foxlinecityfarm

A nice long autumn for us in the gardens.  No frost yet and that fact is tricking us into thinking the growing season can go on and on.  Hard to believe that next week is our final share of the regular summer season.

It has been a wonderful summer for us.  We believe our strongest CSA season ever.  Great weather, fantastic and bountiful produce,  and Scott and I handled the workload.  Just about perfect.  We’re pleased with the variety in the shares all season long.  A few amazing harvests this season.  Our best summer onion crop ever.  Sweet, delicious and bountiful.  The peppers NEVER ended and we have never had a pepper crop produce like this all summer long.  Uncle Jim’s sweet corn was such a treat!  And the watermelons amazed us.  Early season peas were the best!!!! as well as those amazing early red potatoes.  We loved those little personal sized cabbages and early summer broccoli was bountiful.  Our carrot trough was a success with 2 abundant rotations planted this season and the hoophouse provided more leafy greens than were needed all season long.  Another “best ever” harvest was the eggplant.  The plants started producing early and never quit. We had 5 rotations of assorted beans this season and believe we had the perfect amount all season long. Looks to be another “best ever” harvest with the sweet potatoes too as we finish up digging this week. Ginger!  How cool was that?!  We will plant more next year as it was a fun addition to our CSA.  We were able to donate fresh clean produce to the food pantry and boys and girls club this season so other in our community could enjoy the bounty of our gardens.  A few disappointments too…..the slice tomatoes disappeared too early this year.  In the hot, humid, rainy weather mid summer the patch decided to wrap things up early. We are grateful for what we did have just wish it could have been longer, summer broccoli was non existent this season due to a battle with woodchucks we lost.  They thought the long rows were planted just for them and methodically chomped them down.  We still struggle with growing beets outdoors.  We had a few good beet crops just wish we had more. I planted the ground cherries in a really dumb spot (in hindsight) and they were overrun with weeds.  With every season there are a few crops that disappoint but it seems that another crop always steps up to shine and amaze.  Overall we are satisfied with this growing season and excited for next year already.

SUMMER SHARE #19

1 share to go! Next week is the final share pick up of the regular summer season.  The weeks just flew by.  670 pounds of Autumn goodness going home with members today.

Please return any extra green or orange share totes next week.  Thanks!

SNACK PACK

Asian Greens Mix-A leafy greens mix.  Enjoy fresh in salads or saute.

Morning Asian greens harvest.

Swiss Chard-A colorful blend of this Autumn treat.

Swiss Chard harvest.

1st rinse in the dunk tank.

Garlic-Another head in every snack pack share.

Sweet Potatoes-These guys are monsters!  The 3rd variety we planted this year.  A pretty red skinned white fleshed Japanese variety.  Dryer flesh.  Excellent for roasting and baking.

This week’s Sweet potatoes ready to be washed.

Peppers-We picked them all this week.  Enjoy the last of the bounty.

Honey-A jar in every share as a end of season delight.

Maeve and Scott spinning off the honey.

Squash-A butternut in every share this week.  Sweet!

Storage Onions-A few in every share.  Hotter in flavor than the sweet summer onions.

Scott cleaning the storage onions from the drying table.

FULL SHARE

Asian Greens Mix-A snappy mix of asians greens.  Great for fresh salads and delicious sauteed.

Asian Greens Mix in the hoop house ready to cut.

Swiss Chard-An autumn delight. A colorful tricolored trio.

Beautiful chard at harvest.

Bundling the washed Chard for this week’s shares.

Garlic-2 heads in each full share.

Sweet Potatoes-This week’s harvest is a red skinned white fleshed Japanese variety. Huge! and delicious.

Peppers-We picked them all with the cold weather on the way.  Several in every share.

Honey-A autumn treat from the bees.

Honey!

Scott pouring off the honey for the Full Shares.

Squash-A big butternut.  Rich sweet flesh.  My favorite for autumn soups.

Storage Onions-A few in every share.  Stronger in flavor than the sweet summer onions.

Zucchini-A few late season beauties in every share.

Cherry Tomatoes-A late season cherry tomato.  Super sweet but prone to splitting when removed from the stem.  We pondered how to solve this problem…..and picked them like bunches of grapes-stems intact.  These are included in your share unwashed as they are so fragile.  Enjoy this end of season sweet treat.

Last cherry tomatoes of the season.

BEST GUESS FOR FINAL CSA SHARE NEXT WEEK-sweet potatoes, kale, radishes, broccoli (still waiting-almost ready), squash, kohlrabi, celery/parsley, brussels sprouts, leeks and more……….