10.1.21 Farm Happening

It's the first weekend of October, and you know what that means around here?  Applefest!  If you aren't planning to come over and take it all in firsthand, or you just don't want the A-fest vibes to stop, don't worry - we've got you covered.  You can add an Applefest Box to your CSA delivery for the next 3 weeks!  Box prices start at $65 and include a selection of everything Applefest has to offer - apples, pie, jam, granola, even Bayfield fish, and lots more - but without the crowds and potential rainy October weather.

The warm dry weather this past week was absolutely perfect for finishing up our winter squash harvest!  When our squash is mature and ready for harvest, we cut the fruits from the vines and like to windrow them in the field to finish curing outdoors if the weather is nice.  If the weather is cold and wet, we have to gather them up and let them finish curing down in storage, but they seem to store better if they can have a week in the sun before we gather them up.  Below you can see some kabocha squash all lined up on the ground since last week, now ready for harvest.

We planted a little bit more squash this year than last year (perhaps you remember the rodents that chowed the squash seeds right after we planted them in the greenhouse this spring?) Even after we replanted and got the new transplants in the ground, were still a little worried that with the drought we'd come up with a short harvest.  Well, good news - despite the challenges we faced, we ended up meeting our harvest goals, and we're grateful for that.

One standout variety this year was Sweet Mama, a dark green-grey kabocha squash that wowed us last year in our trials.  It's dry, sweet flesh is delicious, and it keeps like a champ well into winter.  This year, it was our best producing squash.  Atta gal, Sweet Mama!

Another squash that impressed us this year was a variety of acorn recommended by one of long time CSA members called Starry Night.  Another good storage squash, it has really pretty dark and light patterns on the outside skin, with tender sweet flesh inside.  If you get acorn squash this week in your CSA box, it'll be Starry Night - let us know what you think of it.

With their thin skin, the butternut squash always seem prone to some kind of trouble.  A few years ago, we lost thousands of pounds of butternut to a short hail storm in August.  The squash still matured fine, but when it was ready to harvest, we noticed nearly every squash had little dings in it from the few minutes of hail.  The damaged tissue of the squash was already starting to get little rotten spots in Sept when we came through to harvest, and we knew it wouldn't hold up in storage.  Sadly, in these situations, the squash just gets plowed back into the field the following spring, and we lick our wounds, hoping for better weather next season. 

This year, we missed (narrowly!) any hail storms, but the critters were busy scouting the fields, and of course the thin skinned butternuts are the easiest squash to nibble on.  About half of our buttternut harvest has some critter damage, most of it just small dings.  Some fruits have a strange healed up crease in them, and I think it was caused by uneven moisture during the growing season.  They were so dry that when it DID rain, they soaked it up too fast and split, but managed to heal the split during the summer. 

Butternut squash is so good, and such a favorite of so many folks, that we decided to harvest the dinged up fruits and offer them as *slightly damaged* butternut squash at a sale price while they last, in the hopes that at least some of them can be enjoyed this fall.  They definitely won't store through the fall to winter, so if you are looking for squash to put in the pantry for later, these are not for you.  We'll have some "number 1" butternuts available as well this fall, so if you are hesitant about getting an imperfect squash in your box, stick with the regular butternuts. 

However, if you are planning to eat it in the next week or so, the dinged up butternut will be fine to add to your box.  Most of the damage is in the skin that will be peeled off anyway, and after peeling you will hardly notice where the ding was.  They'll still be perfect for soups, roasting, and freezing for use later this winter.  Oh the joys of growing butternut...!

We also have a few bright orange decorative "warty" squash that we're offering for sale this fall if you like to decorate and get in the Autumn spirit.  You can see what those look like in the pic above. 

Our final plantings of broccoli and cauliflower are still going strong, and some of the broccoli heads are downright massive this fall!  I hope we'll be able to fit them in bags for your CSA boxes next week.  Most of our colored cauliflower is finished now, but one white variety called "Twister" is making some beautiful heads right now.  The tight wrapper leaves help protect the curd of the cauliflower, and they twist around the head really nicely.  Cauliflower lovers, now is the time to get the best of the season!

We had some roasted cauliflower for dinner last night, and it hit the spot!  Still not sure the best way to eat cauliflower?  Roasting is IT!  Chop the head up into bite sized pieces and place on a sheet pan.  Heat the oven up to 425.  Drizzle the cauliflower in olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, roast 10 minutes until starting to brown up a little, then stir the pan and roast until the other side of the cauli is browning as well.  

Now that we're finished with the squash harvest, we will be turning our focus towards the remaining 3 big storage crops - cabbage, carrots, and beets.  October is a non-stop rush here at the farm getting all the storage crops tucked away for winter. 

These warm, sunny days in the fall sure do wonders for keeping our morale high.  Who knows when the weather will change and we'll be harvesting in snow...  In the meantime, I hope you can get out and enjoy this beautiful fall season. 

Last weekend, our family went canoeing on the beautiful Brule River here in Northern WI, and ended our paddle at the mouth of the river where it flows into Lake Superior.  We even brought the puppy Hobbes along in one of the canoes, and he loved it!  It was a spectacular day, and we really enjoyed the sunshine and muted fall colors.  Here's a pic of my canoe partners, our son Danny and puppy Hobbes, as we reached the mouth of the river.  We sure do live in a magical place.

That's it for this week.  Have a great weekend, and thanks so much for making us YOUR farmers!

In community, 

Farmer Chris

Great Oak Farm

PS - Our spinach labels are IN, and we really like 'em!