CSA Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden! This box has tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cukes, eggplant, onions, broccoli and kale, melon, grapes, lettuce, salad mix, basil, parsley, and the first potatoes.

Field Notes.  Last Thursday was the harvest moon.  Often there is a killing frost around the harvest moon, but so far we have only been nipped in high spots in the field.  This means we still have summer crops like zucchini.  Ken has begun harvesting winter squash.  Soon there will be acorn squash in the boxes.  We welcome any feedback about your preferences - receive summer vegetables or move on to fall ones.

Ken is clearing space to plant green manures like rye and winter wheat.  He wants to get them established before real cold sets in so the soil is not blown or washed away if we do not get snow cover.  Naked soil can not only blow or wash away, it is more susceptible to temperature extremes - the microbial life heads deeper or dies.  

Ken is also looking at scheduling "the big dig" when the potatoes come out of the ground.  Then more green manures will be planted.  He is also looking at the crops like beets, carrots, rutabagas and celery root that I will be burying in sand in the root cellar for winter.  

With the equinox, days have gone from being equal to night, to shorter days and longer nights.  There is much to do!

From the Kitchen.  Saturday I was cooking down some tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and onions for a spaghetti sauce that night.  Ken came in with tomatoes he had harvested and pointed out that the song homegrown tomatoes was playing.  We had a good laugh. 
Ken has been creating various lacto - fermented recipes.  Fermentation has returned to popularity with Michael Pollan's new book.  He interviewed a well known fermentation expert and writer Felix Sandor Katz.  When one makes fermented vegetables like sauerkraut, probiotics are created in the process and if kept in a refrigerator and not canned, the vitamin C in the vegetables is also preserved.

Consider making some sauerkraut or other combination of vegetables.  It is a fun project, and the results are tasty and healthy.  For the less adventurous or time strapped, we also sell sauerkraut and many combinations of other vegetables.
'Til Next Week, 
Judith