Welcome to Week 9!

It seems crazy that we are almost half way through August already.  We should be in the middle of our tomato harvest, but as you already know, sadly, we are not.  We are now considering our tomatoes a crop failure, as our plants hang dying in the field.  Late blight in Pennsylvania seems to be morphing into a much earlier disease than its name indicates.  We are in our seventh year of production here at Dancing Hen Farm is this is the third year, including last year, when  we have lost all of our tomatoes to this disease.  Financially for us this is a large burden.  We count on our heirloom tomatoes to not only fill our CSA boxes, but to also boost our income through farm market and restaurant sales.  We aren't ready to throw in the towel or even stop planting tomatoes, but, we will be re-thinking how we grow tomatoes.  In the future we will be simply planting fewer tomatoes, using more organically approved fungicides before the disease is even in the area, and looking to plant more varieties with some natural resistance to this nasty disease.

So what does all this mean to our CSA members?  Simply stated there will be a very limited number of tomatoes available this season.  We are desperately harvesting what we can salvage out of our fields, but many of the tomatoes you receive in your boxes will be blemished.  These tomatoes are perfectly safe to eat, simply cut out the bad part and be aware they will not store as long as unblemished tomatoes.  If you prefer to only receive perfect tomatoes, please do not order tomatoes this season.  Thanks to each of you for your understanding!

On to a happier note.  Some members were surprised with a few ears of sweet corn this week.  This is certified organic corn from our friend Titus Martin in Turbotville.  We are hoping to source more from Titus for next week's pack.  Please watch the availability for this seasonal treat!

In our fields.  We are happy to say our winter squash is looking really good.  Delicata and Spaghetti squash should be ready for harvest first, followed by acorns and butternut.  Summer squash, on the other hand, are coming to an end.  The planting we are currently harvesting from is finished, with this coming week being the last harvested from this planting.  We have a final summer squash planting started, but there will be lapse in summer squash availability, as these plants reach maturity and begin to produce.  We have had some of our best cucumbers this year and have decided not to put another panting in, so cucumbers will be coming to an end soon, as well.  Salad greens are looking really good right now and our cooking greens are coming along nicely. 

Something new for us this year are ground cherries.  Ground cherries are related to both tomatillos and tomatoes and have a very unique sweet taste.   Some people, and seed catalogs, describe them as a small cherry tomato injected with pineapple and mango.  No matter how you try and describe the flavor, they are sweet and a real treat.  To use, remove the paper husk, rinse the fruit, and enjoy!  Here on farm we generally eat them raw as a sweet treat, but they can be made into a jelly or added to salsa.  I have also heard people put them in pancake and muffin batter.  Maybe this weekend we will try ground cherry pancakes!  Stay tuned for how they turn out.

This week we will be at Back Mountain Memorial Library Farm Market on Saturday.  Stop by, say hello and pick up some veggies, eggs or chicken.  Speaking of chicken, we also have broilers and stew hens available for sale on farm and through the buying club.  If you are interested in purchasing chicken and cannot make it to market, please contact the farm.

So, the sun is up, the workers are busy harvesting our onions for drying and storage.  That means time to wrap up this newsletter, print it and have Farmer Don proof read give it before I send it out to our members.  Yes, as many of you have already surmised, Farmer Don has willingly turned over his newsletter writing duties for the season.  I will try and convince him to, at the very least, be a guest writer as the season moves forward. 

To close in Farmer Don's words "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies".