Week 18 Newsletter

In your box:

• Cabbage, Regular or Napa
• Collards or kale
• Gourd
• Leeks
• Salad mix
• Spinach
• Turnips
• Winter squash or pie pumpkin

Welcome to your final box of this season! Back when it was 100 degrees in June, as we picked raspberries, it seemed like we would never get to this point. But now as flurries fly and nighttime temperatures dip into the 20’s, it certainly feels like time to close down the fields and get ready to hibernate. This October has been colder than any I’ve experienced while farming, including a record-tying low of 18 degrees on October 6^th. Temperatures consistently that low would kill off everything but kale, but thankfully we’re still getting some good sun during these autumn days.

We would love to get back any empty boxes that are still in good shape, to use as backup boxes for next season. If you are able, please return them to your drop site within a week. Otherwise, you can save them for next year if you plan to rejoin our CSA in 2013, or simply recycle them.

The Year in Numbers:

• Empty berry pints eaten by Henry: 3 (7 in 2011, 12 in 2010)
• Total pounds of Tomatoes harvested: 1,438 (492 pounds in 2011, 630 in 2010)
• Total number of winter squash and pie pumpkins harvested: 687 (229 in 2011, 427 in 2010)
• Total pounds of Potatoes harvested: 0. Yuck. (741 in 2011, also a wet year, and 2,555 in 2010)
• Eggplant harvested: 75 (422 last year)
• Peppers harvested: 589 (829 last year)
• Bean harvest: An astonishing record or 681 pounds, up from 443 pounds in 2011.
• Cucumbers: 1,478 (1,893 in ’11). Zucchini: 1,085 (745 in ’11). Corn: 1,842 ears (1,591 ears in ’11). Strawberries: 52 pints (465 pints in ’11). Raspberries: 326 pints (193 pints in ’11)

• Pairs of pants destroyed by farmers: 4, two each by Jeremy and Red. (last year: 4, all Jeremy, and 3 by Farmer Red in 2010)
• Number of nicknames earned by Jeremy this year: 5.

 While we’re grateful for any Spinach this year, unfortunately it’s just a humble amount in one last box. After disease took out our spring planting, our extreme drought over the past two months has stunted the growth of our fall crop and wiped out much of it. So enjoy these dark greens, knowing that they represent just 1/16 of what we planted!

We also have a Gourd or two in each box, helping with your fall decorating. These are from a variety pack of seeds, including some warty varieties and the classic baby pumpkin.

We also have a variety of large Winter Squash and Pie Pumpkins this week. Our Spaghetti squash (yellow rugby balls) were the most prolific, but we have a good amount of Butternut (tan), Kabocha (dark orange), Buttercup (green), and Marina di Chioggia (dark green/blue).

Thank you all for your support this year! It has once again been a great blessing to do what I love, and I’m grateful for your membership in our CSA that allows our family to build our farm and to nurture our soil for future generations. With every day I do this job, I feel greater peace and joy that I have found my passion. Thank you for enabling us to grow and learn from our land.

We hope you have enjoyed the experience. I will be e-mailing a brief survey shortly, on which you can reserve a share for 2013 if you would like.

Happy hibernating,

Red (and Nina & Nathan, and Jeremy)