In Your Box:
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Cucumber
- Edamame or Beans
- Head lettuce
- Onion
- Parsley
- Summer Squash or broccoli
- Tomatoes
All of the sudden, the calendar has flipped on summer and ushered in a much-welcomed autumn. While this usually occurs gradually over the course of a few weeks, summer blew out of here with 95 degrees and a howling wind out of the south on Tuesday, before fall stepped right in and gave us a chilly 60 degree day and a persistent drizzle. It looks like we might have a few nice days left, but there are threats of a frost as early as next week.
This won’t be quite as early as last year, the earliest frost we’ve had while farming, when we hit 29 degrees on September 14th. A frost is a brutal, instant end to the season, killing off any tomatoes, basil, eggplant, peppers, beans, cucumbers, and squash that aren’t protected. Some of you might find yourselves hoping for the death of cucumbers, but you don’t have to admit that to me.
This week’s box has a little more autumn in it, as we harvest the fall crop of cabbage and welcome back salad greens in the form of head lettuce. We have plantings of salad mix, arugula mizuna, and spinach that should be coming your way in the final few weeks.
At this point we can make it official that we will continue until week 18, on October 11th (Thursdays) or 16th (Tuesdays). This will make it our longest season ever, which feels great. In the final four weeks, look for leeks, turnips, daikon radishes, cauliflower, bok choy, tat soi, winter squash, and pie pumpkins. Once you’ve eaten all of that, hibernating sounds just about right.
Despite the death sentence that I passed on green beans last week, some of you will find them in your box one last time this week—I promise! Our second planting of edamame was not as fruitful as the first, so we have green beans at random for those not getting edamame.
Our fall cabbage is a beautiful savoy variety that has done quite well, with most heads considerably larger than the spring planting. These heads should keep for up to 3 weeks in the fridge. Keep the outer leaves on until you use the cabbage, to maintain freshness, and don’t worry about keeping it in a bag. For a great coleslaw, try shredding this with carrots, kohlrabi, and scallions.
And don’t forget our fall Harvest Festival & Potluck, coming up soon on Saturday, September 29th. Join us from 4pm to dark for games, farm tours, and good company, with a potluck at 6pm.
Fox & Fawn Farm 