Important announcement!!! This week only we will be closing the share customization period and the Webstore at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
If you don't usually read these emails, you can stop here. :-)
We are 2/3 through the season, with 16 of our 24 weeks completed. We have had a few patchy frosts that zapped our more delicate plants like basil. But we still have some tomatoes and peppers, and our greens are under cover, so they are safe for now.
Farm News
Glacial Till Farm
The eggplant above from Glacial Till Farm must have been telling lies in the field with his Pinocchio nose. Below, Althea and Declan took initiative and picked some vegetables for dinner!
Grateful Life Farm
Cold temperatures are predicted for the next few nights, likely bringing the first frost of the season and I find myself feeling melancholy. This season, our seventh of farming, we’ve experienced the most challenging weather with little rain, late frosts in the spring and now seemingly a very early first fall frost. It feels too soon to say goodbye to the smiling faces of my sunflowers, the vibrant zinnias with their little yellow pinwheels in the centers, the delicate cosmos with her feathery foliage, and my fiery red and orange marigolds carpeting the flower beds. But I remind myself we are not guaranteed 164 frost-free days, nor anything else. So I will be grateful for our high tunnel as I close it up tight tonight and spread floating row cover over my tender plants. I will strive to be grateful for all the phases of life, our lives and the lives of all the organisms, too numerous to count, that sustain us.
Yesterday I heard a beautiful sound that I’ve been waiting for since I set fertile eggs in the incubator in April – a rooster’s crow! Look at this gorgeous pair!!
The sweet little Partridge Chantecler chicks that hatched in May are almost grown now. The females should start to lay in a few more weeks, and it is time for me to choose which of the males to keep and which to harvest. Our flock is too small for seven males and I am planning to keep two.
This week we also finally finished one of our new chicken tractors. We began them earlier this season, but were delayed by a shortage of welded wire. I like that I can stand up in these and they are relatively fast to move each day.
One dish that I like to make when red cabbage is in CSA Shares is Tassajara Warm Red Cabbage Salad. It's both sweet and savory, and it adds bright color to your plate.
Another great fall salad is Warm Winter Kale and Delicata Salad. It's hearty enough for a vegan main dish, but it also is a great complement for chicken or other meats.
Enjoy the final blast of warmth this weekend before chilly October sweeps in.
On behalf of your NWPA Growers farmers,
Amy Philson
