First Freeze of the Harvest Year
The first freeze of the harvest year occurred on Saturday am. We had a low of 26°F. Fortunately, our local weather predicted the freeze warning so the crew was out harvesting everything that would be affected by the freeze. All the peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and other warm season crops were harvested so we didn’t have to worry about losing too much. We went from 26°F on Saturday morning to 70+°F on Sunday afternoon! Looking at past newsletters, it is not unusual to have a freeze this part of October. Actually in 2006 we actually had 4-5 days in a row of freezing temperatures. An extended freeze of this length would harm the cold weather crops so we were fortunate it was only for the one morning.
The Garlic Fest at the Hoboken Historical Museum went well and we had a beautiful day. The museum volunteers did a great job helping us out at the tasting table as well as unloading the van, then loading up after the sale. Thanks to all who helped!
We are starting to deliver the Ginger. If it is not in your delivery this week it will be next week. See our recipe page for ginger culinary hints.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The scheduled trip to the farm on October 20th, may have to be postponed as the fields are just too wet to prepare the beds for garlic planting. If you were planning on coming up on the 20th, please make sure that you contact us with either your email or phone # so that we may contact you on the status of the garlic planting project.
Franklin Greenhouse Report: Just a few more crops to be harvested over the final weeks of the season from our Franklin greenhouse. We still have ginger, carrots, rosemary, mixed greens and hot peppers left to harvest. Renee has done a great job managing this greenhouse all season.
From the Fields: The fields are still very wet for us to do much in field prep and only a few fields have the cover crop of rye. We plan on doing some much needed work after the season is over in the fields as well as our greenhouses. We plan on taking down one greenhouse (we are surprised that it hasn’t fallen down already) and rebuild it making it even larger. We have been contemplating putting up a field house to include a walk-in-cooler as well. All these projects depend on how early the winter comes this year and hopefully no Halloween snow storm this year!
Weather Report: A stunning rainbow greeted Farmer Rich and the crew early on Friday morning. After this week’s freeze it looks like the next few weeks are going to be on the mild side.
Animal report: While Farmer Rich wasn’t paying attention, someone decided to sneak into the fields are eat all the parsley. On a positive side a great blue heron has been patrolling the fields and eating the voles, some frogs and virtually anything that moves. We weren’t able to get a good picture as once we get close enough to snap a picture it takes off, only to return later.
Trip to the Farm – October 20th This may be Postponed **PLEASE make sure we have your contact info if you plan on coming up!
Help Plant Garlic
• All CSA members are invited to help out planting garlic for the final trip to the farm this year
• Start Time: 11:00 am on October 20th
• Planting Garlic is a great family activity & very easy!!
• We’ll starting popping the garlic then proceed to the field to plant followed by mulching
• We’ll break for a late lunch (around 2:30 pm) with Farmer Sue’s famous campfire recipes
• Please RSVP so that we may plan lunch & refreshments
Week of October 15th - Pick of the Week: click on the links below or to the right to bring you to the delivery specific to your pick-up location. Deliveries will be of similar variety & poundage, but may contain different items at anytime during the season. Occasionally, some crops are ready to harvest but not enough to deliver to all our drop-off locations. What we do is start to filter them in each week to a different drop-off until there is enough to delivery to everyone.
The Annual Heirloom Tomato & Veggie Plants Sales are approaching fast! 
