Week 17 - Sept 24-29, 2012

Available for you:

• Gold Potatoes -  1 quart
• Winter Squash - Delicata  2 
• Broccoli - 1 bunch 
• Cucumbers EUROS - 1 + additional field cuke 
• Carrots - 1lb 
• Salad Turnips or radishes w/ greens - 1 bunch 
• Lettuce - 1 head 
• Kale - 1 bunch 
• Tomatoes - 1 
• Herbs - Cilantro or Basil - 1 bunch 

Recipes of the week:

Delicata Made Easy

Smashed Gold Potatoes

Greetings to New and current members!

The Great Harvest continues. We did it!! Thanks to all those who helped with the "Squash Harvest". Pumpkins are also in. We welcome you to walk through the retail greenhouse by the farm stand to watch the dark green pumpkins finish their color changing tricks, as they ripen, they will turn more and more orange as each week passes, and we approach Halloween.

Our next challenge is to harvest the potatoes. This is an amazing process. If you are in the area you should watch "The big Green Machine" as it lifts the potatoes out of the ground with the huge two row harvester. The spuds and soil are lifted up with the digger blade. Soon the excess soil and weeds fall away as they tumble up onto the padded long chains higher and higher until they reach the top of the harvestor where 4 workers quickly sort out the last rocks and weeds before the potatoes ride over on a conveyor belt into the tractor pulled "V" box (shaped like the letter "V", hence the name). The potatoes gently tumble into the wagon until it is filled to the brim. Onward to the barn, they go. The "V" box unloads from the bottom into a potato sorter which sorts them into several standard sizes. "Chefs" are XL and are usually only sold to restaurants, then "A's" the most typical large potatoes for baking, "B's" are a little smaller and most commonly found in your bagged potatoes and then very small "C's" used again by the restaurants for gourmet roasting those delicious little bites {I also love these little ones, just a quick scrubbing and no peeling as they plop into my favorite soups and stews}.

Beware if you grow any plants in the brassica family, such as: broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts, bok choy, broccoli rabb, cabbage and mustard greens. A new enemy has arrived in Vermont. The "Swede midge" which is an invasive insect pest, recently expanding its range and we have found it here. The midge attacks the growing tips of brassica plants. In some regions of Canada damage levels have reached 100%. Although only a few moderately successful tactics are possible for organic production at this time. So until we can organically deter this pest, please cut off the brown scaly spots left behind on your broccoli, which is still fine to eat.

Enjoy your vegetables! 

Anne

Week 16, Sept 18-23, 2012

Available for you:

• Potatoes - 1 quart 
• Broccoli - 1 bunch 
• Cucumbers - 2 
• Carrots - 1lb 
• Salad Turnips or radishes w/ greens - 1 bunch 
• Lettuce - 1 head 
• Chard - 1 bunch 
• Kale - 1 bunch 
• Tomatoes - 2 
• Cilantro - 1 bunch 

deliveries are subject to change

Recipes of the week:

Roasted Turnips with Parmesan

Turnip Greens by Gena (Radish Greens too)

Greetings Members!

The Great Harvest has begun. We are trying to quickly get all the winter squash and pumpkins out of the fields. The goal is to wait for the best sun ripening and still beat the upcoming frost. This is quite a time consuming chore and takes many hands to accomplish. Thanks to a small crew of workers and a few volunteer members, we have been able to attack the job with whole hearted tenacity and endurance. 

We have waited as long as we can for the squash to ripen and now the leaves have died down to show us where all the squashes were hiding. We then go out with our pruners and begin to cut the stems, as short as possible to reduce damage to other squash. The picker then puts the cut squash up out of the ruts and onto the black plastic to dry a little more. Next we travel down the field, with a Watermelon type cardboard bin called a "Gaylord" which sits on a wooden palette on the front of Jay's Bobcat forklift. We begin to stretch over the deep sides to gently place the squashes into the bottom of the bin and work quickly until it is full. All this bending cutting and picking up squash can cause a little achiness in your legs. More Advil. 

Jay supervises from the nearby field as not to get stuck in a rut between rows. He smiles every time we fill a bin and have to begin another. The harvest is looking plentiful. We do have a little more damage than normal from our hungry deer friends who always want to take just one little bite out of the biggest most beautiful squash (must be they ripen first and smell great).  This just means we have a few extra seconds for the food shelf where they can take the time to cut off the bite and salvage the good remaining squash to feed those in need. We then hurry to bring each bin back to the barn before they get wet from an oncoming rain forecast. 

In the barn squash is put into our large heated storage room where it will stay at 50 degrees to cure. When cured the squashes will all be wiped down and packed for shipping and putting into your CSA shares. The squash will usually last until the New Year. Some varieties will last a little longer. Can't wait for squash soup coming soon! 

For now enjoy the new salad turnips -- taste a bit like a mild radish. Don't forget to cook the green tops too! Remember it is the last week to sign-up for fall shares!

Enjoy your vegetables!

Anne

Week 15, Sept 10-16, 2012

We have another big week of organic veggies.  Spinach is new. Fall Broccoli is back. We also have cilantro this week.

Please help us increase our membership and keep our costs down, just tell two friends, advertise at your workplace, or spread the word about how happy you are with us, and thanks for your help!  (Here is a link to the Fall Shares form.)

Available for you:

• Potatoes - 1 quart 
• Broccoli - 1 bunch 
• Cucumbers - 2 
• Carrots - 1lb 
• Squash - Zucchini mix - 1 lb 
• Beans - Colored Mix - 1 quart 
• Lettuce - 1 head 
• Spinach - 1/2 lb 
• Kale - 1 bunch 
• Tomatoes - 2 small/med 
• Cilantro - 1 bunch 

deliveries are subject to change

Recipe of the week:

Lasagna for a crowd

If you are stuck for a recipe try www.epicurious.com then scroll down to list the ingredients you would like to use and it will find you a bunch of recipes free.or also at www.recipes.com does the same thing also free.

Greetings Members! 

We are sorry to tell you that we had to cancel this year's organic festival due to circumstances out of our control, We are already making preparations for next year's festival.
We had a few mixed potatoes last week! Some of you received the red skins with white flesh and others are referred to as red reds. This variety is called "cranberry". The skins are red and the insides are more of a pink shade. Fall season brings all the colors for you to try. Red, Gold, Blues, Red/Reds, Russets and the Fabulous Fingerlings. The welder spent a 10 hour day here on Sunday. We had to replace a badly needed piece of steel, creating the digger blade, on our potato harvester. We are now ready for digging spuds.

We have Broccoli again this week, so don't forget to soak it in salted water (1/2 cup for 2 gallons) for 10 minutes, just in case there is an inch worm hiding inside (although, not likely, as the cabbage moths have only had mild pressure to control this year). This is the last week for our wonderful beans, so enjoy, and make a batch of dilly beans for storing this winter. We do not have another flush of tomatoes coming but if anyone wants to order organic tomatoes to put up sauce or salsa (with this week's cilantro) just give me a call. The price changes weekly and it seems to be around $3.00/lb from our organic deep root friends.

Only 2 weeks left to sign-up for Fall Memberships!

Please tell all your friends about our Fall Membership! Here is a link to the form for you to print out and it is a great way to have them try out our CSA's as it is only 8 weeks long.

Start Sept 24th and are available in our 3 size packages:  

• Regular (receives all items listed weekly) $200.00 
• Single (receives 6 items from list) $136.00 
• Senior (receives 5 items from list) $112.00 

Thanks. Enjoy your vegetables!

 Anne

Week 14, Sept 4-8, 2012

Available for you:

• Watermelon - 1 
• Potatoes - 1 quart 
• Cucumbers - 2 
• Carrots - 1lb Singles - 2lbs regular 
• Squash - Summer/Zucchini mix - 1 lb 
• Beans - Colored Mix - 1 quart 
• Lettuce - 1 head 
• Kale - 1 bunch 
• Tomatoes - 1 
• Basil - 1 bunch 

deliveries are subject to change

Recipes of the week:

Blue Cheese - Walnut Green Beans

Zucchini Salad with Shaved Parmesan

Greetings Members!

We are sorry to tell you that we had to cancel this year's organic festival due to circumstances out of our control, We are already making preparations for next year's festival.

As we traveled through the notch, this past weekend, I noticed the very first of the trees changing their colors. This is always a reminder of our ever changing seasons in Vermont. We are getting prepared and looking for volunteers or groups to help us bring in the harvest. If you know of any groups, 4-H, scouts, or families, including our CSA members that would like to bring their family over for a few hours of scooping squash out of the fields please let us know and we will be glad to help you enjoy some light exercise on a brisk fall afternoon before the shadows of frost get here. Schedule times now on our farm stand sign-up sheet!

Speaking of Fall . . . . if you have a 16 week share it ends in two weeks!

Please tell all your friends about our Fall Membership! It is a great way to try out CSA's as it is only 8 weeks long. 8 week Fall memberships start Sept 24th and are available in our 3 size packages:

Regular (receives all items listed weekly) $200.00 

Single (receives 6 items from list) $136.00 

Senior (receives 5 items from list) $112.00

Thanks. Enjoy your vegetables!

Anne