Happy Fall!
Our night temperatures got chilly pretty quickly. Sunday night it was 46 degrees on the farm. For most crops that's not too cold, The spinach, lettuce and greens love it, but for winter squash it can be an issue. Night temperatures below 50 degrees can cause cumulative damage that will lead to issues in storing winter squash. They will rot much faster in storage. We often don't store our squash for too long, but you may want to!
We started squash harvest 2 weeks ago but not all the squash seemed quite ready. We are finishing today with the butternut, before the rain, except for our last crop which was put in late. Aside from the on slaught of cucumber beetles (who love squash plants) on our squash transplants our biggest issue this year was a family or 2 of mice who consistently ate our just about to germinate squash seeds. They would systematically dig in each cell in every tray and eat the seeds. All the ways that worked in the past to keep them out didn't work this year. So we had a really late last planting of 'dumpling' squash, an Oak Spring favorite. Some Septembers are so warm that it often isn't an issue. We will cover these with row cover and see how they fare.
The greens are coming in! Pictured above is our signature spicy salad mix blend with 4 varieties of red & green mustards and tatsoi. The arugula this week will be first cut and perfectly sized too.
We harvested the last of the potatoes this week. Now we can get cover crops of winter wheat, oats, forage radish, winter peas and rye on the potato fields. Unfortunately the blue potatoes didn't do so well. I try and try but the Purple Majesty and All Blue haven't been prolific. The French fingerlings and and Red Norlands have done quite well this year.
Bread this week will be the large Country Sourdough. How did you like the turmeric? It is a favorite of mine.
Cheese this week will be Colby or Garlic and Chive.
Fruit this week-Gala APPLES from Shaw Orchard. Fruit share will end next week.
With much deliberation and discussion and in keeping with our annual tradition we are having a gathering October 17th, . Our Chili Party is a shared food/pot luck event for CSA members and staff showcasing the season's favorite local fare & our favorite cool weather dishes. There will be a farm tour at 3pm. I will set up tables and chairs so folks can social distance. If you are not comfortable sharing food (we get it), come just for the tour or a self guided one. The Whiskey Feathers will play live music. Bring chairs, a blanket and your own picnic if you want. We will limit attendance so please let Lisa know if you plan to attend. Come for as long or short a visit as you like. We would love to see you-this is for you!
Thank you for your belief and support of the local food system. We at Oak Spring are honored and humbled by your faith and trust in us. It is our mission to bring you the cleanest, safest, freshest, most nutritious food we can. We truly believe it is and will never stop working to improve the quality, variety and flavor of all the crops we grow.
