September 2006

Early Fall Farm Update
for Friends and CSA Members;

            Changing colors and the fall equinox welcome us into the shorter days and cooler temperatures of September.
            Fall is truly a wonderful time here in the West Central Rockies with the early snows and beautiful colors. Our attachment to the gardens always causes struggle: letting go of the summer crops to the coming frost, while trying to save others that will carry us into the later fall and winter storage season. In the next weeks we'll be harvesting more of these crops for inclusion in the weekly shares and markets.
Although we have not yet had frost, growth and production of summer heat loving crops is slowing down (summer squash, cukes) while others ripen more fully and in abundance (tomatoes, peppers, winter squash, melons, and pumpkins).
Summer herbs and flowers, though still vibrant and beautiful, wane in abundance and color as the month progresses. First frost usually signals the end of the flowers, as well as the end of the more tender herbs(basil, dill). Cooler weather herbs will replace those(parsley, cilantro).
            Other crops coming into their season include many varieties of winter squash : sweet and flavorful yellow/green striped delicata types (tea cup and oblong) , dark green acorn, dark green and orange, round, dry fleshed kabochas, long, sweet golden butternut and spaghetti, baby blue hubbards, and more. Pumpkins this year will be mostly New England pie pumpkins, with a variety of shapes and sizes. These a great for pies, soups, or decoration.
            You've been receiving a variety of tomatoes in the past weeks. Large, strange looking brandy wine, yellow striped Germans, small, flavorful Moskivic, purple Cherokee(has a green shoulder), and other heirlooms join the earlier hybrid Celebrity and Early Girl types. Meaty paste types (round and oblong shapes, great for drying, saute, or sauces), yellows and golds, make for colorful eating. Equal amounts have been coming from our farm and the Becker farm, both in Peach Valley.
            Corn in the past four weeks has come from our farm. Corn in the next weeks will be from the Lisollo farm on Silt Mesa. They’ll provide us with more Yukon, Red Pontiac, Purple, and Kennenbeck potatoes, also.
Current plantings of snap beans should go for a few weeks yet depending on weather. We’ll include a new French bean in the boxes this month called Flagrano. This is not a snap bean, but rather a green shelling bean, easy to shell and used fresh, frozen, or dried, in salads, soups, stir fry, and baked dishes. We’ll mark these as they go into the share boxes.
Onions, garlic, beets, carrots, turnips, and radishes will alternate in the shares over the next weeks. Our garlic, though dug late, is still tasty and nutritious. Open cloves will not store as long, but are still easy to peel, great chopped or pressed for cool storage in olive oil(for quick use) or frozen for winter use.
Lettuce, greens, chard, and choi’s continue to be abundant. Let us know if you’d like more to freeze or use fresh.
We’ll include a variety of hot peppers in the weeks ahead (They’ll be labeled accordingly). Many of these have a quite mild flesh, and can be put into salads, stir-fries, dried on a dish, or strung. Many colors and textures make beautiful decoration. Caution: smallest ones are hottest, largest are mild. Seeds in all varieties are HOT.
Orchard crops in the weeks ahead will include late season peaches (smaller sizes)and Italian prune plums from the Mandel Orchard here in the valley. Besides our Peach Valley orchard crops, many Bartlett pears and mixed apples (Gala, Jonagold, Honeycrisp, Fuji) will be from the Kropp family orchards (Paonia) A few Santa Rosa plums will also come our way from friends at White Buffalo Farm (Paonia).
Small red and yellow fleshed water melons, join the green “Passport” French honeydew) and gold cantaloupe types in the fruit shares.
Let us know if you'd like any box amounts of pears or apples in the weeks ahead. Strawberries will soon make a nice fall return. Some help with this harvest is always welcome and you might take home an extra pint or two. Give us a call for details.
We continue to plant and cultivate crops for the winter storage and spring garden season (greens, spinach, lettuce, garlic, herbs), so work continues that will not bear fruit until the coming seasons. We’ll be putting up another hoophouse this fall, hopefully before the cold gets too serious.
Only a few shares for the winter storage crops (begin November 9) are still available. Let us know soon if you wish to be included on that.
Thanksgiving turkey orders need to be to us in the next six weeks. We’ll probably have about 25 of those.
Egg production is making a cool weather, shorter day slowdown. We also suffered a stray dog attack August 19 that killed 14 chickens and about 12 turkeys. No tags on the dogs or owner to claim them, but perhaps later we’ll know more. It has been several years since we’ve had dog trouble, so hopefully not more any time soon. Production has dropped by a dozen plus per day, so we might lighten dozens to 10 eggs, to spread things around. As usual, we’ll make up any shortfall as we go into November and the winter season.
Honey extraction will happen somewhere in the next weeks, we promise! Bees are doing well and filling boxes, so probably toward the end of the month, we should have the new crop, albeit in lighter amounts than in past years. We’ll keep you posted, especially those that have ordered(or paid) for honey.
Please don't hesitate to come by for a visit (always the best newsletter!) or give a call if you have any questions.
Thanks for remembering to return share boxes to drop points for reuse by the farm. Also Jars, flower cartons, pint boxes, etc.
Find us Saturday mornings at the Glenwood Springs Farmers Market, at the High School, 14th and Grand, throughout the rest of the fall into November; also at Potato Days Farmers Market in Carbondale on Saturday, October 7. A bag or two of extra greens, lettuces, chard or Choi are free to members.
Continue those dreams of Indian Summer, fall moisture and winter snows. Fresh water is truly our lifeblood and the key to our food sources, drinking supplies, and continued health.
For Peace,

Kenny, Gail, Nick and the Farm Crew