Hot peppers are starting to ripen up - coming soon for all you heat lovers. We make a legendary hot sauce - fermented with a medley of our hot peppers and a generous hit of garlic, it has become a staple in many CSA member's kitchens for many years. Yesterday we started the first batch of hot sauce so that you will be able to order yours before the end of the CSA season. Pictured here is our smoker loaded up - 7 hours of alderwood smoking imparts an amazing flavour to our smoked hot sauce batch.
This is probably our last week for cucumbers and possibly for zucchini, but there are other important members of the "cucurbitaceae" family coming up - winter squash. Spaghetti, delicata, acorn, kabocha, butternut, pie pumpkins OH MY! This years squash crop looks really great so the last few weeks of our season will feature squash. One of the great things about winter squash is how well they keep - weeks or even months at room temperature, so don't panic if you get behind on eating squash. You've got plenty of time for cozy winter soups or pumpkin pie.
Normally at this time of the year we are gearing up for our annual Harvest Celebration. It is the biggest event of the year at A Rocha - usually attracting over 500 visitors. Sadly, the event will have to take a year off. In lieu of a harvest celebration we'll be having a Harvest Volunteer Day on Saturday, October 3rd. We'll have 3 shifts of 1.5 hours each throughout the day with room for up to 30 people to sign up for each slot. This will be an active "get your hands dirty" day - safe, physically distant harvesting of squash and cleaning up the field. If you'd like to join us, you can register here!
We have meat for you to order. Extras available include sausages and bacon from Gelderman's - fantastic premium non-medicated pork from this small Abbotsford family farm. We also have our own stewing hens from last year's hen flock - best for long-simmered soup stocks. They will be packed in your bin frozen, but if you do order meat please be prompt in picking up your box so that your order doesn't thaw fully before you have a chance to get it in your fridge.
Apples are coming soon! I'll be sending a separate email with all the details on apple orders. Stay tuned.
