extremes

Dear KCSA community,

 

There are six pick-ups left for our full and box shares, and three pick-ups for our partial shares. Where did all the time go?

 

As most members know, our u-pick items have been magically disappearing from the board over the last few weeks. This has been partially due to the weather, but also because we need to sow some winter cover crop. We have had three light frosts already this season, and although there is no hard frost predicted in the 10-day forecast, summer crops such as tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, basil and cut flowers have run their course. Our perennials, on the other hand (i.e., herbs and blackberries), should continue until it gets proper cold but in a limited supply.

I’ve read that it has been a tough tomato year in PA. It has been a year of extremes. A late frost in spring, lengthy dry spells followed by torrential rains in a hot and humid summer and then early frosts in fall have taken their toll. Although we can mitigate dry spells with our irrigation system, we have faced the other issues mentioned….if I do say so myself…rather successfully! Plus, if you remember, we lost all our heirloom transplants in spring!

 

Now I must confess, this has been in part down to having covered growing spaces. The abundance of green tomatoes (and peppers) left on the plants are evidence that it has been a strange year. It is a little frustrating, as even in the greenhouse, these won’t vine ripen in time. However, we have harvested them, so if members keep the green tomatoes and peppers that they will be getting in their share over the next two weeks on a counter top or pantry (not the fridge), they may ripen off vine.

 

To speed this process up, you can put them in a paper bag with an apple. Apples release a lot of ethylene gas as they ripen, which encourages other ethylene emitting fruit, like tomatoes, to ripen quicker. In fact, this is how most tomatoes are ripened commercially. They are harvested when they are green and then gassed in a warehouse. It makes them much easier to transport over long distances. Unfortunately, there is a trade off on taste as there needs to be about a 40% blush on the tomatoes before they are picked to maintain their maximum taste levels. Alternatively, you could try Green Fried Tomatoes.

 

Cheers,

Andrew

KCSA's Enormous Turnips

Dear KCSA community,
 
One day some farmers sowed some turnip seeds. Using a notoriously finicky seeder and a recently purchased turnip seed roller, the drop rate ended up being a little inconsistent, leaving small gaps in the rows between the turnips. Nevertheless, the seeds that were sown, grew…were hoed…then grew and grew until they reached the right size for harvest.
 
After all the white Hakurei salad turnips were harvested for the CSA, the farmer moved onto harvesting the scarlet Hirosaki salad turnips. Now, having been sown at the same time and with only a few extra days maturity time between them, the Hiroskai turnips grew…and grew and grew even more…until some were enormous!
 
The farmers went to harvest one of these enormous turnips. They pulled and pulled and pulled, but the turnips would not budge. So, they called Assistant Manager Becky to give them a hand. Together, they pulled and pulled and pulled. Still, the turnip would not budge.

After a while, they shouted to this season's crew to give them a hand. Together, the farmers, Becky, Mandi, both Sara’s, Miriam, Leo, Jake and Dana all pulled and pulled and pulled. Still, the turnip would not budge. The farmers then called the workshares: Line, Renee, Carrie, Coleen, Isabella, Al, Ashlie, Mary and Kathy for help. All together they pulled, and pulled and pulled, but the turnips would simply not budge.    
 
Finally, they called KCSA's apiarist friends Erik and Emmett, and birder friends Marylin and Gretchen. Together they all pulled and pulled and pulled, until…POP…out came the turnip. The farmers were very pleased and invited everyone round for a turnip dinner.
 
Thank you!
Andrew

Heathy Soil = Healthy Food = Healthy People

Dear KCSA community,
 
The Rodale Institute recently published a white paper called Regenerative Agriculture and the Soil Carbon Solution. It states that at a “minimum regenerative agricultural practices that support carbon sequestration include:

  1. Diversifying crop rotations

  2. Planting cover crops, green manures

  3. Retaining crop residues

  4. Using natural sources of fertilizer, such as compost

  5. Employing highly managed grazing and/or crops and livestock

  6. Reducing tillage frequency and depth

  7. Eliminating synthetic chemicals”


Here’s a quick run-down of us sowing triticale cover crop in Field C on Sunday. As you’ll see, KCSA checks all those boxes…and more…

Primarily, at KCSA, winter hardy grasses, like triticale (and winter rye), are used to make sure we have some sort of vegetative cover on the ground over winter. They germinate at low temperatures, so they can be sown late into the fall. Even with a little growth above the surface, their extensive root system holds the soil together, reducing any potential run off. Further, these roots aerate the soil, which helps reduce the depth of tillage needed in Spring. Due to the timing, the triticale that was sown on Sunday is in early enough that it will provide some nice green manure for next season's onions. The onions follow the butternut squash that you’ll find in your share this week. Tomatoes will follow the onions in 2022!
 
Knowing that we will have additional green manure in Spring didn’t deter us from spreading our own biodynamic compost. The compost will help the triticale grow, making some of the nutrients in the soil even more bioavailable when we mow and incorporate the cover crop in Spring. Our compost primarily constitutes manure sourced from our next-door neighbor—Seven Stars Farm—and our own crop residues. Plus, biodynamic preparations 502-507.
 
All crop residue that doesn’t make it into the compost pile, like the green manure, is mowed and incorporated back into the soil. This is more frequently done than not. After spreading the compost yesterday afternoon, we lightly disced the field to break down the bigger chunks of compost, which in turn helped break down some stray butternuts and non-flail mowed squash vines still lying on the surface.
 
For expediency, we sowed the triticale by hand. We have a couple of pieces of equipment that are quicker at sowing the seeds (and natural fertilizer) but we figured by the time we had got them cleaned up, we’d have ultimately saved time by being able to get stuck in straight away doing it the old-fashioned way! Plus, you can control the rate of the application a little better.
 
Anyway, after sowing the seed, we gently harrowed the triticale into the soil—to a depth of about half an inch. Our harrow, the Perfecta II, is our most commonly used tillage equipment, along with our discs, and although we go a little deeper that a half inch when we are preparing beds, neither implement is particularly intensive or deep! We rotate chisel plowing, so it is not done every year. And, over the last four years our tractor’s rototiller has essentially become obsolete.
 
Our systems are not perfect, but we do the best we can with what we got! And we aim to improve them year after year to help build the soil and sequester that carbon. Healthy soil = healthy food = healthy people.
 
Cheers,
Andrew

A wee winter warning

Dear KCSA community,
 
We had some of my favorite weather over the weekend—cool, dry and sunny. It might dip low enough to damage the basil again tonight. A projected low of 39F in Phoenixville could be a 31F at the farm, such is our micro climate in the French Creek valley. We had a touch of frost this morning. Basil plants don’t like those close-to-freezing temperatures.
 
Hopefully, the light frost will be a shock to the system for the tomato plants. Perhaps, we’ll see those green tomatoes ripen in the warmer weather this week? It’s been a strange run out to fall but regardless, this weekend has been a wee winter warning: the first hard frost is just around the corner!

U-pick is almost done. We’ll be systematically turning the beds and sowing winter cover crop over the next few weeks. This week the blackberries will be on the share. There is a limited number of blackberries and, as with every year, they are really, really late coming in. I just don’t think the variety is meant for our climate. Anyway, please stick to the limits; hunt high and low; and, successful u-picking is subject to availability!  
 
This will be the last week of garlic on the share. We’ve siphoned off what we need to plant for 2021. All of next year’s garlic will be grown from our seed stock...yup, biodynamic!
 
The 5-week wait for lettuce is over! We should have a good lettuce run out through fall. Most varieties are quite cold hardy and less susceptible to bolting at this time of year, plus we have salad mix as a back-up.
 
Our Hakurei turnips are also ready for bunching and will be on the share this week. Delicious.

Cheers, Andrew

Creative culinary combinations

Dear KCSA community,
 
The next couple of weeks we are playing greens potluck at the farm! Bolting arugula (you can eat the flowers), slow growing kale, insects in the collards, and some timing issues has made the greens harvest a little unpredictable. Members will find some sort of combination of kale, collards, chard, arugula, bok choy, mizuna and mustard in their boxes this week.
 
Not to feel left out, the herbs are also in for a round robin. Thyme, parsley, savory, rosemary, and sorrel are all ready to get picked. Think of all the creative culinary combinations!
 
Summer officially makes way for winter this week. Move aside zepher, crookneck and patty pans: all hail the butternut! Our experiment with Spaghetti squash never quite made it past the planning stages…maybe next year?

We are expecting some mid-40F lows by the weekend, so tomatoes, peppers and eggplants will continue to chug along before that first frost. Unfortunately, the ripening process does not seem to be able to keep up with the picking despite Sara and Mandi spraying the plants with liquid sunshine, AKA B.D. prep 501.
 
And, Marilyn and Gretchen have tabulated the 2020 fledges from our Purple Martin Colony. A total of 53 baby birds from KCSA’s gourds and new T-14 housing system are currently on their migratory path back to the Amazon Basin. This is over twice as many as the colony produced last year! A big thank you to both of them for their hard work and diligence. We hope they have safe passage and their winter roost (technically summer in South America) has not been destroyed by the devastating forest fires.
 
Cheers,
Andrew

Fall farm flowers

Dear KCSA community,
 
Our latest succession of lettuce is not quite ready yet. In lieu, we will have a combination of arugula, mizuna and mustard greens on the share that can double up as salad greens if you dig that slight, horseradishy heat. We have tried a new variety of arugula this fall, which, supposedly, is more closely related to wild arugula than our regular cultivated type. Arugula is native to the Mediterranean where it is more commonly known as Rocket: Blast off!
 
As you may have noticed, the farm becomes a hotbed of pollinator activity in the fall. There is lots of action in the herb beds as the mints and alliums flower! Of course, we have more than a few enticers in there as well, with our Anise Hissop being the top bee attraction.

Our Gardens Underground flower garden (you know the one beside the pick-up shed) is also a big hit with the pollinators. Ex-KSCA intern (2012) Jonathan Kraus has meticulously designed and produced a festival of foliage for us all season long. I’m sure some cold hardy mums and some additional fall bulbs will be planted over the next couple of months or so to add some flourish and nectar in the late fall and early spring, respectively. You can email Jon to inquire about his services: gardensunderground@gmail.com.

There are plenty of potential bouquets still out in the u-pick flowers. Becky suggested adding Mexican sunflowers to the rotation this year and I have been amazed at the butterfly activity they have encouraged! There are also statice, cosmos, zinnias and strawflowers out there.
 
Even our basil buds are a-buzz with bees! The food it has provided for our members as well as our insect populations since mid-June is a win-win. It has been an awesome basil season.
 
And finally, where the most flowers are currently located on the farm: our buckwheat cover crop! Not only is buckwheat a great pollinator forage crop, but it helps protect the soil against bad nematodes as well as being a fast germinator that helps to smother any potential weeds. In addition to providing us with the ability to mow in "green manure" (probably happening this week), buckwheat has the unique ability to scavenge for phosphorous in the soil, which makes it an even more potent cover crop. The sections where the buckwheat is located will be primed for our fall garlic planting. Incidentally, garlic loves phosphorous…
 
Cheers,
Andrew

A plethora of crop successes.

Dear KCSA community,
 
It’s the first of September tomorrow! Where has the summer gone? As we move into fall, the farm will start to get ready for winter hibernation.
 
As the weather cools and the days get shorter and shorter, more fall greens will be on the share. Mustard, mizuna, bok choy, kale and arugula will be making an appearance over the next couple of weeks. Our lettuce, napa cabbage, regular cabbage, and spinach are a little further off. And, if the timing works out, we should also have some minutina and claytonia (AKA miners’ lettuce) available in November. More on them later.

The only vegetables left to transplant outside are the last few successions of lettuce, dill and cilantro. We managed to get almost all of the last direct sowing completed. Unfortunately, the timing for our fall green beans did not work out. I’m sure you all remember the spring corn maggots? Well, the delayed replanting of our 1st succession of zucchini messed up the timing with the beans. They are frost sensitive and we basically ran out of time before we ran out of zucchinis!
 
And that's the only sowing we have missed all season. We have had a plethora of crop successes! It really has been a fantastic year so far. This should hopefully continue into fall, and in addition to all those greens mentioned above, we’ll have daikon and watermelon radish, turnips, beets, kohlrabi, broccoli, butternut squash and sweet potatoes. Can't wait!

Cheers,
Andrew