CSA Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!  "Summertime and the living is easy".

CSA members:  Ordering for Tuesday's boxes ends tonight at 6 pm.  This is not an egg week.  We have reached the half way point of our CSA.

First let me apologize for being late getting the week's newsletter out.  I have no real excuse other than life.  Sometimes life seems to make the days fly by and other times one day seems like eternity.

Speaking of flying by.  Can you believe September is knocking on our door?  Schools are starting.  I am seeing lots of golden rod blooming.  The bees are aggressively looking for food.  The days are getting shorter and the mornings cooler.  Yes, fall is coming.  Soon we will pack away our shorts and get out the fleece and sweaters. 

Not ready for fall, not a problems here on farm.  We are still in summer harvest mode.  September tends to be one of our busiest months for harvest.  Summer crops, like zucchini, tomatoes and peppers are still producing well and by the end of the month fall greens and winter squash will be going strong.  Right now, other than crazy weed pressure, our farm is looking fairly good.  Tomatoes are producing nicely, although our plants are showing some disease.  We are harvesting off our last planting of summer squash.  The flat Italian pole beans are growing well and beginning to set tiny beans.  We have started harvesting peppers, okra and tomatillos.  Asian greens are being harvested and other greens are in the ground and we are patiently waiting for them to size up for harvest.

Not ready for fall, take 2.  It seems our weather is also not ready for fall.  The forecast is for hot muggies to return this week.  Highs in the 90's again!  Hopefully the return of the humidity will not bring the never ending rain we had a few weeks ago.  As everyone knows, the Benton area had devastating flooding and more soaking rains are very unwanted right now.  People are still out of their homes due to the water and many, many roads are closed and will most likely remain closed for quite some time.  Seeing the rocks, debris and destruction left behind by the flood waters really puts in perspective the force of this water.  Again, here, at Dancing Hen Farm, we consider ourselves quite lucky.  Other than a washed out road and having to detour a bit to come and go, we have little or no lasting damage.

This week Farmer Don found a surprise in the fields.  On Thursday he went out to harvest a vegetable for our supper and to do a final look at some plots before choice for our CSA members opened up.  And he found Brussels sprouts!  Yep, he came in with a small basket of sprouts for our dinner.  This was a huge find and surprise.  Our Brussels Sprouts were in a plot which was heavily damaged by deer this season.  The deer had actually walked down the row and eaten the top out of every plant.  But, it seems the deer did us a favor.  Something many grower do when growing Brussels Sprouts is to top the plants, or pinch the top, actively growing, part of each plant.  This topping forces the plant to form the round shoots we know as Brussels Sprouts.  So, in reality, we should be thanking, rather than cursing our deer population.  "Thank you deer for helping us grow a nice crop of Brussels Sprouts".  And yes, with some luck, we should have Brussels Sprouts on our choice list in the next few weeks, so get the recipes ready.

Let's see.  The wash is now hanging on the line, my coffee cup is empty and it is lunch time.  I am thinking this is a good time to wrap up the newsletter.

As always, thanks to each of you for your support of our small family farm and local sustainable farms.  Enjoy the veggies and have a great week.