It’s feeling more and more like the end of the season, but never fear, there are five more weeks of the CSA after this week! It’s easy to remember — Week 22 (the final CSA) is the same week as the election (November 3rd, in case anyone has been living on another planet)! Until then, your veggies will keep rolling in. I have my fingers crossed for the two fields of absolutely gorgeous broccoli and cauliflower plants that were slowed by the dry heat of August. Though they survived with flying colors, they won’t get a chance to mature unless we get a warm extended fall. Until then, huge broccoli heads will sporadically make their way into the CSA line — we hope you all get a taste, and then with any luck we will all get to swim in a sea of broccoli and cauliflower in the final week of the CSA.

We are excited to have potatoes! We decided that one way we could simplify the farm during Bill’s campaign season this year would be to ask another small organic farm to grow potatoes for us. So Ben at Lifeforce Farm in Bowdoinham grew 900 pounds of delicious white potatoes for us that we picked up last week. Enjoy! We’ll give them out every week until they’re gone. 

Last Wednesday’s surprise windstorm left us relatively unscathed, except for our oldest, most raggedy hoophouse. We had been expecting that this was this final year of that barely standing house anyways, and were frankly impressed that it had made it so far into the year. So when it started to pull out of the ground and threaten to fly away on Wednesday, we quickly cut off the plastic so that it wouldn’t tear into the nearby solid greenhouses. Other than that, everything stayed earthbound, to our relief. 

This is the final week of the Little Jubba Snack Pack (let me know if you missed yours last week — we have a couple still in the walk-in). It is also the third Apple CSA delivery – don’t forget your glorious big bag! And for those of you who have asked, this will be the first time in the fourteen years of the CSA that we will not have a fall garlic-popping potluck. We will miss our annual get-together (and concrete date by which to tidy the farm!) but, in all honesty, I’m so grateful that we were able to have a relatively normal season that this seems a small price to pay. We’ll get our garlic popped and in the ground with the help of our trusty crew, though we will miss an afternoon in the fall sun with you all. 

Have a great week, enjoy your veggies, and be in touch!

Reba and the HCF crew

CSA Vegetables Week Seventeen: Spicy Salad Mix/Spinach/Arugula, Kale/Chard, Daikon/Watermelon Radish, Potatoes, Bell Pepper, Cherry Tomatoes, Slicing Tomatoes, Garlic, Hot Pepper, Winter Squash/Pumpkin, Beets/Hakurei Turnips/Fennel, Celery/Cilantro/Parsley

Week 17 Add-ons: Little Jubba Snack Pack, Apples, Cheese, Mushrooms, Oil & Vinegar, Milk, Bread, Eggs, Tofu, Yogurt, Ferments

This week’s recipes: Beet Greens (or Chard, or Turnip Greens, or Kale!) and Potato Hash, Slow Roasted Tomatoes, Pumpkin Dal