Fall is officially here, we've passed the equinox which means hours of dark are beginning to surpass hours of light. However, September has felt a bit like an extra month of August with some hot days still to come. We've been lucky so far, with lots of dry weather for our bed prep and warm weather for our fall crops.
There are THREE WEEKS left of our farm share after this week. October the 24th/26th is the final pick up - 17th/19th if you are a biweekly member picking up this week. It's been a wild ride.
Thanksgiving is coming soon! Biweekly members picking up this week might want to stock up now for Thanksgiving meals. We will be selling extra at the farm pickups next week as well, for anyone wanting to get extra produce for the holiday.
NEW items are still coming up in our field, with the harvest a gift that keeps on giving.
This week, we have Watermelon Radishes. These are classified as winter radishes because they are actually a storage crop, meaning they will last through the winter. In these days of massively accessible year-round food that's doesn't seem like a big deal, but if we didn't have food transported from all over the world we would be relying on such crops to get us through the winter. Food for thought, eh? Well, you might not be relying on these radishes to feed yourself throughout the winter, but they are drop-dead gorgeous and they are so excellent thinly sliced on salads, or in wedges for a veggie plate, or roasted. My favourite watermelon radish salad: shaved watermelon radish, oranges, toasted walnuts, pomegranates + white balsamic, sea salt, red onion vinaigrette. Give 'er a try!
BROCCOLI! We have some actually really nice heads of broccoli this time around which makes us pretty happy since they're hard to grow. We don't have enough for everyone but it will be available for the next couple weeks.
DELICATA SQUASH! This lesser-known winter squash is one of my favourites. It's known as the "sweet potato" squash because it is so sweet. You can eat the skin too! We like to slice it in rounds and roast it in the oven. I often use it as a sweet potato substitute in recipes.
We've also got beans (a new crop, so extra-nice), potatoes, red cabbage, spring onions, garlic, hakurei turnip (eat it raw or cook it like a turnip, try it for Thanksgiving!), kale, onions, bok choy, a few carrots (more to come for the last three weeks), kohlrabi, onions, lettuce, and tomatoes (our longest tomato season yet!).
There are lots of items available this week, so lots of opportunities to swap things in and out of your shares! The list of available swapping items might change throughout the customization period. You have til 10pm on Tuesday to swap, so sometimes it's worth looking a few times during that period as new items might come available to swap as people move things in and out of their shares.
Also, we are SUPER excited for our fall pea crop, which should be ready next week! What a treat.
See you all soon, and happy eating.
- Farmer Kim
