The weeks are flying by this month. We’re delivering week number 16 of our CSA and there are only four farmers markets left for the outdoor season before we head indoors for our first winter market Saturday, November 12th. We’ll also be attending the 3rd Annual German Settlement Christmas event hosted at Koepsel’s Farm Market indoors from Friday to Sunday, November 25, 26 and 27. We’ll be bringing produce at least one of the days and Ally will bring her homemade dried flower wreaths and herbal teas from Sacred Blossom farm the other two days. Stay tuned for the rest of the winter market dates.
Oats coming up in the foreground, carrots, swiss chard, and onions.
The cover crop is coming up beautifully. We pulled the last of the scarlet queen turnips and seeded the cover crop in those beds the same day. We pulled out the cherry tomatoes, one row of cucumbers and picnic peppers this week to make room for spinach, lettuce, and radishes in the tunnels. But summer isn’t over just yet because our field tomatoes are just starting to ripen! In fact, we harvested so many Amish paste tomatoes this week our CSA members will be getting some too.
Cucumber vine from the tunnel
Last of the tomatoes and basil with new plantings of lettuce and radishes
We started harvesting the largest of the storage kohlrabi this week for the last couple of CSA bags and the fall broccoli is ready! We’ll also have apples pretty soon from our little orchard of Honey Crisp and MacIntosh for the CSA and for market customers.
Amish paste tomatoes are weighing down our trellis
Apples are coming soon
In the CSA this week:
Head lettuce
Napa (chinese) cabbage*
Scarlet queen turnips*
Beets
Amish paste tomatoes*
Broccoli
Tatsoi*
Celery
Fresh onion
Garlic
*Tatsoi is an asian green sort of like bok choi. It will be great steam wilted on top of some rice with your broccoli, onions and cabbage.
*Scarlet queen turnips are similar to the hakurei turnips. You can eat them raw with dip. We eat them sliced up and cooked with potatoes and olive oil. They cook about the same amount of time as potatoes and add a pretty pink color.
*Napa cabbage is a storage cabbage so you can peel a few leaves off at a time to chop up and cook. They will store for a long time in your crisper drawer. Commonly found in asian stir fry and egg rolls.
*Paste tomatoes can be made into sauce for pasta or pizza or sliced fresh for sandwiches. They have a nice meaty texture. If yours look a bit orange set them on a window sill in the sun to ripen a few days.