Greetings
from Dancing Hen Farm!
We hope all
our CSA members are enjoying their Week 13 share boxes. Week 13 was an egg share week. Ordering for Week 14 is now open.
It looks
like fall, the leaves are slowly turning, the golden rod is in full bloom and
the days are most definitely getting shorter.
But it certainly feels like summer is still here. Just as I was getting ready to pack away some
summer clothes we get another day of "air you can wear", as the local
weatherman likes to say. We are not
complaining on farm, as some warmer temperatures will help with ripening of the
last of our summer crops. Tomatoes,
zucchini, peppers, beans and eggplant all like warmth. However our fields could really use some
rain. Yesterday and today some areas
very close to us received some nice rain, but here on farm we have had only a
few short lived showers. This lack of
rain is really delaying the maturation of our fall greens. And the forecast is for another dry week
ahead.
Although
dry, our fields are still looking good moving into fall. We continue to harvest tomatoes. This week we have placed green tomatoes on
the availability list, so get your fried green tomato recipes ready. We have also made tomato seconds
available. Seconds are generally what we
eat here on farm. They are usually ripe
and ready to eat, but may have a few spots or cracks on them. If you order seconds you can expect a
generous portion. Other than tomatoes,
we are harvesting a small number of beans and zucchini is also making a late
summer come back. Like tomatoes, peppers
should continue to be available until we receive a killing frost. We have some beautiful radishes starting to
size up and with a bit of moisture, they should be available next week. Hopefully in the next few weeks we will be
harvesting some tender young greens as well.
I am really
happy to be doing some canning and preserving this year. As I have said in the past, I really enjoy
canning and preserving. It brings back
not only fond memories of my childhood, but also of various gardens Farmer Don
and I have tended over the years. Last
year was really tough for me, as I found myself too ill to spend time extending
our harvest. So, I set a goal this year
to get canning. So yesterday, on one of
the hottest days of the year, for some reason, I decided to make good on that
goal and can tomatoes. Well to be fair
to myself, the tomatoes decided they needed to be canned. After pack on Tuesday night, Farmer Don told
me he had tomatoes harvested which were destined to become pig food if they
were not used. They would not hold for
the weekend's markets or next week's pack.
So I dug the canner out of the closet and got busy Wednesday morning
processing tomatoes. And boy did I heat
up the house! Even the dogs couldn't
stay in the kitchen! I only got a yield
of 6 quarts (one short of a canner load), but I am happy to say all 6 quarts
sealed and are resting on the kitchen table, ready to be washed off and put
away for winter use. And my canning
chores, hopefully, are not over for the
year.
It seems,
once again I have been writing this newsletter for a long time. The weather has now cooled, the dogs have
been fed and it is time for me to get some supper started. On the menu tonight -- salmon on a bed of
sauted kale and sungold tomatoes. And,
of course, some sliced heirloom tomatoes as a salad.
Thank you to
each of you for your continued support of our small farm and local sustainable
agriculture.
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