And autumn arrives in all her glory….We plant gigantic sunflowers throughout the garden late in the season to shine bright and happily greet us as we work harvesting and cleaning up the gardens. I LOVE! this time of year….the colors are bold and we get to wear long sleeves in the morning sun. The shade cloth will come off the hoop house this week and another big rotation of spinach is going in. Our final potato crop-fingerlings are coming out tomorrow and the sweet potato crop looks strong. The winter squash looks amazing-and bountiful thanks to Cousin John….Joyful is all I can say as we transition to another season.
Happy Back to school to all the kids in our CSA family. It is going to be a great year! I know it….
Maeve 1st day of 5th grade.
CSA #13
WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE
530 pounds! head lettuce, baby arugula, leeks, broccoli, oneida potatoes, no spray pears, fennel, cherry tomatoes, slice tomatoes, mini sweet peppers (snack only), Italian Fry peppers, pizza and mini bell peppers (full only), mix baby asian greens (full only).
Full Share
Snack Pack
Head lettuce-big fluffy sweet heads of summer crunch.
Lettuce at morning harvest.
Baby arugula!!-A favorite-snappy.
Arugula at harvest….
Making my way down the row of arugula.
Washed and weighed arugula. Last crop of the CSA share to be portioned off…
Pears-Had to add these in to go with the arugula…We pick them slightly under ripe so let them sit on the counter a few days…We are pleased we did get pears off 3 of our 6 trees this year after the deep freeze of winter.
Pears ready to pick.
Maeve with her pear harvest.
Leeks-We had a great harvest of 2 varieties. King Richard (lighter green foliage) and Lexington (dark bluish foliage).
Scott hand forking the leeks.
Jennifer “field dressing” the leeks.
A rinse in the dunk tank.
Grading the leeks by size to be bundled for the shares.
Potatoes-Oneida is the variety this week. Great all purpose potato. bake, boil, mash or fry. Perfect for leek soup.
Broccoli-A late season harvest off a small to mid-sized broccoli. Sweet heads.
Fennel-Delicious grilled or shaved in to salad…we love it with beets if you have any left from last week.
Fennel at harvest.
Cherry Tomatoes-The cherry tomato plants are HUGE! and loaded with cherries…we have actually started to cut back on our harvesting as we suspect that we all are getting cherry tomatoed out by now…the lovely “blueberry” variety is just coming in to high swing and so pretty.
Look at the flower/star on top.
Slice tomato-I think this is it for our tomato season…longest run in many years. We are pleased with the harvest this season but can see a bit of blight creeping in.
Mini Peppers (snack pack only)-a fun variety called lunch box. Snappy and sweet and just the right size.
Dividing up the mini lunch box peppers for the snack pack members.
Italian Fry Pepper-1 in every share. Red orange yellow or green were harvest this week. Sweet.
Not all were this big! But what a beauty.
Pizza Pepper-(full only) A favorite of mine….thick walled very sweet and perfect as a pizza topping.
Baby Bell Peppers-(full only)-cute little guys perfectly sized to toss in a salad or accent a stirfry.
Asian greens mix-(full share only) LOVE this mix lightly wilted with garlic. Also pretty snappy as a fresh salad.
Asian greens at harvest.
BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-EDAMAME!!!, PIE PUMPKIN, DARK GREEN ROMAINE, GARLIC, CABBAGE, KOHLRABI, CHERRY TOMATOES AND MORE….
Edamame plants are LOADED!!!! Get ready. 2 huge rotations so we will be enjoying this treat for a few weeks. VERY excited….
foxlinecityfarm 
Oh, it all looks so gorgeous! Happy to see Maeve’s 1st day of 5th grade photo; what a lovely young lady she’s becoming… I’m so proud of her and I didn’t have anything to do with it!
I finally got my garden fish in the mint bed… now it is starting to feel like home! May I leave them out over winter (would be fun to see in the snow) or should I bring them in at frost?
Still haven’t found a good CSA fit out here… still looking though.
Just got back from Europe, 3 weeks and Dad came to. I got very sick and missed a lot of 2 of those weeks, but it was a fun and exciting time all in all.
You sound very joyful and contented in your email. I know you aren’t the sort to wear your heart on your sleeve, but you wouldn’t be untruthful either… so that is how I picture your current state. am I right?
Sending you a gentle hug,
Tracie
Nice! I’m excited for the edamame too!
*Warmly,*
*Linda*
The older I get the more I realize that the things that cost nothing hold the most value.