We have THREE MORE WEEKS in the Farm Share (including this week)! Final shares for this season are on Wednesday, Nov 20/ Saturday, Nov 23 -- the week BEFORE Thanksgiving.
We are launching rollover renewals for 2025 Farm Shares soon! Our current Farm Share software is going out of business and we're switching to a new software. Please check your email for a comprehensive message about how to secure a share for 2025.
A year in the life of our farm has such distinct seasons - not just the weather and the crops but the activities are seasonal. Some of our staff will stay and farm through the winter, while others will move on to other adventures in their lives. Thus, we're now hiring for Farm Crew members that will start farming with us next March. Please spread the word!
It feels like spring on the farm this morning. It's balmy and the birds are singing. But in our fields, fall crops are now growing well!
State of the Farm: See the photo above for one of our cabbage/chard/broccoli fields. For many parts of the country, October has brought drought conditions. However, for us, we can fairly well irrigate this time of year and we'd much prefer to irrigate during moderate temps (such as those this month) than to have our plants experience straight rain and no sunshine for more than two weeks.
We're likely to have the latest frost ever in our farm's 15 year history. (This is not a good thing.) Summer crops are all but done, anyway. We still have tomatoes in one of our greenhouses and they will survive a frost due to the protection of the greenhouse. Fall crops will want cooler temps, the flavor of the fall vegetables improves with a frost, and frost tempers damage from pest and disease. We also hope for a nice, deep freeze each winter to help kill off the pest population. We'll see what this year brings!
Carrots are still looking good! We are harvesting the first of them this week and hope for a significant harvest next week.
We're still planting and we're looking forward to the protection of the greenhouses for our crops as we move toward winter.
Cabbages are growing nicely and we hope you are ready for cabbage recipes!
Need to check on or make changes to your pick up dates? Log in here.
Recipe suggestions:
- Turnip Au Gratin recipe
- Portugese Kale Soup with Turnips (our family favorite!)
- Stuffed Peppers - with cream cheese and Everything But the Bagel Seasoning
- Cilantro Lime Crema Dressing - drizzle it on alllll of our vegetables
- Ginger Miso Scallion Dressing - put it on any combination of vegetables and protein
Bread Share members: You get a SEPARATE email to customize your bread share.
To Customize Your Share:
Each time you are scheduled to have a share, you'll receive an email from us 2 days prior. It should have subject line "Time to Customize Your Share." The software will create a default share for you (based on your indicated preferences and what we have available to harvest) and list those default contents in the email. The email also contains a link saying "Want to make changes to your share or add extras?" Click on that link to customize your share! Customization usually ends at 6am on the day before your pick up day, and sometimes at 5am when our harvest days need to start extra early.
For Pick Up:
- Same for cooler(s) at pick up locations with any cold items that aren't vegetables (eggs, fermented vegetables, etc...See below for more info.)
- Preparation ideas and recipe suggestions are in your email. Also check out our Pinterest Page for lots of recipe ideas, organized by vegetable.
EGGS: Ring-a-Bell Farm in Pamplin offers their eggs for sale through us. Their chickens live on pasture and are fed supplemental non-gmo feed from Sunrise Farms. Their eggs are fabulous and we trust their farming practices completely. You can purchase their eggs in our self-serve FarmStand at our farm and you can order them through the Harvie system "Extras" when they are available.
With blessings on your meals ~
Janet, Dan, and the whole Broadfork crew (Julie, Alisa, Jen, Clara, Tabea, Christina, Jackson, and the farm kids)
