Fall Hoophouse Plantings

Farm Update

Aren't those the most gorgeous baby carrots you've
ever seen?

Hello everyone!  It’s been a much colder weekend than we have had for a long time.  Looks like we will be having some frost this week, which will kill a few types of veggies, but hopefully not much at this point.  We are hoping that the frost won’t hurt the tender cool season crops like the lettuce, but we’ll see over the next couple days.  Before the frost we harvested the remaining sweet potatoes and winter squash, and put them into the greenhouse to help cure the skins.  Sweet potatoes were a good crop this year as the really hot summer weather helped the potatoes to size up nicely.  The greenhouse and hoophouse plantings of greens are doing very well and the carrots are really thriving, so expect plenty of carrots for the rest of the CSA season.  Weeds are of minimal concern now, and the frost this week should kill off a lot of the warm weather weeds like the pigweed that is still hanging around. Deer have also been less of an issue, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that trend will continue for the rest of the year.  We still have one pig available if anyone is interested in getting a half or a whole pig.  Also if you already know that you will want to be a member again for the 2017 season, we can absolutely put you on the list!  The cost is going to be going up to $300 for a half share or $550 for a full share, but you can give a full or partial payment to us at any of the remaining drop-offs (or up to the end of the year) and get your share next year for this year’s price ($290 for a half share or $540 for a whole share).  We hope you have enjoyed this season, and that you have been able to enjoy all the great seasonal flavors and good nourishing food that comes out of our small farm.  If you have any suggestions for what would give you an even better experience with our CSA or things you would like to see in the shares, let us know!

What to Expect in Your Share

At the regular drop-off:

Cabbage, bok choy, or kohlrabi with greens

Lettuce, Brussels sprouts, or baby arugula

Kale, cooking greens, or cilantro

Onions or sweet pepper

Surprise veggie

Sweet potatoes

Carrots

For prepacked shares:

Share A:                         Share B:

Cabbage                         Bok choy

Lettuce                           Brussels sprouts

Kale                               Cooking greens

Onion                             Sweet pepper

Surprise veggie              Surprise veggie

Sweet potatoes               Sweet potatoes

Carrots                           Carrots

Fall Hoophouse Plantings

Little lettuces growing in the
coldframes.

It’s getting to be that time of year when summer veggies in the field start to die out, but fall greens like the kale often last long into the season even out in the field.  With last year’s very mild fall we were harvesting the last of the kale well up into December!  However, eventually the temperatures dip down and then we run out of even the hardiest greens as they get killed or damaged in the winter.  To keep our family supplied with greens, supply our restaurants and stores, and ensure that we have some greens for the last CSA drop-off we start planting into our hoophouses (also called coldframes or high tunnels) and greenhouse.  We start planting in August after our early zucchini and cucumber plants are spent for the season.  These new plants are mostly chard and kale that we transplant into a black plastic mulch in the hoophouses with drip irrigation. As we go later into the fall these plants flourish, becoming very tall with the higher temperatures in the hoophouses.   Then later in September and October we transplant lettuces and seed spinach as well.  These lettuce transplants will usually be harvested in November and the protection in the hoophouses not only protects them from wind and low temps but also from disease that is usually an issue on lettuces in the field in October and November.  The spinach is seeded after the tomatoes are taken out of the houses, and these spinach plants will not only give us some later December spinach but also will overwinter in the greenhouse to give us some really awesome spinach starting in March of the next season.  We usually have a second covering over the spinach to get it growing as early in the spring as possible.  These cold hardy crops all freeze during the winter since we do not provide supplemental heat in the hoophouses, but they continue to survive and thrive under the protection of the tunnel.  This is because for spinach and kale it is less about the low temperatures and more about how much they get moved around while frozen.  This movement (usually from the wind) while frozen is what causes most of the damage for these hardy crops.  Also, the wind easily wicks away moisture from the frozen cells of the plant, drying it out beyond repair in the field.  Our four unheated hoophouses have provided us with a lot of great greens over the last few years, and the fact that this can be done using just the energy from the sun is great.  This allows us to have fresh greens earlier and later than would otherwise grow in our climate.  We hope you enjoy the fall bounty that is to come!

Recipes

Carrots are one of those things that most people know and love, but just in case you are looking to try a new way with an old favorite, here are 20 Carrot Recipes from Rachael Ray!