Freeze @ the farm
On Saturday we received a light frost, and then on Sunday morning we had a heavy freeze. It was probably about 25ºF. It did not have too much affect as we had already pulled down the warm weather crops (tomatoes, peppers, zucchini). If it had gotten a few degrees cooler the field greens were in jeopardy. This is probably the first year that all the warm weather crops are gone @ this point in the season as Farmer Rich is getting fields into production for garlic planting.
On Thursday Farmer Rich chopped up the collards, tomatoes, peppers and zucchini plants and on Friday, an aspiring farmer, Allyson visited and helped with many field projects. These included ripping up all the plastic from the field beds, which is quite a project in itself. That area is ready to be tilled up for garlic production.
Fruit – This week we have picked up Enterprise Apples from Windy Brow Farm located in Newton, NJ. This variety was first introduced in 1993. They are great for baking, eating, cooking and just about anything you would do with an apple.
From the Fields: We have poor yields from the potato crop planted Scott’s fields and the delivery of last week & this week to all the drop-off locations is all we harvested. The potatoes you will be receiving will be mixed, as there was not enough of just a single variety to be delivered.
Weather Report: The cold temperatures are finally upon us and we are experiencing very DRY conditions. In the ying & yang of things if we do get a big rain we won’t be able to get the garlic fields ready but will have very nice greens.
Annual Woolly Bear Caterpillar Report- The annual Woolly Bear Caterpillar Report is in for this year. This has become an annual part of the newsletter for the past 12 years and for the most part has been pretty accurate. Weather folklore enthusiatasts have long assessed that the woolly bear caterpillar is one insect that is supposed to give us some insight as to how severe the winter will be. It is said that if the middle stripe is narrower than either of the black stripes, the winter will be severe. Conversely, if the center stripe is wide, we’ll have a mild winter. If all the stripes are the same size, we’ll have an average winter.
(Photo taken on 10/10 – looks like a wide center stripe!)
Upcoming Events:
October is Garlic month!Date to be announced – Garlic Planting at the FarmSometime in early November – help us plant garlic for the 2009 season.
Farming Quote of the Week: The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools.
Henry Beston, Northern Farm
End of Season Potluck Dinner All CSA members are invited to the end of season potluck dinner to be held in Hoboken on November 1st starting @ 7:30 pm Hoboken Historical Museum 1301 Hudson Street – Hoboken please refer to the details in your weekly newsletter copy
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. 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.
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