This photo is from our brief visit to a seed farm/company near the Hudson Valley.  That yellow egg-shaped fruits are eggplants. They are well past the stage at which you'd want to eat them and they are almost ready to harvest to save the seed. The company is Hudson Valley Seed and they have a small seed farm plus they also buy seed from other local farmers to sell in their artful packets. We're thinking about possibly growing a variety of some vegetable for them next year - if they're interested. Probably something easy like peppers. Check them out at seedlibrary.org. It is fascinating to see some of the vegetables in the different stages of their lifecycles that even as farmers we don't usually see - yellow eggplants, 2nd year beets and carrots that are tall and setting seed, the purple, spherical flowers on onions and lettuce stalks that are 4-5 feet tall.

This is the the time of year when we go out in the morning with sweater or jacket and possibly even a wool hat. Then as the sun climbs over the trees (assuming its not cool and rainy like today), we tend to shed the layers wherever we are when we suddenly get too hot - maybe in the middle of the pepper row while harvesting or weeding in the carrot bed or while spreading cover crop seed in an onion bed after they've all been harvested. Then as the sun quickly dips low behind the trees in the afternoon we are just as suddenly chilled and we try to remember where we left our layers earlier that day.

Get your Halloween pumpkin this week as part of your share if you'd like!

Please don't forget we are having a garlic planting day on October 13 at 2:00. Come on up if you can - we'd love to have some help to make this task go a little faster!

And fall/winter CSA shares are still available. $306 for 7 items/week Nov-Feb. Its a great deal with lots of great vegetables. See us at market for details.

lettuce mix
spicy mix
pea shoots
sunflower shoots
parsley
potatoes
Swiss chard
kale
eggplant
tomatoes
a few cherry tomatoes
a few green beans
a few dragon tongue beans
tomatillos
a few peppers, green and ripe
garlic
carrots
beets
onions
leeks
ginger
winter squash - delicatas this week
pie pumpkins
celery root i.e. celeriac (its baaaack!)
parsnips
mini cabbages
edamame
a few broccolis

next week: more of the same except probably acorn squash instead of delicatas

What a nice rainy day!

 

The fall growing season is progressing well and most of the crops that we plan to have available this fall and winter are looking good.

So we are ready to accept memberships for our fall/winter CSA. This will run from the first week of November through the end of February with pickup available in Watkins Glen on Friday evenings. We will have forms and further information about the CSA at markets starting this week.

Announcement: CSA event Saturday October 13 at 2:00.

We will be breaking apart bulbs and planting garlic. Come on out at 2:00 or after if you'd like to help. RSVP preferred but not necessary.

 

lettuce mix
spicy mix
pea shoots
sunflower shoots
squash and zucchini
parsley
potatoes
Swiss chard
kale
a few eggplant
tomatoes
cherry tomatoes
green beans
dragon tongue beans
tomatillos
peppers, green and ripe
garlic
carrots
beets
onions
leeks
ginger

The wonderful rain has returned. And it was great to be out harvesting and working today in the cool temps. Most of the fall and winter crops are now looking great and we will start harvesting some of them in a couple weeks. Actually we hope to get the winter squash and pumpkins into the barn to start curing this week sometime.
This rain has also given us confidence to go ahead with our fall/winter CSA plans. We would like to accept 20 shares this year with pickup available at the Watkins Glen Farmers' Market Winter location at St. James Episcopal Church Fridays 3-6 pm or Ithaca Farmers' Market on Saturdays. Cost will be $306 and we plan to offer 7 items/week. We plan to have a wide variety of root and storage crops, hardy salad greens, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts. Details and signup forms will be available in the next couple weeks.

lettuce mix
spicy mix
pea shoots
sunflower shoots
squash and zucchini
parsley
potatoes
Swiss chard
kale
a few eggplant
tomatoes
cherry tomatoes
green beans
dragon tongue beans
tomatillos
peppers, green and ripe
garlic
carrots
beets
onions
leeks
eggs
ginger

next week: edamame will be back.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/a-banker-bets-on-organic-farming/?emc=eta1

Great NY Times article provided by a CSA member.

lettuce mix
spicy mix
lettuce
pea shoots
sunflower shoots
squash and zucchini
parsley
potatoes
Swiss chard
kale
a few eggplant
tomatoes
cherry tomatoes
green beans
dragon tongue beans
tomatillos
peppers, green and ripe
garlic
carrots
beets
onions
shallots
leeks
eggs
new this week - ginger!!