The CSA season has gone by in a flash, and here we are at week #16 already. That means that once this week is past, there will only be 2 more pick ups for the regular CSA season (many of you will only have one more if your every other week schedule hasn't been changed). We often have produce beyond the CSA season; so if we're able to, we'll continue doing Farm Stand boxes and pop-up markets. But the weather around here is very unpredictable and no growing season comes with a guarantee. In the meantime, we're still having lots of great summer produce as well as fall produce which makes for a very bountiful harvest. So enjoy the variety while we can still put it out there!
We're planting more salad mix right now, and looking ahead to further planting next week as well as digging the last of our potatoes. It seems counterproductive, but in the Fall, we actually condense our planting schedule so instead of planting successions a week apart, we plant them 4 days apart. This compensates for the waning daily dose of sunshine, so that by the time those crops are harvestable, they should be closer to a week a part. The key is to get all of the planting done early enough that those crops are ABLE to become harvestable. Too late and all that effort is wasted because the crops don't have enough light and warm-ish temps to put on enough growth to reach a marketable size before winter takes them out. We're doing better than we ever have in terms of getting the planting timing right, so we're hoping for the least wasted fall-planting effort that we can get!
Be sure to customize your box for next week (or to purchase a one-time Farm Stand box), or don't! Some people love the surprise of finding out what they get when they pick up. This week, we have lots of great items from other local producers, including:
- Bread and Bagels from The Gracious Table
- Farm Fresh Eggs from the Miller Farm
- Honey from McLaury Apiaries
- Fresh-pressed apple cider and apple butter, from Farm to Market Store, made right here in Libby!
- Locally Raised Breakfast sausage (delicious!!), Hot Italian sausage (also very tasty!), ground pork sausage and pork chops from Double N Farms
Cheers, Rudy & Bonnie
Pic above is a proof-of-life for our end of season carrots that everybody looks forward to. We'll dig and top a huge amount of carrots at the end of the season and package them in 5lb. bags. They are wonderful storage carrots that are fresh and crunchy well into the winter and dare we even say Spring for some folks. They're not ready yet, but they're sizing up and looking great!
