Thanks to everyone who came by Ag Day to visit us, as well as the other farms in town! It was a beautiful day and the market was well-attended. Unsurprisingly, Catherine’s flower arrangements were the star of the show! We’ll continue to have some of those beautiful flower arrangements in the farm stand this week as well as more dahlias! The PYO Field continues produce some beautiful blooms, but production is slowing down as days shorten and nights get cooler. Now is a great time to enjoy the flower field.
With a forecast of heavy rains Saturday night, after Ag Day we tried to get as much delicata squash out of the field as possible. The harvest was so good that we didn’t quite make it, as we were chased out of the field by an approaching ominous thunder storm! There was no time to get in cover crop seed before the rains, so Monday afternoon we tried to put down as much seed as possible before the ground dries out again (it doesn’t take long in our sandy soils). It was a nice refreshing change on Monday to not be driving the tractor through a dust cloud!
In the CSA this week:
Delicata - These colorful squash have a skin is thin and edible so they are easy to prepare and they have a sweet, slightly nutty flavor.
Carrots - The fall planted carrots are finally ready and they are worth the wait!
Baby Bok Choi - Great for stir fries and soups. We’ll have the full-sized variety later this fall.
Scallions
Garlic - This garlic is cured so will keep for months in a dark dry place.
Onion- yellow storage
Green and purple peppers
Tomatoes - Both slicing and heirloom varieties.
Kale
Lettuce
Endive - The endive variety we grow has curlier leaves than Belgian endive and we don’t blanche the heads, so they actually look much more like frisee.
Arugula or Mustard
Radishes - Red round radishes.
CSA Pick-Your-Own:
Sunflowers - Every year we do a large planting of sunflowers to have ready for Ag Day, but this year they bloomed about 2 days too late, so we’ll have plenty in the CSA this week!
Cherry Tomatoes
Hot peppers - choose from Jalapeño, Aji Rico, Cayenne, Hungarian hot wax and Fresno peppers. The cayenne and Hungarian hot wax are at the back of the hot pepper bed and there are lots to choose from!
Herbs: parsley, cilantro, dill flowers, sage, thyme, mint, chives and basil.
In addition, Regular memberships may choose 2 of the following, and Small memberships may choose 1 of the following:
Shishito peppers
Husk cherries - These small fruit in papery husks are related to tomatoes and tomatillos and have a somewhat tropical flavor.
Tomatillos - They should be picked when the fruit fills our the green husk around it.
Green beans
In the farm store:
Farm store hours are Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. We plan to have:
The following items that are also in the CSA: delicata, carots, baby bok choi, scallions, garlic, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, endive, arugula, mustard greens, kale, radishes, herbs, cherry tomatoes, husk cherries, hot peppers and tomatillos.
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Colored peppers
Beets
Kabocha squash
Flowers - Wrapped mixed bouquets
Dahlias - We’ll still have some mini bouquets in jars, but we also now have taller stems for wrapped bouquets!
Raspberries - From Silferleaf Farm just down the road from us! We don’t usually have them every day this week, but we take them whenever we can get them! Certified Organic.
Peaches - From Carver Hill in Stow, MA (not organic). This is the last week, and they we only be available at the beginning of the week. They can keep refrigerated for a week and taken out to soften on your counter a day or two before you want to eat them.
Apples - From Carver Hill in Stow, MA (not organic). McIntosh and Cortland varieties starting on Wednesday.
Sweet corn from Verrill Farm (not organic)
Mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm - Certified Organic.
Raspberry Jam and Raspberry Vinegar Infusion - Both from Silferleaf. Certified Organic.
Double B Honey - From hives on the property! Not certified organic
Applesauce from Long Run Produce in Boxborough, MA. Certified Organic.
Baer’s Best Beans: 1 pound bags. Grown in South Berwick, Maine. Certified Organic varieties available include: Black Turtle, Italian Cranberry and Light Red Kidney. Not organic: bumblebee, marfax, and flageolet.