THE BEET: VOLUME 18; WEEK 15

 

FULL SHARE & YELLOW HALF SHARE PICK UP TONIGHT

Pick up today: 5pm - 7:30pm at PS 56 on the corner of Gates and Downing

This Week's Share

  • Radicchio

  • Sweet corn

  • Carrots

  • Yellow bulb onions

  • Tomatoes

  • Lettuce

  • Adolescent mustard greens

  • Green beans

  • Parsley

  • One or two from the following: peppers, eggplants, squashes

  • Fruit: Yonder Farm’s peaches. Plums, apples and pears will be coming soon

Delivery #15, Week of September 16, 2019

What’s new on the farm?

Fall temperatures arrived here some time between the lead up to our open house and now, along with small splashes of oranges and yellows in our hedgerows. We are just three weeks away from the peak of fall colors and the growing season is winding down. This week’s share is the last of the summer, and the transition to fall vegetables is already underway. Tomatoes and corn and summer squashes will soon give way to beets, sweet and Irish potatoes, hard squashes and kale. We have harvested all but a few of our winter squashes. Our potato harvest is getting underway in earnest later this week, sweet potato harvesting will begin next week, and crops like turnips, rutabagas, carrots and beets will be pulled in as needed for our final seven shares. 

I think that it’s a lovely time of year. It’s sweaters and windbreakers in the morning and t-shirts in the afternoon. The humidity is down and the air is fresh and clear. Insects are noticeably fewer in number, and our insectivorous bird friends are in route to their overwintering grounds in Central and South America. While it’s not entirely true that the “heavy lifting” phase of the season is behind us, there is a palpable levity among the farm crew.   

We are still planting, but the to-do list has become far shorter. Last week, we put in 20 or so beds of salad and cooking greens, and next week we’ll plant the very last of the year’s greens. This week, we’ll plant next year’s strawberries—8 to 10 beds in all—and some of our cover crops. More cover crops will go in as vegetables are harvested and the land is vacated. This week we’ll sow winter spinach in “caterpillar” tunnels, and in the first week of October, we’ll transplant the balance of our winter greens in unheated greenhouses. And our very last plantings of the year—garlic and fall onions—will take place in mid-October.  

That’s what we’re up to. I hope you have a great week, Ted

Veronica