Harvest #23 (Week A) should include leeks, winter squash, potatoes, carrots, salad radishes, hakurei turnips, beets, bok choy, napa/chinese cabbage, head lettuce, romaine lettuce, green/ripening tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, and shishito peppers. Some items may be a choice. U-pick should include herbs and flowers.

A reminder that there are 28 harvest weeks this year. The final week of pick up for Week A Half Shares is November 6th. For Week B Half, Medium, and Full Shares, the final week of pick up is November 13th.

Some quintessential fall weather has enveloped the farm, and we couldn't be happier. Sweet potatoes are out of the ground, safe and sound in storage, converting starch to sugar while curing. The yield and quality look good this year, not record breaking, but at least meeting expectations. Probably 4,000-5,000 pounds were hand dug, carried and loaded onto the truck, and upended to create Sweet Potato Mountain in a rodent-proof warm room to hasten the curing process. Close to 2000 pounds of beets were then harvested during Sunday's workshift, loaded in the truck, and unloaded into cold storage.

The sweet potato harvest always takes a toll on my body, mostly in the form of deep muscle soreness from carrying and unloading all of the 60-70 pound bins, but this year we also had to deal with wetter and heavier soil, at least to start the week. As time went on and we moved uphill the beds dried out a bit more. Now that I've entered my 5th decade I realize that a good way to feel young is to remain physically active and in good health. It's also nice to accomplish something useful through strenuous physical activity.

A big thank you to everyone who was able to help out this past week!

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.

Workshift Guidelines - Workshift Sign Up Instructions

I was chatting with long time CSA member Carol Sondesky recently and she told me about her line of skincare products made from all natural ingredients. The revelation piqued my attention as I've also recently realized that I'm aging at an alarming rate and should probably do something to look after my skin. A long time ago, I can't recall where, I read that you shouldn't apply things to your skin that you wouldn't also eat and the sentiment resonated with me as a health conscious person. After trying a few NYL products, especially the 'Like Velvet' face oil, I feel like I have found what I was looking for. The ingredients are 100% from amazing plants (like rosehips and pomegranate) and made in Bucks County. I don't promote products willy nilly, but Carol has created an incredible product line and I wanted to share the goodness with our CSA members.

Carol's quote about the inspiration behind her NYL line of products couldn't put it better, "I simply couldn't understand why my organic food came with an expiration date but my skincare did not."