Category Archives: fall planting

In the Share: Week 12

cherry tomatoes, CSA delivery, fall planting, wildlife

TOMATOES F/P  The cherries are plentiful as are the heirloom and hybrid slicers.

GARLIC F/P more of our hardneck variety.

CUCUMBERS F  The last of the cucumbers from the first planting.  In a couple of weeks the second planting should be fruiting.

EGGPLANT F/P  I was lucky to have some of that eggplant cheesecake that Merri posted on the Facebook group.  If you are not in our closed group, you are missing out on a bunch of recipes.  See Tom’s post for the link.

SALSA PACK F/P

COLORADO ROSE POTATOES F/P  A new variety for us, let us know what you think.

SWEET PEPPERS F  Just one ripe one this week.  There are many more coming.

HERBS F/P Basil, including lemon and Italian varieties.

NEXT WEEK:  Tomatoes, carrots, onions, eggplant, salsa packs and peppers.

FARM REPORT:

The first round of the fall broccolis, cabbages and cauliflower are in the fields, each row with a line of irrigation tape alongside it.

With plenty of water and fertile soil they should be feeding us well by the end of September and up until we get a hard freeze.

mmm… a crisp Autumn day sounds so nice.  But, not so fast!  We still have August to sweat through and lots of delicious summer crops to eat.  Speaking of yummy summer food, I was in the tomato patch this morning and spied a little bird’s nest in one of the plants.  I’m not sure what bird it is, maybe a wren?

And finally, we wanted to give a special shout-out to the members who have been delivering the shares to Liberty this year.  When we decided to move the Brookside distribution from Saturdays to Mondays, we were worried that we would now have three deliveries to make each week instead of two.  Thankfully most Saturdays there have been members willing to schlep the produce for us after four hours of sweating in the fields.  That’s going above and beyond, folks and we truly are so grateful.  This allows us all to stay on the farm and get more work done.  Here’s a typical vehicle leaving the farm on a Saturday.

In the Share – Week 12

barn, fall planting, sweetpea, tomatoes, tranplanting

TOMATOES F/P  Along with a lot of reds and pinks, the yellow and green heirlooms are ripening.  A new variety for us this year, the Aunt Ruby’s German Green stays green when ripe. 

CARROTS F/P  Freshly dug from the summer patch.  They are smaller than our storage types, but sweet.

WALLA WALLA ONIONS F/P  More sweet onions.  It is a bumper crop this year so we are sharing the overage… and we need to make room for the storage onions to come in to the barn from the field.

CUCUMBERS F/P  We have had a good run of cucumbers, but finally the patch is beginning to wind down.  Lately I have been making a quick cucumber salad at night:  cucumbers, onions, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper.  It is even better the next day for lunch and dinner too. 

SALSA PACK or SUMMER SQUASH F/P

CHERRY TOMATOES F/P

CABBAGE F  The last of the spring harvest.

EGGPLANT OR BEETS F

HERBS F

NEXT WEEK:  More tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, onions, eggplant and salsa packs.  Potatoes and garlic return.  Perhaps the first of the green beans.

FARM REPORT:
In the last 7 days the walk-in cooler needed repair, the exhaust pipe and one of the shocks fell off of the truck, the power supply for our computer went out, the refrigerator at the apprentice house died, and the van needed a tow.

Sweetpea (the name of our VW van since long before we became her owners) delivers the produce to the city twice a week and we are happy to have her back in good working order.  Thanks to the diligent work at the mechanics (and, of course, a decrease in the bank account) the van is running again and most of the other items on the list are fixed or on their way to that end. 

Meanwhile the crops pay no attention to our mechanical difficulties.  They are ready for harvest or to be planted.  They need water and weeding.   This week we transplanted cauliflower, broccoli and kale.

The new barn waits expectantly to be filled with our tools, equipment and workshop.  It looks so beautiful but at this point the only things in it are racks of onions drying.

In the Share – Week 17

beneficials, dry, fall planting, greenhouse, rain, watermelon
cucurbit family fruit
 

TOMATOES (F/P) A combination of slicers and cherry tomatoes

COLORFUL CARROTS (F/P) This may be the last week of these. Thank you carrots of all colors for nourishing us during a brutal summer!

YELLOW OR RED ONIONS (F/P) The yellow onions are our best keepers and they’ve got a bite to prove it.

WATERMELON, CANTALOUPE OR PUMPKIN (F/P) We realize this is an odd-ball of a choice, but it is what we have. Choose which big ball of fruit you want.

 HOT PEPPERS (F) We continue to have a lot of hot peppers, one of the few fruiting plants that is not affected by high temperatures.

RATTLESNAKE BEANS (F) Precious, precious beans! Finally after months of watching six rows of beans sit and do nothing in the heat, our pole beans are ready to be picked. ‘Snake’ beans can get big but they stay tender and have a nice nutty flavor. Partial shares will get them next week and hopefully the full shares will too.

OKRA, BEETS OR EGGPLANT (P) The last of the beets until fall. Okra and eggplant should be going on for awhile more.

GREENS CHOICE (F) There is some kale and collard plants that need to be picked. They won’t be big bunches but it is nice to have something green for a change.

HERB CHOICE (F/P) We are sending in more dried herbs along with sage and thyme.

NEXT WEEK: More tomatoes, peppers, okra, eggplant, and beans. Arugula and radishes, we hope. Garlic returns.

FARM REPORT:

The big news on the farm is the glorious high tunnel taking shape over in its corner of the farm. See Tom’s post for more on the work day on Sunday, but I must say we are stupendously fortunate to have such capable, friendly folks in our corner. We slopped around in the mud together and cogitated over the plans together and in the end we managed to get a lot done and have a good time doing it. Today we began seeding the plants that will call the high tunnel home in about a month’s time.

Lettuces, bok choy, bunching onions, beets, and bulb fennel are seeded so far. Also on the list to enter the tunnel: radishes, carrots, young turnips, spinach, arugula, swiss chard, rapini and endive. Since we have never done this before we are very hesitant to predict how the season will turn out, but we hope to offer an extension of the CSA season by three weeks to a maximum of 50 current CSA members. The twenty-fourth and final week of the regular CSA season will be the week ending October 20th. Once we get to October, we will ask you to let us know if you would like to extend your share.

beneficial insect:  predatory lacewing

In the meantime, we are looking forward to the beginning of a new harvest season. The small bunches of kale and collards are ushering us into what looks to be a bountiful fall. The 0.75 inch rain on Sunday gave the thousands of baby seedlings a nice drink, but six inches down the soil is still dry. The irrigation pump stays on to supplement what nature provides. We are keeping an eye on Hurricane Isaac but it is unclear if any rain will get here. So far we are a foot of rain below average for the year. We hope that everyone stays safe down in the Gulf Coast and that they send some of their extra moisture on up to us.

In the Share – Week 10

fall planting, mulch, pond, tomato plants, tomatoes
TOMATOES (F/P) Holy tomato, Batman!  The farm is full of tomatoes of all sizes, colors and flavors.  It took us all day plus some to get the harvest in and sorted. We definitely hit a new record at 1,300 + lbs. just today.

MORE TOMATOES (F/P)  Everyone will be getting a double share this week. We are holding back many less ripe ones, for future shares. The cave is keeping them nicely.  We are giving you ripe ones and many that are two or three days away from being ripe.  If you can wait, they are best when they are soft and fleshy.

CHERRY TOMATOES (F/P)  If Saturday is any indication, we should have plenty for all.

POTATOES (F/P)  It wasn’t an Irish Spring for sure and so we aren’t getting a great potato crop. They are small but very tasty. We will be digging several varieties this week as we clear the highest and driest area first, which includes the French Fingerling, the Bintje and the Kennebec.

CUCUMBERS AND SUMMER SQUASH (F/P) We are handing out small cucumbers this week out of the pickling cucumber patch. They are great for fresh eating too. The summer squash is not producing a lot but we are spreading them out to everyone as best we can.

GARLIC (F/P) Garlic is fully cured and ready for eating.  Offered will be more Musik, a hardneck type.

EGGPLANT (F/P) Today we also harvested a big crop of eggplant. We pick them young when they are at their most tender and mild. No need to soak these babies.

SALSA PACK (F/P) Partial shares get a choice with the eggplant.

HERB CHOICE (F/P) Thai basil, thyme, or parsley. Partial shares get a smaller bunch and a smaller garlic.

FARM REPORT

What to say? We are in the thick of summer and barely have time to put this together. The drought continues for us. We missed most of the rain that was all around us on Sunday. For a short while the rain was a very lovely sight.

In the end, one-tenth of an inch is all that fell. We spent some time this weekend to get a close approximation of what water we have. Here I am having a lovely swim to measure the deepest point in the pond.

It reads about 7.5 feet, which from our calculations means about half of the volume of the pond has been used or evaporated. The question then becomes, “Is the pond half-full or half-empty?” We like to stay positive, so are looking ahead to the prospect of possibly pumping water from the old pond that we used in 2003 during our first season on the farm. Hopefully it won’t come to that but we like to have it as an option just the same.

In the midst of all this the planting schedule must be kept and on Monday we transplanted the first of the fall crops.
 

The cabbage looks good under a thick layer of mulch and with plenty of water. We are hoping to plant all of the fall brassica (cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage) this way into hay mulch to conserve moisture.

In the Share – Week 12

fall planting, heat, tomatoes

TOMATOES (F/P) It is “deliously hot” at the farm according to one of our recent guests. Nothing tastes better than a ripe heirloom tomato grown in a hot, dry Midwestern summer.

CHERRY TOMATOES (F/P) We don’t wash any of our tomatoes on the farm. It keeps them tasty and healthy. Wait until you are ready to eat them and give them a quick rinse.

SALSA PACK (F/P) The tomatillos are putting out the fruit right now. Que rica la salsa!

CARROTS (F/P) More big orange ones from the last harvest.

PURSLANE (F/P) What’s that, you say? Isn’t it a weed? Actually purslane is quite tasty and full of Omega 3s. Read Tom’s post for more info.

TROPEA and WALLA WALLA ONIONS (F/P) See Tom’s post for a great onion and tomato sauce recipe. I’m eating it right now and it is divine!

OKRA, SWEET PEPPERS AND EGGPLANT (F) Hopefully soon we’ll have enough sweet peppers for everyone. They are starting to ripen in large quantities. The damaged ones always ripen first, so there will be a crate of “seconds” to take what you want.

HERBS (F) Basil and summer savory

ALSO THIS WEEK: Parker Farms shares

NEXT WEEK: More tomatoes, salsa packs, okra and peppers. Potatoes and garlic.

FARM REPORT
Here we are at the mid-season mark. Week 12 of 24 has arrived. Now is a good time to pause for a moment and assess the weeks behind us and look to the weeks ahead. Overall, Tom and I were really pleased with the spring and early summer shares. Despite a shortened strawberry season, the shares were hefty thanks to some big lettuces and spring turnips, among others.

The summer started out pretty good with a nice carrot and beet harvest. The summer squashes, cucumbers and beans started out promising but the later plantings have fizzled in the hot, dry conditions.
Right now we are thrilled, if a bit daunted, by the tomato harvest. Last week alone we picked 1,600 lbs. of heirloom, hybrid, paste, drying and cherry tomatoes. Currently, the overabundance of tomatoes is making up for the lack of many of the other summer fruits that have withered in the heat. As CSA farmers our first priority is to fill the shares by minimizing our risk of crop loss. That’s why one of our big investments on the farm is a reliable irrigation system. The system is working very well right now, but it has it’s limits. We have a lot of field to cover, including full-grown summer crops that need a deep drink and newly planted fall crops that need steady moisture. We have had a difficult time getting some of the fall crops established. When the temperatures are extreme some seeds refuse to sprout and flowers drop without forming fruit.
Not all crops are faring poorly. The heat-loving sweet potatoes and okra are thriving. We also have a good crop of onions, garlic, potatoes and carrots that will keep us in staples for a good while. The winter squash and melons bit the dust early on due to the dry weather. A few winter squash may go in the shares next week. For the fall there are rows upon rows of newly transplanted cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli that will hopefully fill our bellies in October if we can keep them alive until then. But really there’s only one constant when it comes to Missouri weather, it’s bound to change soon. Just last weekend we got a nice break and a little rain shower during the Saturday harvest. We managed to squeeze everyone in the packing room until it stopped.

In the Share – Week 5

fall planting, shade structure

Zephyr summer squash

LETTUCE (F/P) As the heat takes over, the lettuce in your shares will be heavy on the romaines and crisphead varieties.
SUGAR SNAP or SNOW PEAS (F/P) The pea patch is really pumping out fruit at the moment. We picked 200 lbs. last week and hope for a similar harvest this week. The snow peas are a variety called ‘Oregon Giant’ and are great raw or cooked.
BEETS (F) My favorite vegetable is the beet. The beets this week are young and tender and the greens are good too. After this week beets will be a choice so this is your best chance to try them.
KOHLRABI, TURNIPS OR GREEN ONIONS (F/P) Partial shares get a choice of kohlrabi or beets.
KALE OR CHARD (F/P)
SUMMER SQUASH (F/P)

STRAWBERRIES OR BROCCOLI (F/P) We know, it is a hard choice and most of you would prefer both but alas both plantings are nearing their end.
HERB CHOICE (F) spearmint, summer savory or oregano.

ALSO THIS WEEK: Bread of Life Bakery shares

NEXT WEEK: More lettuce, peas, kohlrabi, summer squash and herbs. Cabbage and carrots.

FARM REPORT

As was mentioned last week, we are in the throes of the June juggernaut. We’ve got the spring harvest in full swing, summer crops needing much attention and the fall seeding has begun. This week we built what we hope will be a permanent home for the fall seedlings.

A separate home for the fall seedlings is necessary as the greenhouse is way too hot in the summer. A cool, shady spot is best for getting the seeds to sprout in the summer heat.

In the past we used screened tents purchased at the big box store. They never lasted more than a season due to their flimsy construction. We are very happy to stay out of the big box store by building our own, much sturdier alternative. All we needed was some rebar, electrical conduit, scrap wood and a shade cloth that we had purchased a few years back but never put to use. So far it has held up splendidly to wind and rain. We have quickly filled it chock full of seeded flats of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts.