We've been falling down on our newsletter-writing responsibilities (as we are apt to do this time of year). But our niece Margot is visiting with us this eveing and she's asleep in the bedroom so its a good excuse to sit down and write.

The first piece of exciting news is that our experimental ginger crop is being harvested now and the yield is pretty decent - about what we expected. We planted it in the hoophouse, two beds, in late May after sprouting the "mother roots" for about a month and half. We will be evaluating the final yield and income earned from this crop and see if it something we want to add to our list of crops that we grow in the future. There certainly were many exclamaitions of excitement at the farmers' market on Tuesday and it sold very well. And we think it tastes pretty good too!

You may be happy to know that, based on demand from the CSA, we have also agreed to set aside our inherent greed and include raspberries and ginger in the CSA share. But be warned that these items are in short supply and you might need to get to market early as they usually sell out quickly. And we probably will not have raspberries at the Saturday market as they usually sell out the night before in Watkins Glen. And the ginger harvest will be a short one. We will have it this week and the next week and that will probably be it. This is fresh, immature ginger and should be eaten within a couple of weeks and should be stored in the refrigerator.

Right now we are trying to work some time into our schedule for post-CSA harvesting. Many beds are empty of vegetables but have weeds taking over or have vegetables that have already been picked over. These beds need to be mowed, the vegetation turned under and allowed to rot for 1-2 weeks. Then we will hope to plant either rye and vetch (a favorite winter cover crop), oats (another favorite fall cover crop that dies back over the winter) or some valuable crops for winter harvest such as carrots, leeks, greens, turnips or spinach. This is a part of farming into which we are still just getting our feet wet. We will be writing more about our efforts in preparing for a winter harvest in the coming weeks.


Cold Peanut Sauce
2/3 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup tahini (we often omit)
1/4 cup soy sauce or less
1/2 cup hot black tea (or hot water)
3 Tbs brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp chili powder or less
2 Tbs vinegar
4 cloves garlic
1 3/4" ginger root or less

Combine peanut butter, tahini, soy sauce, 1/2 of the hot tea, sugar and chili, vinegar, garlic and ginger. Blend until smooth. Add remaining tea to thin as needed.

Sound like a bizarre combination of ingredients? Maybe it is, but we love it as a topping on spaghetti. Had some for lunch and didn't want to stop eating it.