We have some good news – via some bad news – about the cauliflower heads that I keep implying might make an appearance in 2020. A groundhog (we think) has systemically munched its way up the rows of cauliflower that are closest to the woods, devouring leaves and taking bites out of the occasional head. The good side-effect is that those plants are so stressed out by being sampled by the hungry marmot that they produced heads earlier than the rest of the (un-munched) planting! So from those plants we finally harvested our first cauliflower heads today, ahead of the hard frosts later this week, and they are absolutely beautiful. Tuesday night is supposed to get down to 23 degrees, and that might just be enough to do in the greenhouse tomatoes and many other crops, but hopefully the rest of the cauliflower and the heartier field crops will make it through!

Harvesting in the fields during these final wet, raw weeks of the CSA is always a special kind of push, and I felt so grateful today for our amazing crew. Charlie, Lydia, Christina and Becky all showed up in the grey drizzle this morning with smiles on their faces. I had hoped that we could end early and get everyone back to their warm homes, but at 5pm Charlie and I were still cleaning Bok Choy in the icy water of the wash shed. It was just that kind of day. Sunny fall days may be the dreamiest way to farm, but grey rainy days are the bane of autumn, and I don’t know how I’d be able to do it without the good spirits of this crew. The other stroke of luck today? No wind! It makes all the difference in the world and hopefully we can have calm weather for the remaining five harvests of the season! 

Sara and John of Sparkplug Farm will be delivering ground beef this week to those of you who signed up for it. Please bring your check made out to Sparkplug Farm to the pickup ($70 per 10 lbs).

Have a great week, I hope you have in place a good plan to vote (I went last week… it felt so great to vote for Bill!) and please be in touch!

Reba 

CSA Vegetables Week Twenty: Kale/Chard/Collards, Salad Mix/Spinach/Arugula, Bok Choy, Broccoli/Cauliflower/Cabbage, Carrots/Beets, Cherry Tomatoes, Slicing Tomatoes, Shishito Peppers/Hakurei Turnips, Onion, Garlic

Week 20 Add-ons: Cheese, Mushrooms, Oil & Vinegar, Milk, Bread, Sparkplug Ground Beef

This week’s recipes: Roasted Broccoli or Cauliflower with Garlic and Red Pepper, Pasta with Greens “Carbonara”, Hot and Sour Peanutty Noodles with Bok Choy