Just like that, we've come to the end of September!
Although fall signifies a lot of endings, it carries an infectious energy. Everything around us is preparing for the winter ahead, whether that's gathering food, making ready to fly south, or setting seed. We feel it too - although our bodies are tired, our minds are buzzing with plans and there's still plenty to do before the snow comes.
We've rented out the 10 acre field on the other side of our driveway to a local organic dairy operation. They're going to be planting some organic cash crops there next season. We kept 2 acres of it for ourselves, which is even more then we have in our current market garden area! We're seeding it with a rye cover crop for the winter. This area will allow us to plant more squash, potatoes, melons, corn - crops that take up a lot of room. And we plan on establishing a rhubarb and asparagus patch there too.
After a week of warmth and sunshine it looks like rain and cooler night temperatures are coming. It's amazing to see our tomatoes still producing (although slowing down significantly), and our pepper plants looking strong and healthy in the greenhouse.
Our peppers are finally looking great, but with only 3 weeks left (after this week) of the Farm Share, we're not sure they'll ripen much more before the end. So, this week we have lots of peppers available, mostly green but some are blush.
We're digging into our squash stash this week as well. One squash you might not be familiar with is called delicata. This is a personal favourite of mine! It's so sweet, it's been dubbed the "sweet potato" squash. And, in fact, I do substitute it for sweet potato in recipes. The skin is edible as well so you don't have to peel it. I like to slice it in 1 inch slices, toss in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast in the oven.
And we celebrate the return of the carrots!
Don't Forget to Customize!
This week we've got lots available, so go check your shares to customize them! Harvie makes your share based on how you've set your preferences. When there are lots of items available, sometimes your share gets filled before the algorithm gets a chance to go through each item. And you might have rated something like beans or tomatoes at a 5, but Harvie doesn't know you had them the last couple of weeks in a row and might feel like trying out delicata squash, even though it's rated lower. This is when customizing becomes important for getting the most out of your share!
What Happens After the Farm Share Ends
Well, first of all, we'll be sad and miss you all!
The last Farm Share pick up is on Thursday, October 22nd. If you're biweekly, your last pick up might be October 15th. You can check this in your Harvie account.
We might still have veggies available after that! If so, we'll be running our Online Farm Stand for placing orders. You'll be able to create one-time shares when you want to order veggies and pick them up at the farm like usual.
Our 2021 shares will open up for sign up again in early January. As a member, you'll have the first chance to sign up before we open it up to non-members. If you've selected auto-renew on your Harvie account (check this out under your settings in your account), then you'll be signed up again without having to do anything. But you'll receive plenty of notification before that happens, with lots of opportunity to opt out or change your share size, pick up locations, payment plan, etc.
After our current members get the chance to sign up, then we'll open up our shares to new folks.
Baby Update
Nothing as of Monday at noon ;)
See you Thursday!
Your farmers,
Kim and Alex
