Pic above is Bonnie's favorite dahlia - It's called Gitt's Crazy, and it's got an amazing color spectrum from light yellows all the way to dark reds. Typically, we only get to enjoy this particular dahlia for a short time, it generally is one of the last ones to bloom, and even then it starts pretty slow, once it begins blooming we're typically already looking Fall in the face so it might not be that long before the dahlias get frosted and the show is over. So far so good this year though, the dahlias are going strong and we've seen more of these Crazies than in the previous few years combined.
We're wrapping up our planting in the next couple of weeks, ending the season with greens and direct seeded crops in the tunnels. Some of these late seeded crops will be harvested this year, but some of them (namely spinach) we're just trying to get established so that they can basically hibernate for the winter and have an early pulse of growth in the Spring (March/April). We'll be shifting our planting time to bed prep for Winter and then Spring. Some areas already have cover crops growing on them, some will be composted, some will have large plastic tarps covering them for the winter (these are typically our earliest blocks to plant next year), and some will get a nice mulch covering of straw. We've learned over the years that the more work we can do in the Fall to prepare for Spring, the better off we'll be...Spring holds it's own long list of tasks already!
Is this the last official CSA pick up of the season? YES! Does that mean this is the last Hoot Owl email you'll be getting? NO! We'll be in touch to let you know where we'll be and how you can continue getting our produce until the bitter end of the season (i.e. Farm Stand boxes, pop-up markets, etc). So in a nutshell, don't forget your pick up this week, but you won't BE ABLE to forget us because we'll still be around and sending you emails for a while yet!
We look forward to seeing you all soon, and THANK YOU so much for being CSA members this season. Our CSA is a huge part of our farm and we simply wouldn't be in business if it weren't for all of your support!
Cheers, Bonnie & Rudy
PS. Don't forget to MARK YOUR CALANDERS -- for October 3rd! We'll be having our Stock Up Sale and Pumpkin-Palooza out at the farm from 12-6 (yes, the hours have expanded!). The main intent here is threefold... 1) to get folks out to visit the farm and see where and how we operate, 2) to sell some produce because the market will have just ended and we're sure to have lots of produce still! A main focus of this produce will be 'keeper' crops that you can load up on and eat throughout the Fall and Winter (hence 'stock up'), and 3) to break into the pumpkin patch - we've barely scratched the surface of our pumpkins and want to offer the opportunity to folks to come out and pick their own pumpkin out of the field (and carry it themselves, of course, lol!), and a bonus 4) to have a good time visiting with our CSA members, customers and friends, we hope it will be a nice day with plenty of good cheer.
