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CSA Week 24: Mid-October Blend
News
Expected Harvest
Fall Staples
by Farmer Derek
Fall fennel in the morning.
Harvest #24 (Week B) should include leeks, potatoes, carrots, salad radishes, hakurei turnips, beets, bok choy, napa/chinese cabbage, head lettuce, green/ripening tomatoes, sweet peppers, celery, fennel, broccoli, and cauliflower. 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.
Eastern black swallowtail larva fattening up on the fennel.
Notes From The Field
Soil Nourishment
by Farmer Derek
Incorporating rye seed with the disc harrow.
Rain was welcomed and received over the weekend, depositing a solid inch on the farm, triggering the final round of cover crop seeds to germinate. This batch of winter rye was sown where hot, sweet, and shishito peppers called home, as well as the okra and half of the eggplant. The rye sown on the sweet potato patch also will benefit from this round of rainfall since we only received about a tenth of an inch the preceding weekend.
It should be safe to say that we're now finished working the soil and establishing cover crops for the season. There's a cutoff point in the fall where the risks outweigh the rewards of working the soil for the establishment of a cover crop. Plant growth slows as light wanes and temperatures drop and we really don't want much soil exposed over the winter months. From now until we receive some serious cold, the oats, buckwheat, rye, and clover that has been sown over the past couple of months will continue to photosynthesize the sun's rays, scavenge for nutrients in the soil, and provide a living cover on the fields.
The species of cover crops we sow have varying tolerances to temperature. Buckwheat is traditionally summer sown and dies with a hard frost. Oats will survive until temperatures bottom out in the upper teens and low twenties a few nights in a row. Rye and clover will survive our winters and resume growing in the spring. In April and May they'll try to reproduce and we'll terminate them by mowing at that stage. Generally, where overwintered cover crops are grown, produce cannot be planted until midsummer, after the organic matter and plant residue has had a chance to break down some. Where the oats and buckwheat grew we're able to plant our earliest crops in the spring. Overall about 75% of field space gets covered with the winter-killed species, 15% with the over-wintered species, and the remaining 10% is areas where fall crops continue to grow late in the season.
Workshifts for Week of October 16th
by Farmer Derek
Putting parts of the herb garden to sleep for the winter months. The reusable landscape fabric protects the soil on our annual beds and also stimulates weed seed germination (aka stale seed bedding).
A reminder that if you signed up for a share with a work discount you have less than one month to satisfy that requirement. If you're unable to put in the time that's a-okay, just send us payment to cover the full cost of your share ($15/unworked hour. Half Share = 4 hours. Medium Share = 6 hours. Full Share = 8 hours). Now that we're into the middle of October there is much less work to do overall than late spring and all of summer. Thank you for understanding.
This week's workshift schedule:
  • Sunday 10/22 8-10am (probably garlic processing in barn)
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.