This is the final delivery of our weekly CSA shares for the 2013 season. It is time for us to look back on another year of crop successes and failures—the delicious and bountiful blueberry crop; the fire in the apple orchard; the first tasty little pears; the stressfully late strawberry crop; the beautiful cauliflower, broccoli, beans, and carrots; heavy aphid pressure on our greens especially early in the season; the lovely basil crop; just enough tomatoes and peppers; the efficient successions of greens and lettuces started in our new greenhouse and planted with our new transplanter; the successful harvest fair; waiting for the rain that may finally be on its way. Overall it was an average season for a farmer!
Of course, it’s also a time to look forward to the winter session and the 2014 season. We go down to every-other-week deliveries for the winter because things grow more slowly, we grow fewer different items and we put much of our farm into winter cover crops. That said, when we sat down to make a list of the winter crops we’re growing for the CSA, we realized how much we’re looking forward to many of these crops coming in. Some of these items will be early and some later in the 7 week “winter session” (from December 4/5 to February 26/27), but you can expect to see most of these items in the boxes at some point:
Mei Quin Choi, Mustard Greens, Tokyo Market Turnips, Mixed Lettuces, Romano Beans, Shelling Beans, Chervil, Italian Parsley, Red & Purple Radishes, Swiss Chard, Kale, Fennel, Celery, Chantenay Carrots, Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Romanesco, Leeks, Red Beets, Gold & Chioggia Beets, Winter Squashes, ripe Granny Smith Apples from Robin’s Nest Farm, and Limes from Marsalisi Farm. We are also experimenting with some late Tomatoes in a hoophouse (not heated, so they are not “greenhouse” tomatoes and we aren’t wasting energy for this experiment, but it sure would be nice to have some local tomatoes in late fall and winter!)
The 2014 Regular Season will begin on March 19/20, and we’ll let you know what’s coming in the spring as it gets a little closer. If you’re not joining us for the winter session, you do not need to sign up yet for spring—we’ll contact you in January, when we’ll need to start getting a handle on the numbers to expect for spring plantings.
We wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for your continued support of our farming endeavor. We would not be here doing this if not for you!
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