CSA Pick up Nov. 17, 2011

This is the last pick up of the 2011 Season. There are a lot of lettuce and greens, Kale and chard. The Brussels Sprouts while small are good because they have had a frost on them which makes them sweeter. The same is true for the carrots in sweetness. The snowstorm knocked over the Brussels sprouts so I had to stake them up i think the snow storm also slowed down their growth. There will be a little celery in the pick up it seems to have rejuvenated from the summer insects so there will be a little stalk for you to put in your stuffing of your bird for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, the sweet potatoes suffered too much from the ground hog who ate all their leaves off while also eating the Broccoli this summer and even though they tried to come back there was not enough growing season for them to make big enough tubers :( .
The gardens are almost ready for winter the oats cover crop has grown nicely and the landscapers are delivering chopped leaves to cover the beds that held the late season plants. The garlic is all planted and ready to start sprouting next spring. We are also getting contracts for our NRCS grant approved High Tunnel and hope to get it installed before the snow flies again. We will see. This will give us a jump on the 2012 spring growing season and also help us extend our growing season into the fall. I am putting together information about or plans for the next year and hope to be able to give it to you when you come for pick up tomorrow.

NOTE: I have posted 2 new recipes on the blog one is for preparing Horseradish and the other is a delicious recipe for Honey Mustard Brussels Sprouts.

Looking forward to seeing you.

Nancy

Weather and the Farm

WOW! it has been a long time since I wrote on the blog mainly because we have been through a winter storm starting Saturday night October 29th that blanketed the earth with over 7" of snow. The poor trees, shrubs, and plants were so waited down with Ice and snow mainly because they still had all their leaves on them that a lot of trees, big branches and limbs were touching the ground if not uprooted or broken off. Of course this led to massive power outages as well and we were with out power for 8 long days. At first if was fun being part of what was it like in the olden days cooking on our wood burning stove. Using my mothers cast iron chicken fryer and learning how to regulate the wood burning stove to keep it stews cooking and not burning but then the excitement wore off and we learned to cope. Thank goodness we had a generator so in the morning we could make coffee, cook eggs on the grill then in the evening have light and water to see and brush our teeth before going to bed. The other clincher was the Internet, cable and phone lines were also out and we did not get service until yesterday Tuesday Nov 8th at 5:00pm. So that is why you have not heard from me in a long long time.
The gardens survived as best they could. The lettuce, Kale, Chard, Brussels Sprouts. Greens, carrots and celery are all OK an hopefully will be in good shape for the last CSA Pick up on Thursday Nov. 17th.
As life on the farm continues now the hawks are attacking our meat birds. With only one and a half weeks to go before processing they have attacked and killed 5 birds. Soooo we are scrambling to get them under more permanent cover so we don't loose any more. It is a sad thing but part of farm life.
I will confirm the CSA pick up veggies next week.
Enjoy the beautiful fall weather now that we have had a taste of winter.

Nancy