October 27, 2025
Finally Soup Weather!
by Linda Dansbury

Chilly nights are finally here, so the soup is on! Here are a few things we enjoyed this past week.

Winter squash, onion, garlic - made Indian Spiced Pumpkin Soup. I have been making this delicious soup for a few years now, but am just putting it on this site now. Friends and family love it and it freezes really well, so make a large batch!

Sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, peppers - made another batch of roasted veggies. Always so enjoyable.

Romaine, celery, peppers, turnips, bok choy, arugula - made a couple large "chopped" salads. Added lots of different greens and veggies and tossed with a simple vinaigrette. I had it for lunch a few days along with nice quality tinned fish. I can eat this often!

Bok choy, chard, peppers, onion, garlic, turnips - made a large stir fry, adding leftover chicken near the end. When you master sauteing and stir fries, healthy meal prep becomes simple and stress free. The most time consuming part is chopping.

Fennel, chard, onion - we made salmon and for me, lentils cooked with fennel and onion then add chopped chard toward the end of cooking the lentils is so yummy!

Arugula, turnips - made a large arugula salad, simply dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. It accompanied the salmon and lentils listed above.

October 27, 2025
Carry That Weight
by Farmer Derek

Harvest #26 (Week B) should include sweet potatoes, cabbage, romaine, celery, fennel, kohlrabi, lettuce, Italian dandelion, Swiss chard, green peppers, tomatoes, hot peppers, beets, hakurei turnips, salad radishes, arugula, bok choy, komatsuna, and kale. Some items will be a choice.

U-pick should include herbs and flowers (bring scissors and a container for your bouquet).

October 27, 2025
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for More Garlic Please
by Farmer Derek

The end is nigh, of bed prepping, amending, fertilizing, and planting that is. With moisture inundation forecast for the end of this coming week, decision day 'Garlic 2025' has been handed down to us by forces unseen. We're going to plant hundreds of pounds of garlic cloves and cover the entire patch with a thick layer of straw mulch. Over four 2-hour workshifts, about 60 CSA members divided bulbs into cloves, totaling almost 400 pounds. Now, each clove will be pushed into the soil every six inches, roots down, covered, three rows per bed, 22 185-foot beds total. It will probably take four of us about 12 hours to plant and mulch.

Garlic is a special crop. We've tried to expand it every year since we arrived in 2009 and we're probably now at the maximum space we can devote to it. In 2010, garlic occupied 1,500 bed feet; in 2017, 2,000 bed feet; and in 2025 - 4,000 bed feet!

Our goal is to provide garlic every week of the CSA season in one form or another, from green garlic in the early spring, to scapes in June, fresh garlic bulbs in July, and dried and cured bulbs from August through the end. We had to pause for a few weeks in October in order to make sure we had enough saved to plant but will resume distribution over the final two weeks.

Because our farm has saved its own cloves since the 2004 season, our variety can be considered distinct and unique - your very own Anchor Run garlic!

October 27, 2025
Final Week of Workshifts (10/27/25)?
by Farmer Derek

This week's workshift schedule:

Bring gloves, water, a hat, sturdy shoes, and a pad for kneeling (if necessary for you).

We meet under the large red maple at the end of the barn by the pick up room.

Please be there by the scheduled start time (it might be hard to find us in the fields otherwise).

Workshift Guidelines - Workshift Sign Up Instructions

October 20, 2025
More to Come!
by Linda Dansbury

So late in the season and we are still going to receive new items! Here are the new things coming in the next week or so and some ideas for you.

Romaine - The farm grows the best romaine and I am always excited to see it in the pick up room. Caesar salad is obvious, but these sturdy leaves are also great for stuffing with flavored cream cheese, hummus or use them as the wrap for lettuce wraps rather than the iceberg you typically get in restaurants.

Globe/garden cabbage - This is the most recognized and used of all the cabbages. Very versatile and keeps in fridge for a long time. Of course it makes wonderful cole slaws, but I also really like it sliced as you would for slaw, then put in a pan with butter and olive oil and saute it slowly until softened and slightly browned. Salt and pepper to taste.The taste is almost nutty. I sometimes add an onion to the mix and I like it topped with chopped parsley when finished. It can also be cut into thick slices, coated with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper and roasted into cabbage "steaks".

Sweet Potatoes - The long awaited veggie has arrived! Store in a cool, dark place and they will keep for months, getting even sweeter over time. Bake/roast alone or with other veggies we are receiving now. They are delicious in savory and sweeter dishes. A few of the recipes on this site to enjoy are Kale and Sweet Potato Soup, the Oven Fried Sweet Potatoes, and Sweet Potato Cinnamon Bread. There are also many more, showing the versatility of this wonderful veggie.

Celery - I always look forward to farm celery, no matter which season it is, but frost kissed celery is more delicious than its early summer counterpart. Stored in the fridge in a bag (I wrap a paper towel around it so it isn't kept too wet), and it will last for a couple of weeks. Save the tops/freeze them for making veggie stock. Everyone has their go-to ways for enjoying it, but you might not know that it can take center stage as your veggie, as in Braised Celery. Over the years I have made this dish a lot and it is always a hit. The Italian Celery and Mushroom Salad and Celery and Mushroom Salad are both nice as an alternative to a salad based on greens.

Fennel - is another veggie I look forward to in the fall. It stores well, like celery. Fennel matches so well with fish and I love to add it to fish soups and stews, even if the recipe doesn't call for it and can be used as an alternative to celery in these types of dishes. I make mussels using fennel in the base and it is delicious. Fennel also pairs wonderfully with lentils. I often cook lentils with onions or leeks, carrots and fennel and have it as a side dish to pork or fish - salmon is particularly delicious. Try the Shaved Fennel Salad with Parmesan Cheese, Cous Cous with Fennel, Swiss Chard and Chick Peas, and the Salmon and Fennel with Roasted Lemon Vinaigrette.

October 20, 2025
So Many Things to Enjoy
by Linda Dansbury

The choices of what can be prepared and enjoyed with all of these veggies seems almost endless. Enjoy your harvest - it's about as diverse as you will ever see at this time of the year. Here are a few things I enjoyed this past week:

Bok choy, Swiss chard, cabbage, sweet and hot peppers, onions, turnips - made a large stir fry that was very greens centric. It was delicious for a warm fall night.

Beets, arugula, turnips - roasted the beets, made a simple Dijon vinaigrette, mixed everything together, topped with chopped pistachios and goat cheese. A very delicious fall salad.

Potatoes, leeks, tomatoes, parsley, carrots - made BLT and P soup. Since there are still tomatoes, instead of using canned, I just diced up the tomatoes I have. I also still have a few carrots from earlier harvests. Very delicious for a chilly night.

Potatoes, onions, winter squash, peppers - roasted a large tray of veggies. Ate some with dinner and then the leftovers went into a frittata the next night. A full meal with the frittata, a nice loaf of bread and a large delicious salad!

Squash, kale, onion, garlic - made the Roasted Butternut Squash and Kale Salad with Lemony Tahini Dressing - hadn't made this in a few years and it was so good!

October 20, 2025
Welcoming Newcomers
by Farmer Derek

Harvest #25 (Week A) should include sweet potatoes, cabbage, onions, celery, fennel, kohlrabi, lettuce, Italian dandelion, Swiss chard, green peppers, tomatoes, hot peppers, beets, hakurei turnips, salad radishes, arugula, bok choy, komatsuna, and kale. Some items will be a choice.

U-pick should include herbs and flowers (bring scissors and a container for your bouquet).

October 20, 2025
What's Left
by Farmer Derek

With four more weeks of CSA shares to harvest, wash, and distribute, it's up to us to do our best to empty the fields and tunnels of delectable fall produce while it's in peak condition. Fortunately with cool and crisp weather, fall crops tend to be able to bide their time in the fields just fine. We simply don't have the storage capacity to retrieve everything that's currently harvest-ready. The plants are alive and thriving outside, tethered to the soil through their root systems, basking in the sun, soaking up the rays of our distant star. Almost everything in the fields will completely tolerate temperatures down into the mid/upper-20s, which probably won't happen for a little while. They've already experience a couple light frosts, which is good practice. Mature lettuces are probably the most sensitive, but we should have them out of the fields before a heavy frost occurs. Cold exposure actually makes all of the greens sweeter.

October 20, 2025
Workshifts this Week (10/20/25)
by Farmer Derek

This week's workshift schedule:

Bring gloves, water, a hat, sturdy shoes, and a pad for kneeling (if necessary for you).

We meet under the large red maple at the end of the barn by the pick up room.

Please be there by the scheduled start time (it might be hard to find us in the fields otherwise).

Workshift Guidelines - Workshift Sign Up Instructions

October 13, 2025
Time to Roast
by Linda Dansbury

Fall is finally here and rainy cool days are perfect for roasting and simmering. The smell of slow cooking food wafting through the house makes one almost forget that it isn't nice outside. Here are a few things I enjoyed recently.

Tomatoes - I know the season has now ended, but I had a lot of tomatoes threatening to go bad on my kitchen counter and didn't want to freeze them. Making tomato paste takes awhile but is fairly simple to do and tastes way better than the store bought canned varieties. Quarter the tomatoes and place in a pot and cook until soft and the skins are coming off. Run the tomatoes through a food mill (a worthwhile investment, as I use it when making sauce and jelly) and discard the seeds and skins (add to compost). Pour the pulp into a roasting pan or deep cookie sheet depending on how much you have and place in a 350 degree oven. Cook down until it is very thick and no liquid is coming out of it. Stir every hour or so, until it starts to thicken and then stir more often so it doesn't burn. When finished, place in small containers, label and freeze.

Potatoes, leeks, peppers, broccoli, beets - roasted a bunch of veggies at about 375 degrees. I just drizzled with olive oil, added a little salt and pepper and a few sprigs of thyme. Roasted until tender and slightly charred, about 40 minutes. Very yummy and leftovers were added to pasta with olive oil, a dash of balsamic vinegar and some grated cheese.

Onion, garlic, sweet and hot peppers, Swiss chard - made a delicious coconut curry sauce for fish, but it also would have been good with chicken. I have added the recipe to this site: Turmeric-Coconut Snapper (or chicken) Recipe

October 13, 2025
Autumn is for Greens!
by Farmer Derek

Harvest #24 (Week B) should include napa/chinese cabbage, winter squash (autumn frost, butternut), onions, lettuce, Italian dandelion, Swiss chard, green peppers, tomatoes, hot peppers, potatoes, beets, hakurei turnips, salad radishes, arugula, bok choy, komatsuna, and kale. Some items will be a choice.

U-pick should include herbs and flowers (bring scissors and a container for your bouquet).

October 13, 2025
Workshifts this Week (10/13/25)
by Farmer Derek

This week's workshift schedule:

Bring gloves, water, a hat, sturdy shoes, and a pad for kneeling (if necessary for you).

We meet under the large red maple at the end of the barn by the pick up room.

Please be there by the scheduled start time (it might be hard to find us in the fields otherwise).

Workshift Guidelines - Workshift Sign Up Instructions

October 13, 2025
Amidst Changing Seasons
by Farmer Derek

These cooler temperatures and damp, rainy weather are a subtle reminder that we're inching closer to the end of the 2025 CSA season. Including this week (#23), there are five more weeks of pick up (through #28). Fall fields are full of robust crops so it should be a bountiful end to the season. The final weekend of CSA pick up is 11/15 and most likely we'll host a couple flash share sales between then and the holidays.

Very soon we'll turn the page and begin planning and making purchases for next season, as well as reflecting on the successes and failures of this year. Mentally I'm not quite ready to do that just yet. I think that probably coincides with the wood stove and heating season.

Field space that we are actively managing continues to shrink. Last week we harvested the last of green and hot peppers as well as eggplant and sowed a cover crop there. Probably about 90% of field space is now home to a cover crop to nourish and protect the soil during the offseason. It's possible we're done sowing cover crops for the season if the weather doesn't permit us to get one down when additional space is open after most fall crops are removed. This late in the season the only species we can safely sow are winter rye and hairy vetch, which overwinter and grow quickly in the spring. We'll have to decide if it's worth mowing crop residue and disturbing soil to prepare space for the cover, or if it would be safer to leave crop residue and weeds in place to protect the soil over the winter.

October 6, 2025
Transitioning to fall...still
by Linda Dansbury

The temps have felt more like Labor Day weekend than Octoberfest! Based on the calendar, should be preparing warming foods, but, I guess that will come soon. In the meantime, here are a few things I enjoyed with my harvest.

Tomatoes - although I am still adding them to salads, this time of year I am not making them the main event so I am not using them all up. So, I freeze them. Some I just freeze whole in freezer bags, labeling them with the date. Somewhere down the road I will make them into sauce or if a recipe calls for whole canned tomatoes, I can use my frozen ones. When they thaw, the skin peels right off so no need to do that prior to freezing. Some can be diced up and frozen in 1 cup portions. A lot of recipes (that I use) call for diced tomatoes. Online recipes call for doing some real work and cooking them for a period of time, but I have found that if I cut them up, remove as much skin as I can, take most of the seeds out and dice them and freeze, they are great to use later.

Basil, garlic - made a large batch of Pistou and froze it in small containers.

Leeks, potatoes, turnips - we roasted a whole chicken and placed the veggies (cut up into pieces) under the chicken. The veggies cook beautifully this way and are so delicious!

Autumn frost squash, peppers, tomatoes, leek, garlic - made the Southwestern Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe on this site. I did modify it somewhat based on what I had on hand, but these little squash we are receiving are perfect for stuffing so I had to try it - yum!

Napa cabbage, beets - made a slaw that turned out well. I roasted the beets until tender and then peeled and cut them into small chunks. Shredded some of the cabbage (since I wasn't going to use it all, I took some leaves off, stacked them and sliced them very thin). Placed in a bowl and made a dressing using cider vinegar, canola oil, honey, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper and a bit of cumin seeds.

Broccoli, leeks - instead of boiling, I roasted the broccoli with a sliced leek. I tossed them with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted in a 375 oven until tender and a bit brown around the edges. Served with a grating of parm cheese. Very yummy. There was some left and I chopped it up finer and tossed with some leftover rice. So good leftover too.

October 6, 2025
Awesome Autumn
by Farmer Derek

Harvest #23 (Week A) should include napa/chinese cabbage, winter squash (autumn frost, butternut), leeks and/or onions, lettuce, Italian dandelion, Swiss chard, sweet peppers, tomatoes, hot peppers, potatoes, beets, hakurei turnips, salad radishes, arugula, and kale. Some items will be a choice.

U-pick should include herbs and flowers (bring scissors and a container for your bouquet).

October 6, 2025
Workshifts this Week (10/6/25)
by Farmer Derek

This week's workshift schedule:

Bring gloves, water, a hat, sturdy shoes, and a pad for kneeling (if necessary for you).

We meet under the large red maple at the end of the barn by the pick up room.

Please be there by the scheduled start time (it might be hard to find us in the fields otherwise).

Workshift Guidelines - Workshift Sign Up Instructions

October 6, 2025
Early Autumn Heatwave Continues
by Farmer Derek

We enjoyed a couple cooler days and nights last week but now it is way too hot for October once again. Fortunately it looks like we'll have a legit break in summer weather midweek, hopefully with some rain as the front rolls through. Anticipating a rain event, open areas where sweet potatoes, leeks, and cherry tomatoes grew will be sown with cover crop seeds. Speaking of sweet potatoes, last week we harvested all of them, probably about 7,500 pounds from 3,250 bed feet, with the help of many CSA members. We're slowly retrieving various other roots from the fields, including multiple rounds of salad radishes, hakurei turnips, and beets, as well as single plantings of kohlrabi, purple daikons, watermelon radishes, and rutabaga. Crops are thriving again this fall, loving the dry and warm weather, in what appears to be incredible fertility in a previously fallowed section of a field (see napa cabbage). Always thankful when conditions are conducive to growing happy crops.