Happy almost equinox everyone! What a fall we are having. Caleb and I are playing catch-up after going down to bare-minimum must-do tasks last week in the smoke, and I must say it's a bit fun, albeit overwhelming. Today we harvested what winter squash there was and brought it into our propagation hoop house to ripen and cure. Squashed will begin going into boxes in a couple weeks. (Can you believe there are only 5 weeks left of CSA?!).
We also sowed 14 beds of Rye and Austrian Field Peas as a winter cover crop putting our total to date at about 30 beds. These crops literally cover the soil and hold it in place with roots over the winter so that our hard earned topsoil doesn't blow away and also produce organic matter and fixed nitrogen that we'll incorporate into our soil come spring. I also sowed the last flight of mesclun, arugula and radishes in the field for the season!
In addition, last week we got our last onions in to cure (dry), and this week we will transplant the last three beds of baby lettuce into the field, as well as a bed of lettuce and baby pac choi into a hoop house bed that was cherry tomatoes until Saturday when Caleb tore them out and prepared the bed for planting. The onions and lettuce starts are pictured above. This hoop house has a heater, and we'll be keeping it just above freezing so we can harvest baby lettuce all the way through mid-December this year.
We've got a great box for you this week including sweet fall salad turnips (have you tried them roasted?!), some spice (chilies and poblanos), some of the last cucumber crunch of the season; and extra green, happy-it's-not-so-hot-anymore cilantro-- as well as some good stand-bys! Oh... and strawberries make a reappearance, enjoy!
All the best!
Ashley and Caleb
