Vol 12 No 9 - Week of July 30th

Awash with Squash!
Wow - this week we are awash with squash!!! So there will be a lot of squash recipes in the newsletter. There will be mixed varieties in your delivery this week.

We started to harvest potatoes with the help of CSF member Lisa from Mahwah. The weather was threatening to rain most of the day which prevented some from making the trip up, but luckily the it only sprinkled off & on during the day. We had a great on-farm barbecue with fried up blue potatoes just picked minutes before.

Next Trip to the Farm - Sunday - August 19th
More potatoes to be harvested - We started to harvest the blue potatoes, but in a few weeks the red skinned potatoes will be ready for harvest. If the potatoes aren't ready, we have plenty of other projects we need help with, such as mulching.
Sunday -August 19th 11 am to ??
Just let us know that you plan on coming up so we can plan on lunch & refreshments and send you directions. Spend the day or just come for a few hours.

Weather Report: We received about 1 1/2 " of rain during the past week. This helped immensely, and the veggies are nice & happy all fluffed up! Seems like overnight the weeds started overtaking areas which were recently weeded, but this will be a project to re-weed during the week. The weather was mostly cloudy, hot & sticky which is typical for this time of year.

What's Up & Growing: The seeded lettuce and Chinese cabbage in the greenhouse are ready to be transplanted in the field. The cucumbers, peppers & eggplant are all doing very well. Looks like the sorrel & chard will be ready for delivery for next week. The newly seeded fennel & cauliflower are unfortunately growing poorly. The last planting of carrots are finally up. This week dill, cilantro, turnips & spinach were seeded and celery was transplanted.

From the Fields: The area were we harvested the onions has be tilled up & should be tilled again prior to planting some autumn greens. Our squash patch is scheduled to be replanted due to weeding up. Hate to say it but - our last planting of squash is up. Last year we did not have hardly any green zucchini and there were quite "rare" among our neighboring farmers. This year there is an over abundance of squash. But that is farming. Seems what was a bumper crop last year did poorly this year and poor yields last year are over abundant this year! Oh the joys of farming.

Fruit Report - Shiro Plums are in this week's delivery. This is a yellow Japanese plum variety. Freshly picked from Windy Brown Farm in Newton. Excellent for fresh eating, cooking, canning, preserves and desserts.

Pick of the Week: Click on the link below (or on the right) for your drop-off location. This time of year the deliveries will be the same in pounds & variety but may include different items at each location.

• Hoboken Midtown Drop -Off
• Hoboken West Drop-Off
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Drop-Off
• Beth Haverim Drop-off
• Click here for the Recipes of the Week

Vol 12 No 8 - Week of July 23rd

Trip to the Farm-Sunday

Farmer Rich arrived at the farm early on Saturday morning and was surprised to see the front gate open. Upon investigating, he found footprints from 2 deer (1 adult & 1 baby) that made the rounds. It looks like they ate some beets, Spanish radish greens and some weeds. Either Farmer Rich forgot to close the gate Friday night or the deer figured out how to untie the gate wires!! Farmer Rich is convinced that they untied the gate! Trip to the Farm - Sunday - July 29^th Want to harvest potatoes? We planted 100 pounds of potatoes in the spring, so it is time to start harvesting them. We have yielded about 3-4x in the past and may yield up to 10x, so that is a lot of potatoes. Fun for all ages!!!! Sunday - July 29^th 11 am to ?? Just let us know that you plan on coming up so we can plan on lunch & refreshments and send you directions. Spend the day or just come for a few hours.

Weather Report: Cooler weather came during the week along with some rain on Wednesday. About ½" of rain fell at the farm, which was quite different from the torrential rain fall that fell further south in Bergen, Passaic & Essex counties. It was just the right amount.

What's Up & Growing:The turnips, black Spanish radishes are doing well. The cabbages are a little spotty in the fields, but should start showing up in your deliveries in the next week or two. The tomatoes, peppers & eggplants will be starting in the deliveries real soon. Our late planting of tomatoes are doing well also. We always try to get a late planting in so as to be able to deliver tomatoes late in the harvest year.

From the Fields:The garlic harvest is finally over. It took Farmer Rich 3 days to finish the harvest. The garlic bulbs are a little on the small side, mostly due to the drought conditions we had early in the season. The first run of blue potatoes looks really good. The onions are almost ready to be harvested. Once the tops have died down they will be ready for storage. Farmer Adam's corn (probably the best corn ever!!) will be ready in about 2-3 weeks, as long as the bear or deer don't eat it. It is starting to tassel-up! There is another delayed planting right behind it, so we hope to be able to deliver some great corn soon.

Fruit Report- Red Heart Plums are in this week's delivery. This is a Japanese plum variety.

Pick of the Week: Click on the link below (or on the right) for your drop-off location. This time of year the deliveries will be the same in pounds & variety but may include different items at each location.

• Hoboken Midtown Drop -Off
• Hoboken West Drop-Off
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Drop-Off
• Beth Haverim Drop-off
• Click here for theRecipes of the Week
  

Vol 12 No 7 - Week of July 16tth

Heat Stroke

We surely had a few hot days last week and last Monday, Farm Hand Leslie suffered from heat exhaustion in the field and Farmer Rich had to get her into the shade. Luckily with the air conditioner turned on in the truck & a few packets of salt later, she recovered and did not need medical attention. Sorry for the 1 hour delay in delivering on Monday afternoon, but it was unavoidable due to the circumstances. Heat exhaustion can happen to anybody and it seems just to creep up on you.

From the Fields:The fava beans have been tilled under & the patch has been planted with turnips & kale. Celery is also going to be planted in this section. The garlic harvest has started. The garlic you are receiving is "fresh" garlic as it has not yet been cured. The flavor will be milder than cured garlic, but definitely more flavorful than supermarket garlic. Dill and sweet peppers were planted in the greenhouse this week.

Weather Report: Super hot the beginning of the week and luckily transitioned to cooler weather thereafter. About ¼" of rain fell on Sunday afternoon, which was the only rain we received all week. Farmer Rich continues to irrigate the fields to make up for the lack of rain. We finally have been seeing a drought report on the news channels, though we have been complaining about it for weeks now.

What's Up & Growing: The new planting of carrots and zucchini are both up. The crows have been picking at the seedlings, pulling them out of the ground. Farmer Rich assesses that the start of the tomato season should begin in about 2 weeks. The peppers are a little behind, but are on their way. A nice crop of avocado squash & cucumbers are also coming along nicely.

Animal Report: The baby rabbits are still about, and some are staying out of the fields. They are content to stay in the shade by the picnic area. A few others have gotten inside the fence but luckily have not feasted on much so far.

Fruit Report - This week the fruit deliveries start. We do not grow our own fruit but have partnered with Windy Brow Farm in Newton to supply the tree fruit to the members. This week we have delivered Flaming Fury Peaches. A freestone peach; meaning the flesh comes off the pit easily. A firmer peach that keeps well. Delicious yellow flesh with a taste like the Loring. This peach is not very fuzzy making for a great eating peach. This peach is great for any type of cooking as well.

Pick of the Week: Click on the link below (or on the right) for your drop-off location. This time of year the deliveries will be the same in pounds & variety but may include different items at each location.

• Hoboken Midtown Drop -Off
• Hoboken West Drop-Off
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Drop-Off
• Beth Haverim Drop-off
• Click here for theRecipes of the Week

Vol 12 No 6 - Week of July 9th

New Crop!

A new crop discovered this week - A fawn & baby rabbit were both roaming around the farm on Sunday (luckily outside the fences). Many people ask us do we have animals at the farm, such as cows, pigs, horses or chickens. Our answer is always only the "wild animals" such as deer, bear, rabbits & groundhogs. Once in awhile we'll be visited by a coyote. We have bass in our pond & very, very large snapping turtles! You won't want to go swimming in our pond if you do come up & visit. [Sometime Farmer Sue was walking past the cattails & heard some rustling - low & behold there was a baby fawn just ambling about. It can't be more that a 1 week or 2 old. A quick run to the truck for the camera to get a few nice shots!]

From the Fields: The garlic harvest probably will begin during the week. Hopefully next week we will have fava beans for the members who have not received them yet. The first fava bean patch has been mowed and we hope to get more fava greens from these beds. If not, that area will be replanted with mustards & dicon radishes. We are leery about putting lettuces in that spot since we had such a problem with the animals. Lettuces were transplanted during the week in the large greenhouse & the round field. While Farmer Rich was delivering last week, Farm-Hand Leslie finished trellising the tomatoes & cucumbers.

Weather Report: There was a tiny bit of rain during the week, and then we got hit with the 95˚F + days over the weekend. Luckily we always seem to have a nice breeze blowing at the farm so it wasn't too unbearable and we arrived super early on Sunday to start the chard harvest.

What's Up & Growing: The turnips & black Spanish radishes are doing well. The dill is small, but we hope to deliver it in a week or two. The cilantro & other herbs are doing quite well. The new beets are spotty, but Farmer Rich is keeping an eye on them. Carrots were seeded and Leslie transplanted more tomatoes in the greenhouse for a late crop of Beefsteak tomatoes. The Oriental Greens have become "buggy", and since we don't spray we may end up delivering them with the holes rather than throw them out. They will still taste good, but not look so great. The Strawberry spinach that we thought was flooded out during that very heavy rain, may not have been totally lost. Looks like some of the plants are making a comeback.

Animal Report: Not only did Sometime Farmer Sue catch the fawn in the cattails, she also got a few shots of a baby rabbit in our picnic area (photo next week). Other than these two surprises on Sunday, the week was relatively quiet except for a groundhog that Farmer Rich had to relocate so preserve the crops in the field from being devoured!

NEW FEATURE-Sometime Farmer Sue has put together weekly Harvest Delivery Tips Sheets. She likes to call it the Harvest Identifier. It will include photos & tips for the veggies included in your delivery. A link to it will be e-mailed each week along with your Pick-of-the-Week email that she sends early in the morning on delivery day. Let us know how you like it.

Pick of the Week: Click on the link below (or on the right) for your drop-off location. This time of year the deliveries will be the same in pounds & variety but may include different items at each location.

• Hoboken Midtown Drop -Off
• Hoboken West Drop-Off
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Drop-Off
• Beth Haverim Drop-off
• Click here for theRecipes of the Week

Vo 12 No 5 - Week of July 5th

Happy 4th of July

The corn plants in the fields at the surrounding farms are "knee-high" by the 4^th of July! We had some wonderful corn from Farmers Adam & Diane last year. We hope that the continued good weather will lead to a great crop of corn this year.

From the Fields: The fava bean crop this year is very poor. We probably will have to split the deliveries from the harvests this week & next between the delivery sites. Last year we had a bumper crop of favas (we actually delivered 3 weeks in a row) and this year we hope to at least deliver some to each site. The tomato plants are trellised up as well as the cucumber plants. Just a few more rows to go and all the trellising will be done. Farmer Rich spent alot of time in the garlic fields on Friday investigating their maturity. They should be ready for harvest soon.

Weather Report:We received some more rain this week - actually just a little too much on the 27^th & 28^th. Actually 4 ½" of rain fell on those two days. It was so intense during a short time, that it washed out part of the driveway and the runoff ran into the lower field and the big greenhouse. Some tomatoes & winter squash were washed away. Farmer Rich repaired the driveway with gravel from our on-site gravel pile with the large tractor. Tuesday & Wednesday were very hot, but the rest of the week the temperatures were ideal to work in and Sunday was just perfect.

What's Up & Growing: The radishes are up that were seeded last week. The rain helped the turnips, beets, cucumbers & herbs. Two beds are prepared and ready to be planted this week. Leslie transplanted peppers, eggplant, arugula & kale during the week. More transplanting will be done this week as the seedlings in the greenhouse are ready to go into the field. The celery & celeriac seem to be slow to start. Don't know why as they usually pop by now. They are up but seem to have stalled in the last week. The first planting of potatoes are flowering & Farmer Rich cultivated the second planting on Sunday. The plants look great we so hope to get a good crop of blue & white potatoes.

Animal Report: A rabbit ate the entire row of kohlrabi, right down to the bottom stalks. Not that anyone really goes wild for kohlrabi, but we planted it & hoped to delivery it in a few weeks. Luckily, no other animal invaders have created havoc in the fields this past week and we hope it will stay that way.

Pick of the Week: Click on the link below (or on the right) for your drop-off location. This time of year the deliveries will be the same in pounds & variety but may include different items at each location.

• Hoboken Midtown Drop -Off
• Hoboken West Drop-Off
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Drop-Off
• Beth Haverim Drop-off
• Click here for theRecipes of the Week