2011 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Registration

Happy New Year Folks!
Suddhayu and I have been busy preparing for 2011; sowing pansies & violas, ordering veggie seeds, sitting at our computers (groan) . . . and we are super excited about the upcoming season! This year we will be offering another 60 shares in our CSA.  If you are interested in joining, or learning more about how our program works, check out our CSA page at our website.  Please feel free to contact us regarding your questions.  We will return emails and phone calls as soon as possible.  We look forward to growing for you this year!


1st Annual Harvest Dinner & Bonfire

 

Winter CSA 2010

If you'd like to participate in our Winter CSA, and continue to receive weekly emails, please respond to this email no later than Friday Oct. 22nd.

This year we'll be going week-to-week. Pick-up will still be Tuesdays after 3pm.

We'll send out a weekly email on Friday letting you know what we're likely to harvest. If you'd like a bag that week, you need to let us know by Sunday.

The bags will range in price from $10-$20 per week. You'll pay for the bag when you pick it up.

We expect to still be harvesting through November.

today's harvest

Full Shares:

weigh-your-own potatoes — 3lbs

bunch carrots

rutabaga or gilfeather turnips

2 cups dry beans*

bunch baby beets with edible greens

6 oz salad mix

bunch kale

last sweet peppers

bunch baby bok choi

bunch parsley

Half Shares:

weigh-your-own potatoes — 2lbs

small bunch carrots

2-3 tomatoes

rod of brussels sprouts

bunch broccoli or cabbage

bunch baby bok choi

small bunch french breakfast radishes

* The dry beans include either Vermont cranberry, black turtle, or Arikara. If you don't know how to cook them, there is plenty of info online. The Vermont cranberry beans were featured in the RAFT program this year. Arikara beans are a Native American bean (named after the Arikara tribe), and were crucial in sustaining the Lewis and Clark expedition. Thomas Jefferson also used to rave about these beans!

CUTTING GARDEN: There are still lots of herbs! Notably, marjoram, parsley, and oregano in abundance.

BAG RETURN: Please remember to bring back your bags. Also, if you could bring back the bags you take away this week, we'd appreciate it. You can visit us at the Portsmouth Farmer's market to drop off bags as well.

Thank you so much for a great season! We'll be sending you a survey soon. If you intend to sign up for next year, let us know soon.

More info on our Winter CSA to follow.

today's share

Full Shares:

weigh-your-own potatoes — 3lb. *

bunch carrots **

bunch turnip ***

bunch leeks +

some garlic

4-6 tomatoes

bunch hot peppers ++

4 oz lettuce mix

6 oz mesclun +++

bunch kale

cutting garden

Half Shares:

weigh-your-own potatoes —3lb. *

bunch beets **

bunch onions

some garlic

4-6 sweet peppers

bunch hot peppers ++

bunch kale

cutting garden

* Full and half shares each weigh 3 lbs of potatoes. The scale, bags, and potatoes are to your left as you enter the barn. We will leave the lights on until about 7:30 or so. We're finding some witch-grass and wire-worm holes in the potatoes. The damage is usually cosmetic and easily cut out, but if you find a potato that has rotted inside, take some extra next week.

** You'll sometimes get beets and carrots that are quite small. This is because we thin the rows as we harvest, to make room for the roots left behind to grow bigger. The smaller roots are just as delicious. The beet greens are edible.

*** Some of you will be getting Gilfeather turnips. These were grown from heirloom seed given to us from the RAFT program. They're sometimes a bit bigger than our salad turnips, and personally, I prefer the Gilfeather greens to the purple top.

+ The leeks are smaller than we'd like them to be, but just as tasty. We planted them late this year — one or two crops get planted late every year, and this year it was the leeks and rutabaga.

++ The hot peppers are in a crate inside the cooler. Please take a handful.

+++ The mesclun gets spicier as the weather cools. I prefer to saute it when it is thus emboldened! Though it is still good raw if you prefer. You'll also notice that the kale gets sweeter as the weather cools!

CUTTING GARDEN: We've had a few frosts now and the bulk of the flowers are dead. The basil is also done. But there are lots of other herbs that are still in excellent shape, including cilantro. Please take what you will!

harvest postponed

This week's harvest is postponed until wednesday the 13th, after 3pm, due to a death in the family.

today's share

Full Shares:

bunch carrots

bunch beets

2-3 winter squash

6 oz mesclun

sweet peppers*

tomatoes**

1-3 heads cabbage***

rod of brussels sprouts+

handfull hot peppers++

weigh-your-own-potatoes+++

cutting garden

Half Shares:

bunch carrots

bunch celery

sweet peppers*

1-2 winter squash

bunch turnips

tomatoes**

handfull hot peppers++

cutting garden

* The sweet peppers were harvested due to a frost threat, so some are a bit small. But they're still very tasty and versatile!

** The tomatoes were also harvested due to a frost threat. We picked a lot of green one's and have been ripening them up. We've included both red and green tomatoes in your shares. To continue ripening them at home, just place them in a paper bag on your kitchen counter. Placing an apple or another ripe tomato in the bag can help speed the ripening, but check daily for signs of rot!

*** Some of the cabbage heads are quite small. This is because they are the second growth on a stalk that had already been harvested. These 'personal-size' cabbages can be quite handy! And of course, they are delicious.

+ The brussels sprouts should be cut from the stalk before cooking! There are some good recipes on our website.

++ The hot peppers this week are in a crate in the cooler. Please take a handful.

+++ Full shares are weighing their own potatoes this week. There is a scale and bags on the left of the barn. The area will be lit until around 7:30 and we will have signs up. Choose the ones you want, and take three pounds.

There are some eggplants and other random veggies in the cooler that you can help yourselves to.

Also there are mums outside the barn door for the taking.

CUTTING GARDEN: You'll still find a few flowers and lots of herbs. There is some cilantro down there now. It's growth was patchy (just not a good cilantro year for us) but there's enough to cut!

today's share

Full Shares:

pint cherry tomatoes

2-3 slicing tomatoes

2-3 cucumbers or summer squash

4-5 sweet peppers

bunch raab

6 oz. lettuce mix

2 heads lettuce

bunch turnips**

bunch green beans

1-2 heads celery*

cutting garden

Half Shares:

2-3 slicing tomatoes

3-5 sweet peppers

2-3 eggplant

bunch broccoli

bunch raab

6 oz. lettuce mix

bunch green beans

cutting garden

* Our celery is little but tasty. This is our second attempt at celery, and though we babied it more this year than last, it is still little. It is probably best suited for soups and stews.

** We left the greens on the turnips. They are edible (recipes on our website). But if you're not going to use them soon, we'd suggest cutting the greens off the turnips so the roots store better.

POTATOES: It was too wet to harvest potatoes, but we had a few crates left in the cooler. If you need potatoes for your pot-luck dish on Sunday, go ahead and take some.

CUTTING GARDEN:

The flowers are more and more scarce, so get a small bouquet while you can! There are still lots of herbs, so please cut big bunches!

WHERE WE'RE AT IN THE SEASON: Warm weather crops are slowing down. This is likely the last week you'll be seeing summer squash or cucumbers. We'll still be getting tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers in smaller quantities for at least another week or two. There are three more pick-ups after this one, which will be abundant with cooler weather crops. And it looks like we'll be offering a more informal, week-to-week-pay-as-you-go CSA, beyond week twenty, into November and possibly December. We'll keep you informed.