Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!
First on the agenda:
announcements and dates. The CSA
boxes delivered on Tuesday, October 3, was Week 16 of our summer CSA. Week 16 was not an egg week. There are 2 weeks remaining in our
Summer/Main season CSA. This coming
week, Week 17, will be the last egg week.
The last week for vegetable deliveries is October 17. Chicken Share members: You will receive your final chicken share
delivery on Tuesday, October 24.
Fall/Winter share members. We
need to receive payment for your share prior to deliveries. Week 1 of this 8 week, extended, season will
be Tuesday, October 24 and will be an egg week.
On to the weather.
Last week brought temperatures in the low 30's to the farm. This means we were nipped by a light frost. Most of our plantings were unaffected by
this, however our summer squash and snap beans lost a few of their top
leaves. But, we do not expect harvest to
be reduced. Hard to believe we were
dealing with frost less than a week ago, with temperatures back in the upper
70's and forecast to be in the low 80's this coming week. Crazy weather! Summer in October! We are even experiencing the dry weather we
usually see in the summer as well. We do
need rain. Farmer Don tends not to put
irrigation tubing down in fall/winter crops.
Our irrigation system is not frost-free, so we need to shut it down in
the fall to prevent frozen pipes.
Generally this lack of irrigation does not pose a threat to our late
season crops. But this year that is not
the case and these crops need water. So,
we are now watering these fields by hand
with a garden hose! Not the most
efficient way to deliver water to our crops, but hopefully we will pull them
through this bit of a drought.
On farm, other than doing the best we can to keep water to
our crops, we are still in a bit of a transition. We are still harvesting summer crops,
including some tomatoes, summer squash and beans. However, our fall crops are also being
harvested, including greens, root crops and winter squash. I anticipate heavier frost in the next week
or two, which will officially bring an end to our summer harvest. We are slowly putting some fields to rest for
the winter. This involves removal of
crop residues, some minimal tillage and planting cover crops. Cover
crops build organic matter in our soil and help keep nutrients available
for our crops. In the next week or so,
we will be planting garlic for next year.
Garlic is one of the few crops grown which gets planted in the fall for
harvest the following summer. We are
also getting crop planted fields ready for protection. We will be building low tunnels over many of
our crops to protect them from the cold temperatures sure to come in the next
month or two. Low tunnels are mini
greenhouses build using bent pipes covered with plastic over top of row
crops. These temporary structures will
protect our salad and cooking greens, allowing us to extend our harvest.
In the kitchen we are also anticipating cooler
temperatures. Every fall Farmer Don and
I make at least two batches of sauerkraut.
We have a beautiful German fermenting crop which holds approximately 10
pounds of fermenting cabbage. We feel
cooler temperatures are better for the fermentation process, so we wait for a
cool down. We make a very traditional
cabbage kraut, without adding caraway seeds or carrots. We do ferment some other vegetables in
addition to cabbage, including carrots and turnips. I will keep you posted on
how our fall ferments progress. Watch
our buying club, as some of our sauerkraut may appear there.
Speaking of the kitchen and cooler temperatures, fall and
winter also means the appearance of winter squash. This year we will have delicata, acorn and
butternut squash and small pie pumpkins.
Delicatas are a smaller, thinner skinned winter squash. It is one of the few winter squash with
edible skin. We like to roast sliced
delicata squash in a hot oven, coating with a bit of butter and maple syrup
right before serving. Acorn squash are
good for stuffing. Cut in half
lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, fill with your favorite filling and bake. On farm, we stuff these squash with a mixture
of sausage, onions, garlic, rice and greens.
Butternut squash is a sweet winter squash and hold up well in soups and
stews. One of our favorite recipes for
butternut squash comes from the cookbook "Simply in Season". It is a pork stew with apples and butternut
squash and oh so tasty. I found a link
online http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/butternut-harvest-stew-144857
Speaking of pork, come November, we will have Dancing Hen
Farm Apple Orchard Pork available. We
sell our bulk pork by the half and whole and are now taking reservations. Please contact the farm if you are interested
in bulk pork. A whole hog will yield 125
to 140 pounds of meat and will require at least a 7 cubic feet of freezer space
for storage. We will also have a limited
amount of cuts available for purchase through our buying club.
Farmers markets are starting to wind down for the
season. The last Back Mountain Market is
October 14, so if you haven't made it to market yet this might be the Saturday
to make a visit. The Mountain Top Market
is scheduled to go through October, depending on weather and availability of
our products.
Hard to believe I started this newsletter hours ago! I so easily get side tracked. Now I will allow Farmer Don to proof read and
hopefully get it sent out before I head to bed!
Until next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment