Volume 15 - No 21 - Week of October 25th

Last Delivery of the Season

The season has come to an end. We hope you were pleased with the seasonal produce and we thank you all for your support of our small farm.

The year was difficult being a drought year, but more manageable than last year which was too wet. Many crops did much better than prior years such as the peppers & eggplant. Conversely some crops did not so well such as broccoli and other brassicas. There were crop failures as well.

If you have any ideas for different veggies you would like to see next year, just send us an e-mail and we will look through our seed catalogs in January as we prepare our large seed order for 2011.

We had a great trip to the farm on Sunday and CSA members & families helped plant garlic. It was a nice warm day, with partly sunny skies. We started by "popping" the garlic cloves from the blub, and then went into the back field to plant & mulch. We followed this by Farmer Sue's famous lunch which included: Red Cabbage & Sunchoke Coleslaw, Roasted Blue Potatoes & Onions, Veggie Medley & Rice Bake, Spaghetti Squash, Lasagna, Hot Dogs, Roasted Zucchini, Fresh picked salad & Roasted garlic.

We do hope we have a better garlic year for the 2011 season. Thank you to all who came to help and hope that you enjoyed the day at the farm.

Some news that never made prior newsletters was Farmer Rich helping with starting a garden at The Hoboken Dual Language Charter School on Jefferson. We started some lettuce, rosemary & thyme plants and they seeded some radishes and all was going well for the budding farmers until they received a hail storm. A future project for the school is to have the students make birdhouses and paint them anyway that they want. We would then put up the birdhouses on the farm as you can never have enough birds around to help with insect control. We do plan on assisting them again in the spring. We also are going to the Bethlehem Early Learning Center in Ridgewood to talk with the preschoolers about what grows on the farm.

From the Fields:The fields are all shut down now that the season is over and are being cleaned up for next year. The greenhouse in Franklin has also been fully harvested and will be closed up until March. The greenhouses on the farm are in need of some repair which will keep Farmer Rich busy during the off-season.

Weather Report: Another frost hit the fields on Friday which was the heaviest one to date and it was surely a COLD morning. Fortunately, the greens in the greenhouse were not affected. The weekend was gorgeous and a great way to end the harvest year harvesting on a bright sunny day on Saturday and then Hannah & Lisa finished the harvest before our Trip to the Farm started on Sunday.

Animal report: No problems in animal land this past week. We do hear the geese overhead heading south for the winter and Farmer Rich has seen the robins in flocks as well. Though not as noisy as the geese, they too must be migrating to a warmer climate.

Fruit Delivery:Tonight's delivery we have some late season apples from Windy Brow Farm. Depending on your delivery site, you will be receiving either Greenings or Melrose apples.

Thanks to all CSA members for your continued support.

End of Season Potluck Dinner

Hosted by the Hoboken Midtown CSA group, but All CSA members are invited. November 6^th @ 7:30 pm

The Yankee Clipper Boat - owned by Victoria & Richard MacKenzie-Childs anchored in the Hudson River off Sinatra Drive, Hoboken

Directions:From the Hoboken Historical Museum (1301 Hudson Street), walk toward the Hudson River, thru Shipyard Park, onto Sinatra Drive sidewalk. Enter and exit through the Iron Gate in the railing to Shipyard dog run Walk through the Shipyard dog run. Close dog run gates behind you and if a dog is present, check with the owner before entering. Step onto Pier and walk to end to go on board. NOTE:Unfortunately, the boat is not child-friendly and not set up for the safety of children under under12. Only Children 12 years and older will be able to attend.

ALSO - NO LIQUOR is ALLOWED on the Yankee Clipper Boat. Please do not bring any wine, beer or liquor the evening of the Pot Luck dinner. Thank you!!!

Please RSVP by October 25^th to Valerie D'Antonio (see your weekly newsletter for contact info)

She will be coordinating three categories of dishes: -appetizers -main dishes -desserts

If possible, please contact her as soon as you can with the dish you will be bringing so that there will be a good variety. It is great to get together at the end of the season and to meet many of you who enjoy the harvests each week that we don't get to see on delivery day. We hope that many of you can make it.

Week of October 25th - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken

Volume 15 - No 20 - Week of October 18th

Next Week - Last Delivery of the Season

What a way to lead into the end of the season with a heavy frost & high winds. Fortunately there is only 1 week to go!

The force of the high winds on Saturday caught a small hole in the middle greenhouse and turned the small hole into a huge one, ripping about 1/3 of the plastic off the greenhouse. It was overdue for replacement, so this will prompt us to replace it during the off season.

As we were driving to Hoboken on Sunday morning for the Garlic Fest, the crew called in to report a heavy frost which affected a few of the fields. They were ready to harvest some of the greens, but had to wait until it warmed up as the mustards were almost frozen. The late greens actually like it cold and are considered "cold hardy" plants.

It was great to see many CSA members at the Garlic Fest in Hoboken on Sunday. What a beautiful Sunday afternoon it was and everyone enjoyed the tasting. We also brought some of Shawna's jarred goodies to taste as well and everyone loved her zucchini bread, apple breads, jams, chutneys and especially a red pepper garlic spread.

The garlic in tonight's delivery is Spanish Roja and it perhaps the most popular garlic at our tastings and on Sunday it was as well. It was actually voted the "People's Choice" of garlic at our Olde Lafayette Village tasting 2 weeks ago. We'll have to remember to have a vote for your favorite garlic next year in Hoboken to see which of the varieties people really like!

The Spanish Roja Garlic is a very potent variety to most. It also makes an excellent roaster which will tone down the "fire". If you eat it raw, the flavor is quite sharp and "spicy", so be prepared!!!

What's up & growing:The season is winding down with just 1 more delivery. We harvested the potatoes that were planted by CSA member help during the trip to the farm in July. They will be filtered into the delivery sites next week. The interesting thing about them is that the potato plants never flowered; they just produced the potatoes, unlike spring planted potatoes which do flower. They actually did rather well for being planted so late!

Weather Report: About 1/2" of rain fell during the week, but the high winds were the story of the week. Temperatures are remaining seasonal to warm for this time of year. Actually the first frost of the season was later than last year.

Animal report: A deer broke into the middle field and decided to eat the tips of the remaining tomato plants. Either the same or another deer broke into the field in the same spot about 2 weeks ago. We have since fixed that section of fencing and hope it is secure for next year.

TRIP to the FARM-Help Plant Garlic

Sunday October 24^th. 11 am - ??

Want to spend a day in the country and help us on the farm? We are scheduling our next work day at the farm to be a garlic planting day. Help us plant garlic for the 2011 season. We picked up some new varieties for other local farmers to plant over the weekend at the Garlic Gathering in Olde Lafayette Village. Some of them include: Porcelain, Romanian Red and German Red

· Who - CSA members, families, friends

· What - Plant Garlic !!

· Where - @ Catalpa Ridge Farm in Wantage

· When - October 24^th, starting at 11 am

· Why - visit the farm to help out

Just RSVP via e-mailso we can send you directions, as well as plan on refreshments & lunch.

Fruit Delivery:Tonight's delivery we have some late season apples from Windy Brow Farm. Depending on your delivery site, you will be receiving either Melrose or Mutsu apples. Melrose, (the official apple of Ohio) looks like a vintage apple, but surprisingly, it only dates back to WWII. It's a cross between a Jonathan and a Red Delicious. Good in the kitchen since it stays firm with cooking and it doesn't need much sweetener. Mutso (also known as Crispin), is a cross between the Golden Delicious & the Indo, and arrived in the USA in the late 1940's. Its generous size & appealing color attract you to what lies within...a crisp, white, juicy flesh, with just a touch of tartness.

Last Delivery of the Season will be: The Week of October 25^th

End of Season Potluck Dinner

Hosted by the Hoboken Midtown CSA group, but All CSA members are invited. November 6^th @ 7:30 pm

The Yankee Clipper Boat - owned by Victoria & Richard MacKenzie-Childs anchored in the Hudson River off Sinatra Drive, Hoboken

Directions:From the Hoboken Historical Museum (1301 Hudson Street), walk toward the Hudson River, thru Shipyard Park, onto Sinatra Drive sidewalk. Enter and exit through the Iron Gate in the railing to Shipyard dog run Walk through the Shipyard dog run. Close dog run gates behind you and if a dog is present, check with the owner before entering. Step onto Pier and walk to end to go on board. NOTE:Unfortunately, the boat is not child-friendly and not set up for the safety of children under under12. Only Children 12 years and older will be able to attend.

ALSO - NO LIQUOR is ALLOWED on the Yankee Clipper Boat. Please do not bring any wine, beer or liquor the evening of the Pot Luck dinner. Thank you!!!

Please RSVP by October 25^th to Valerie D'Antonio (see your weekly newsletter for contact info)

She will be coordinating three categories of dishes: -appetizers -main dishes -desserts

If possible, please contact her as soon as you can with the dish you will be bringing so that there will be a good variety. It is great to get together at the end of the season and to meet many of you who enjoy the harvests each week that we don't get to see on delivery day. We hope that many of you can make it.

Week of October 18th - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken

Volume 15 - No 19 - Week of October 11th

Abundant Sunshine !

The weather was gorgeous the later part of the week with a stunning Saturday/Sunday to harvest the deliveries. There was a frost warning on Sunday morning for Sussex County. There was a heavy frost from Franklin (where we have 1 greenhouse) to Farmer Diane's, but fortunately NO frost at the farm!! The warm weather crops are winding down anyway, so it would not have been the end of the world if we did get frosted.

The crew has removed all the stakes from the fields and is diligently working on getting all the plastic up from the beds. Most of the beds where we plan on planting the garlic have been fully harvested, so we need to till it for the October 24^th trip to the farm.

What's up & growing: We have two more weeks for the deliveries, as long as we don't get a freeze or a snowstorm. Lettuce, leeks, red mustard, chard, potatoes, onions, carrots and herbs are all slated to be harvested for the last 2 weeks.

Weather Report: The temperatures have been cooler since the big rain, more like autumn. We need our jackets and gloves in the am then can unlayer in the afternoon. More rain is in the forecast for the middle of the week. Just about 1/2" of rain fell last week. Just enough to keep everything perked up.

Animal report: The Wooly Bear Caterpillar is in!

This has become an annual part of the newsletter for the past 14 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. This year, 3 out of 3 Wooly Bear caterpillars seen have wild center stripes, so perhaps a mild winter?


TRIP to the FARM-Help Plant Garlic

Sunday October 24^th. 11 am - ??

Want to spend a day in the country and help us on the farm? We are scheduling our next work day at the farm to be a garlic planting day. Help us plant garlic for the 2011 season. We picked up some new varieties for other local farmers to plant over the weekend at the Garlic Gathering in Olde Lafayette Village. Some of them include: Porcelain, Romanian Red and German Red

• Who - CSA members, families, friends
• What - Plant Garlic !!
• Where - @ Catalpa Ridge Farm in Wantage
• When - October 24^th, starting at 11 am
• Why - visit the farm to help out

Just RSVP via e-mailso we can send you directions, as well as plan on refreshments & lunch.

Fruit Delivery:Tonight's delivery we have some late season apples from Windy Brow Farm. Depending on your delivery site, you will be receiving either Jonathan, Empire or Fortune Apples. The Jonathan was first discovered in Ulster County, NY in the early 1800's. Its popularity has grown due to its use in several well-known crosses (Jonagold, Jonamac, Jonalicious). It has a somewhat spicy tang, crisp, juicy flesh under a thin skin. It is great for fresh eating and making applesauce. The Fortune is a product of Cornell's Agriculture Department and was first introduced in 1996. This apple is a hybrid cross between a Schoharie Spy and the Empire. It is great for fresh eating, applesauce or pie. Stores well too!

Last Delivery of the Season will be: The Week of October 25^th

End of Season Potluck Dinner

Hosted by the Hoboken Midtown CSA group, but All CSA members are invited. November 6^th @ 7:30 pm

The Yankee Clipper Boat - owned by Victoria & Richard MacKenzie-Childs anchored in the Hudson River off Sinatra Drive, Hoboken

Directions:From the Hoboken Historical Museum (1301 Hudson Street), walk toward the Hudson River, thru Shipyard Park, onto Sinatra Drive sidewalk. Enter and exit through the Iron Gate in the railing to Shipyard dog run Walk through the Shipyard dog run. Close dog run gates behind you and if a dog is present, check with the owner before entering. Step onto Pier and walk to end to go on board. NOTE:Unfortunately, the boat is not child-friendly and not set up for the safety of children under under12. Only Children 12 years and older will be able to attend. Please RSVP by October 25^th to Valerie D'Antonio (see your weekly newsletter for contact info)

She will be coordinating three categories of dishes: Ÿappetizers Ÿmain dishes Ÿdesserts

If possible, please contact her as soon as you can with the dish you will be bringing so that there will be a good variety. It is great to get together at the end of the season and to meet many of you who enjoy the harvests each week that we don't get to see on delivery day. We hope that many of you can make it.

UPCOMING EVENTS

4^th Annual Garlic Fest- Hoboken Historical Museum - 1301 Hudson Street

· Sunday October 17th 1-5 pm

Week of October 11th - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken

Volume 15 - No 18 - Week of October 4th

October Rain !

We have been reporting all season about our struggle with drought conditions, which has occurred in past seasons as well. It has been dry with spurts of rain now & then but on Friday we made up for it all in one day! We received over 7" of rain on Friday alone and had received another ½" earlier in the week. It certainly is no fun working the rain, but duty calls!

The temperature definitely dropped on Sunday morning a low of about 42⁰. The record high for Sussex County for October 1^st was 87⁰ in 1919 and the record low was 24⁰ in 1899. I wonder what type of seasons those farmers had!

The crew continues to work on cleaning up the fields on non-harvest days. They are starting to remove the plastic from the wrapped beds.

It was great to meet some CSA members who traveled up to Olde Lafayette Village this past weekend to the Garlic Gathering.

What's up & growing:The hot weather, summer crops are "limping" along. We are trying to squeeze out another week's harvest or two out of them as long as we don't get a frost. This includes the eggplant, tomatoes and peppers. The rain, though a bit much, certainly perked up the mustards, Daikon, chard and kale. Everything that needed water was very thankful. The late potatoes are still in the field and we be digging them for the delivery first chance we get. They definitely will be in one of the final week's harvest.

Weather Report: As reported, over 7" of rain fell on Friday. This week's forecast is for more rain as well through Thursday. We hope that we don't get into a rainy trend as more work is yet to be done with 3 weeks to go for the season. Fortunately, the area where we plan on planting the garlic is one of the driest parts of the field. Last year we struggled to get the beds ready due to a wet trend.

Animal report: Everything is quiet with no problems. We are waiting to give our report on the Annual Wooly Bear Caterpillars, but have yet to see one. I don't know if they were washed away! The folklore about the Wooly Bear Caterpillars predicting the upcoming winter will be forthcoming.

TRIP to the FARM-Help Plant Garlic - Sunday October 24^th. 11 am - ??

Want to spend a day in the country and help us on the farm? We are scheduling our next work day at the farm to be a garlic planting day. Help us plant garlic for the 2011 season. We picked up some new varieties for other local farmers to plant over the weekend at the Garlic Gathering in Olde Lafayette Village. Some of them include: Porcelain, Romanian Red and German Red

• Who - CSA members, families, friends
• What - Plant Garlic!!
• Where - @ Catalpa Ridge Farm in Wantage
• When - October 24^th, starting at 11 am
• Why - visit the farm to help out

Just RSVP via e-mailso we can send you directions, as well as plan on refreshments & lunch.

Fruit Delivery:Tonight's delivery we have some Mutsu Apples from Windy Brow Farm. Mutso (also known as Crispin), is a cross between the Golden Delicious & the Indo, and arrived in the USA in the late 1940's. Its generous size & appealing color attract you to what lies within...a crisp, white, juicy flesh, with just a touch of tartness. Windy Brow offers pick your own apples until October 10^th this year or when Mother Nature decides.

UPCOMING EVENTS

4^th Annual Garlic Fest- Hoboken Historical Museum - 1301 Hudson Street

· Sunday October 17^th 1 pm - 5 pm

The END of SEASON POTLUCK is coming up. It is hosted by the Hoboken Midtown group - but all CSA members are welcome - Tentative date is November 6^th. More details to come…..

Week of October 4th - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken

Volume 15 - No 17 - Week of September 27th

Warm Snap !

The past week brought near record highs. For this week temperatures are supposed to trend to a more seasonable range. The autumn leaves are turning early due to the combination of lack of rain & shorter days. The shorter days are also shutting down the warm weather crops, such as the eggplant, tomatoes & pepper plants.

The crew is working the fields on non-harvest days cleaning up in preparation for next year since all the planting has been done. They are taking down the trellises that supported the tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and tomatillos. Next week they should be removing the plastic from the wrapped beds.

We continue to irrigate during the week to keep the October crops ready for the deliveries. We still have tomato plants in the field and are not sure when their production will end. So far we are pleased with the production from the tomato plants this year which is in stark contrast to last year.

We are working on getting a brush-hog attachment for the tractor to get our anticipated new field in order for next year. The brush-hog clears fields by cutting down larger brush and small trees. After, we can plow the field, pick the rocks (which is just a really great job!!) and then plant a cover crop. As this we hope to have done by November. If this is all done before winter then in the early spring we can put up the fences.

What's up & growing:The winter squash, pumpkins & gourds will be coming in more now. We have leeks, turnips, chard, lettuce and radishes to be harvested in October. More onions will be delivered as they are in their curing stage on racks in the greenhouse. The garlic crop was weak this year, mostly due drought conditions. We went up to the Garlic Festival in Saugerties to get more garlic and look for seed stock and pick up new varieties, but there were slim pickings up there as well.

Weather Report: Last week was another dry week with no rain. The forecast for this week looks like rain early in the week, which will be greatly appreciated.

Animal report: There have been no signs of any of the neighborhood ground hogs or rabbits. We do hear the turkeys in the back gobbling away. It looks like they are eating acorns amongst the stand of oak trees. They are making Farmer Rich hungry thinking of Thanksgiving!

TRIP to the FARM-Help Plant Garlic

Sunday October 24^th. 11 am - ??

Want to spend a day in the country and help us on the farm? We are scheduling our next work day at the farm to be a garlic planting day. Help us plant garlic for the 2011 season. It is a great for families, as garlic is very easy to plant. Just a few extra hands and we plant plenty of garlic in just a few hours. If we had to do it ourselves it would take the better part of a week. We first start by "popping" the garlic, which is separating the individual cloves from the bulb, then we plant each clove and finally apply mulch over it. We'll also plan Farmer Sue's famous BBQ lunch to follow!! Just RSVP via e-mail so we can plan on refreshments & lunch.

Fruit Delivery: Tonight's delivery we have some Melrose Apples from Windy Brow Farm. The Melrose,(the official apple of Ohio) looks like a vintage apple, but surprisingly, it only dates back to World War 2. It's a cross between a Jonathan and a Red Delicious. Good in the kitchen since it stays firm with cooking and it doesn't need much sweetener. Windy Brow offers pick your own apples until October 10th this year.

UPCOMING EVENTS

9^th Annual Garlic Gathering- Olde Lafayette Village - Lafayette, NJ
• Saturday / Sunday October 2^nd & 3^rd 11 am - 4 pm

4^th Annual Garlic Fest- Hoboken Historical Museum - 1301 Hudson Street

· Sunday October 17^th 1 pm - 5 pm

END of SEASON POTLUCK hosted by the Hoboken Midtown group - but all CSA members are welcome - Tentative date is November 6^th. More details to come…..

Week of September 27th - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken

Volume 15 - No 16 - Week of September 20th

Dry conditions continue !

The drought continues for another week which makes our job harder to keep up with irrigating and trying to offset crop losses. We did receive ¼" of rain and fortunately did not receive the hail storm that many farmers in the area did. It all occurred last week during the severe weather that impacted the NYC area the most. We haven't seen much publicity regarding the drought conditions, but in driving in Wanaque recently by the Monksville Reservoir, I noticed that there was practically no water in it!! It is a huge reservoir and I have never seen it as low as it was on Saturday.

The fruit trees are suffering as well. In talking with Jim @ Windy Brow it appears that the pear trees suffered greatly during the drought & didn't produce at all. This means no pears this season L. He also mentioned that the apple harvest will be winding up next week, which is way ahead of normal. He will however, be able to provide apples for our CSA deliveries until the end of the season.

The "Harvest Moon" appears on Thursday the 23rd. The full moon that appears closest to the autumnal equinox is known as the harvest moon. Though folklore has the harvest moon as gathering up the crops for the season, we have our harvests going to the end of October, though it may be a struggle.

What's up & growing:We are just planting for the end of the harvest season to help off-set some crop losses. Some arugula was planted in the greenhouse this week. In the fields the recently planted lettuce & arugula are doing well. The red mustard plants were thinned and are in tonight's delivery, which will make the remaining plants get bigger when grown to maturity. The next crop is expected to be harvested in October.

We are going to be preparing and area for garlic planting in October. Currently there are daikon radishes, turnips and cilantro in that field and as they are harvested we'll be getting that area ready. We hope to schedule another work-day at the farm for Sunday October 24th and our project will be planting garlic. More info will be forthcoming in upcoming newsletters.

Weather Report: There is a just a chance of some thunderstorms this week on Wednesday and Friday, but nothing of any consequence to help with the continued drought conditions. Temperatures will remain comfortable in the high 70's and low 80's which makes it nice to work in the fields.

Animal report: No major problems in the fields this past week. There were a few deer grazing in an area we plan to have a new field for next year. Hopefully they won't get too used to it! Also the toads abound in the greenhouse, which is a good thing as they like to feast on insects!

Fruit Delivery: Tonight's delivery we have some Greenings Apples from Windy Brow Farm. The first orchard in Massachusetts was planted around 1625 by a clergyman named William Blaxton who owned a farm on Beacon Hill in Boston. He later moved to Pawtucket, Rhode Island and planted the first Rhode Island orchard in 1635. Blaxton is credited for having grown the first named apple in America. This variety is sometimes referred to as Rhode Island Greening.

UPCOMING EVENTS

9^th Annual Garlic Gathering- Olde Lafayette Village - Lafayette, NJ

• Saturday / Sunday October 2^nd & 3^rd
11 am - 4 pm

4^th Annual Garlic Fest- Hoboken Historical Museum - 1301 Hudson Street

· Sunday October 17^th 1 pm - 5 pm

END of SEASON POTLUCK hosted by the Hoboken Midtown group - but all CSA members are welcome - Tentative date is November 6^th. More details to come…..

Week of September 20th - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken

Volume 15 - No 15 - Week of September 13th

Splash of Rain !

Sunday brought a splash of rain. Something is better than nothing, but we are still in drought conditions. NJ State DEP issued their 2nd Drought Watch this summer, the first being on August 5th and the second on September 8th. The drought conditions impact us as well as the hot weather all spring & summer. The press release posted on their website http://www.njdrought.org/ has the following statement: "According to State Climatologist David Robinson of Rutgers University, New Jersey is experiencing its warmest summer (June-August) on record since weather data has been kept starting in 1895. This followed the warmest spring on record. Every month since March has ranked in the top 10 of all time for heat, with August ranked 10th, July ranked 2nd and June as the first hottest month in the past 105 years."

Each year we hope for the perfect season, and it never seems to come. Last year was too cold & wet and this year is too hot & dry. We adapt, though it is often a struggle. Even the plants have what is called "stress" during a season like we have had. Most evident was the tomatoes which experienced extra heat stress which led to decreased production.

What's up & growing:We hope to seed some mustard & arugula in some open beds for the late October deliveries. It may be a little late but we should get something. As beds are opening up in the back field, we will prepare the beds for planting garlic. The winter squash crop looks good but the squash are small, due to the lack of water during their growing season. The crew picked quite a few this past week and will harvest more during the rest of the week. The tomatoes are slowing up, but there are still more to be harvested. The peppers and eggplant should last for another week or two, depending on the weather.

With the cooler temperatures the cherry tomato plants in our Franklin greenhouse are finally setting fruit. They have been non-producers all summer with the high temperatures. We hope they will produce for late October delivery and are protected from any frost that may take place since the plants are in the greenhouse.

On a negative side we lost most of our turnips and red meat radishes to pests. Two planting of radishes and one planting of mustard bolted with the hot temperatures. Powdery mildew wiped out the cucumber plants, almost overnight.

Weather Report: As reported earlier, just a splash of rain fell on Sunday and no further rain is in the forecast for the rest of this week. The mornings have been chilly and warm In the afternoon which makes for pleasant working in the fields. This week we were in the high 40's. Farmer Rich has been spending a lot of time moving hoses to irrigate the fields. Basically the fields are dead-dry!

Animal report: With the dry conditions, pressure from animals increases. They look for ways to break through the fence to get into the fields. One groundhog devoured the lettuce crop last week and another one just loved the yellow peach tomatoes! A trellis of tomatoes fell over because it was too heavy which left a banquet table full of tomatoes for the voles to feast on. Next year we will have to make stronger trellises.

Fruit Delivery: Tonight's delivery we have some great Cox Orange Pippin Apples from Windy Brow Farm. It is considered to be one of the best dessert apples ever! The variety originated in England and was introduced in 1825.

Week of September 13th - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken

UPCOMING EVENTS

9^th Annual Garlic Gathering- Olde Lafayette Village - Lafayette, NJ

• Saturday / Sunday October 2^nd & 3^rd
11 am - 4 pm

4^th Annual Garlic Fest- Hoboken Historical Museum - 1301 Hudson Street

· Sunday October 17^th 1 pm - 5 pm

Volume 15 - No 14 - Week of September 6th

Low of 43 ⁰F !

We had temperature fluctuations of between 93⁰F early last week to a low of 43⁰F early in the morning this week. The crew had to harvest with gloves & sweatshirts on for a change.

Needless to say the hot weather crops have either shut down production or are "toast" now that temperatures have dipped that low.

Believe it or not the potatoes we planted late are producing. Farmer Rich checked out the potatoes that were planted the end of July when CSA members came up to the farm for a workday, and they will be ready to harvest soon!! Theoretically potatoes need to be planted early in the spring for the best production, but the ones we planted in July were stored in the cooler and either had to be planted or thrown out, so plant we did! The plants started showing their flowers a few weeks ago, which meant they were starting to produce potatoes. Once the tops of the plants start to die back, that is the signal to start the harvest. Harvesting of them will begin soon, they will be small, but we will get some potatoes from our CSA member work day!!

The hay on the upper end of our farm was finally cut by Farmer Adam and it is baled and stacked by the field that we plan on planting garlic in October. We will be planning a trip to the farm to plant garlic and will post the date in the upcoming newsletters. It is a great project to help with and an easy project to bring up the kids as well. What would take us two weeks to do, we can do in just a few hours with CSA member help.

We are always planning on the next year and we have a plan for a new back field which we hope to get started in a week or two.

What's up & growing:The planned crops for October are coming in early. The Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi should be ready to harvest soon and the additional planting of greens (other than the lettuce - see below) are doing well in the cooler weather.

Meanwhile at our Franklin greenhouse the hot peppers, eggplant & turnips are doing better than those at the farm in the field. This is of course due to the warmer temperatures in the greenhouse and being about 10-12 miles south of the farm where the low was perhaps in the low 50's instead of the low 40's.

Weather Report: Rain is still needed as the spurt that we received was good just for the short term. The forecast for the week predicts perhaps a shower on Wednesday and seasonal temperatures all week. Farmer Rich is irrigating all sections that he can. Some sections of the field aren't set up for irrigation so we have to hope to get some more rain.

Animal report: The deer that jumped the fence decided to munch only a few things and a groundhog broke in and decided to devour the lettuce. The new planting of lettuce was completely wiped out by the groundhog so not only are our October crops coming in early; the planned lettuce isn't left to harvest. After the deer snacked on a few things it laid down in the shade & took a nap!

Fruit Delivery: Tonight's delivery we have some great Molly's Delicious Apples from Windy Brow Farm. This variety was introduced in 1966 by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.

Week of September 6th - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken

UPCOMING EVENTS

9^th Annual Garlic Gathering- Olde Lafayette Village - Lafayette, NJ

• Saturday / Sunday October 2^nd & 3^rd
11 am - 4 pm

• 4^th Annual Garlic Fest- Hoboken Historical Museum - 1301 Hudson Street

Sunday October 17^th 1 pm - 5 pm

Volume 15 - No 13 - Week of August 30th

A Great Day in Hoboken!

It was great to meet many CSA members at the Annual Tomato Tasting on Sunday and we want to thank the Hoboken Historical Museum for hosting the event as well as their network of volunteers who worked throughout the day from set-up to take-down. We were able to round up tomatoes from about 5 different farmers and about 15-20 different varieties were available to taste.

As you know we have been struggling with drought conditions all summer and last Monday reported it was great to finally get a nice soaking-in rain. Unfortunately the rain continued for a few more days after which impacted the tomatoes in the field. What happens is that it has been so dry, that when the 4" of rain fell during the week any tomatoes on the vine basically "exploded". Not exploded-exploded, but they split and are not deliverable. We also had trouble from our farmer network in rounding up tomatoes for the tasting as during the heat wave that we had 4-5 weeks ago the blossoms drop-off the plants so fruit will not set.

What's up & growing: Our last seeding of arugula, lettuces, white icicle radishes and red mustard got a big boost from the rain. They kind of came back from the dead! The eggplant & peppers remain consistent producers and believe it or not the late planting of potatoes in July with CSA member help during the trip to the farm are doing great!

At Franklin greenhouse the Japanese turnips should be ready to harvest in a week or two. The hot peppers and herbs are doing extremely well. Unfortunately the cherry tomatoes are just not setting fruit. We had planned on having more cherry tomatoes this year, but as with farming the best laid plans sometimes go awry. At this point, Farmer Rich is going to tear out the cherry tomato plants if they don't produce soon! Word has gone out to them, so we'll see if they cooperate this week.

Weather Report: We are in for a HOT week this week, but fortunately the evening and early morning temperatures are cool.

Animal report : We had a breech in the fence line, so a deer was able to get in. Fortunately it just nibbles on a few different plants so there were no major losses. A rafter of turkeys greeted us on Saturday morning at the Franklin greenhouse. They were enjoying the early morning dew and didn't like Sometime Farmer Sue sneaking up on them to take a few pictures.

Fruit Delivery: Tonight's delivery we have some great Nectarines from Windy Brow Farm.

UPCOMING EVENTS

9^th Annual Garlic Gathering - Olde Lafayette Village - Lafayette, NJ

• Saturday / Sunday October 2^nd & 3^rd
11 am - 4 pm

4^th Annual Garlic Fest - Hoboken Historical Museum - 1301 Hudson Street

• Sunday October 17^th 1 pm - 5 pm

Week of August 30th - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken

Volume 15 - No 12 - Week of August 23rd

Soaking In Rain!

As we write the newsletter on Sunday after dinner, we have received about an inch of rain today. It was a great soaking in rain as it fell off & on all day long. The pond didn't fill up, which is a concern, but the crops are much happier today! It has been the third time this year that we have been low on our irrigation water. We were only watering critical areas so some of cucumber and squash fields were suffering, but now they should bounce back.

We irrigated the Brussels sprouts, eggplant and tomato plants with the drip irrigation tape. The soil they are in is sandier so even after a rainy day they needed water.

The rain did hamper harvesting some greens for delivery.

Farmer Rich, John & Gary worked on an interesting project this week. Rich was contacted about a month ago by The Delaware Water Gap National Park Service in Montague to fertilize perhaps the oldest orchard in the National Park Service in the United States. It was truly an interesting project as we have always been interested in heirloom varieties and to be able to work on a project that included some of the oldest fruit trees in the United States was something he couldn't pass up. It has been estimated that some of the trees in the park are over 200 years old. This area of the Park is known as the Roberts Farm Orchard. According to the National Park Service they are reestablishing and maintaining historic fruit trees throughout the NPS. A spokesperson states that "It represents an historic milestone in the preservation of the cultural heritage of the United States." Other historic orchards have had pruning & maintenance project as well, the most recent being at the historic orchards in Gettysburg National Military Park and the adjacent Eisenhower National Historic Site; additional pruning is also planned for trees at Adams National Historic Park.

A recent article about the "Living History" project in the National Park Service notes the following:

· Coordination and funding for preservation of the historic orchards as come from the Service's Frederick Law Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation in Brookline, Massachusetts. The Center's staff notes,

· "The National Park Service is one of the principal stewards of historic orchards in the United States. Many of these orchards date from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries and reflect important social trends of the country such as the migration and settlement patterns of immigrants, the development of commercial agriculture, and the growth of rural and urban economies."

· "Many of the orchards at national parks have direct associations with important people or events that shaped the history of our country, such as the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. Additionally, historic orchards in national parks often contain rare or unusual fruit varieties that may be the only surviving examples of their type." (reference www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2010/02/living-history-project-delaware-water-gap-national-recreation-area-required-some-very-sharp-instrume5428)

So our participation in just one small segment of the project took place on Thursday afternoon. Farmer Rich, John & Gary brought up the tractor & spreader and Fertrell supplied the organic fertilizer. Unfortunately, the orchard is in the process of being rejuvenated so there are no apples to deliver now, but we hope in the future that they will have some available.

What's up & growing:We are having a great pepper & egplant year this year, probably the best ever. The seeded crops for October are probably are going to come in early. They consist of turnips, sen posai, dill, cilantro, tendergreen mustard, Dicon radishes and French Breakfast radishes. Newly seeded crops include, red mustard, arugula, lettuce and white icicle radishes. With this rain they should really start cruising along.

The cherry tomatoes in the Franklin greenhouse are not setting fruit. Farmer Rich spent Sunday morning investigating and fertilizing them in the hopes that fruit will be set soon. The plants themselves look great.

We have been delivering basil on an ongoing basis, but there seems to be a shortage of basil among other farmers due to a blight condition.

Weather Report: The week was dry, but much need rain finally arrived on Sunday. The forecast for this week looks like more rain early in the week and about average temperatures.

Animal report: The two fawns visited the plum tree again. We haven't seen them in weeks. They were looking for some plums to eat, but all the plums from the tree had already dropped. We hope they won't want to jump the fence to check out the crops in the field.

Fruit Delivery: Tonight starts some great apple varieties from Windy Brow Farm. The variety this week is the Red Free Apple.

11th Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting - Hoboken Historical Museum

• Sunday August 29th 1 pm - 5 pm at the Hoboken Historical Museum

• 1301 Hudson Street

We'll have many varieties of tomatoes for tasting as well as farm fresh produce for sale from local farmers. Also dips, pestos, salsas will be made from farm fresh produce. We hope to see many CSA members there!

Week of August 23rd - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken

Volume 15 - No 11 - Week of August 16th

Just Enough Rain !!

We had received about ½" of rain on Thursday and more rain is falling on Sunday as I write this newsletter. It should be just enough to keep us going for awhile! The pond is dropping rapidly, down about 12" and we hope for more rain during the week.

We are harvesting a lot of tomatoes and it is a far better year this year than last. So far all three planting of tomatoes are doing well.

We have been keeping up with our field maintenance so the weeds are under control and the beds are probably the best that they have been in years. The greenhouses, which house the hot peppers, chard, and oriental greens are doing well and they will be rolled over soon.

We are curing the garlic, onions & shallots and more will be coming in the deliveries over the next few weeks.

What's up & growing:

The lettuce is almost ready to be transplanted into the fields and we have one more planting of zucchini. We also have some pickles ready to go. The greens in the back fields, which incluce turnips, tendergreen mustard, French breakfast radishes, and Sen Posai are going balistic.

The newly seeded arugula, red mustard and white icicle radishes are growing ok, but they need more water.

The winter squash in our fields up at Scott's are doing incredible so far. We have acorn, butternut, hikori, delicatta and perhaps a few more varieties growing at this point. Not only are they going to be great tasting, but winter squash are so beatiful & colorful!

The carrots in the Franklin greenhouse have not improved since our last report. We may end up pulling them and replacing them with something else.

Weather Report: As reported earlier, just enough rain has fallen to keep us going for now, but we really need more consistent rainfall. The beginning of week was hot again, but the second half of the week was pleasant with low humidity which really helped our harvest mornings. The shorter days mean it takes longer for the veggies to mature, though we are planting varieties that like the shorter days and lower temperatures for the fall harvests.

Animal report: Hannah found a baby groundhog feasting on the parsley. It took one look at Farmer Rich and ran and hasn't been back since.

Fruit Delivery: The variety this week we have again the Starfire Peach. These peaches from Windy Brow Farm are a nice scarlet orange-red and one of the tastiest peaches they have!

11^th Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting - Hoboken Historical Museum

• Sunday August 29^th 1 pm - 5 pm at the Hoboken Historical Museum 1301 Hudson Street
  
  We'll have many varieties of tomatoes for tasting as well as farm fresh produce for sale from local farmers. Also dips, pestos, salsas will be made from farm fresh produce.

Lisa & Hannah's Blue Ribbon Entries on Exhibit at the Sussex County Farm & Horse Show

Week of August 16th - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken

Volume 15 - No 10 - Week of August 9th

Sweep!

Lisa & Hannah placed in the top 5 at the Open Vegetable Show at the NJ State Fair - Sussex County Farm & Horse Show. Lisa was the overall Grand Champion in the vegetable show with 18 blue ribbons and Hannah was 3^rd with 13 blue ribbons. Hannah as 2^nd overall in the herb category with 11 blue ribbons and Lisa 4th with 10 blue ribbons. Renee who runs our Franklin greenhouse earned a number of blue ribbons as well. She won 4 in the herb category and 2 in the vegetable category.

They also had a number of Best in Show ribbons as well:

• Hard Neck Garlic - German White - Hannah

• Soft Neck Garlic - Ozark - Lisa

• Dill - Lisa

• Flat Leaf Parsley - Lisa

• Par-Cel - Lisa

• Texas Super Sweet Onions - Lisa

• Ivory Peppers - Lisa

What's up & growing:

Last Monday, Hannah seeded our last planting of zucchini, pickles and lettuce and they are up & growing and should be transplanted in the field in a week or two. Also we direct seeded arugula, lettuce, white icicle radishes and red mustard which are doing well as long as we continue to get water on them. They should be in deliveries in September. The thinning of greens in tonight's delivery are doing very well and the remaining plants should be harvested over the next few weeks.

The carrots continue to be slow in growing, we don't know exactly why, but probably mostly due to the drier weather.

The garlic is not curing & storing well. Use as soon as possible as there may be some bad cloves within a bulb. Take out the good cloves and you can store them in the freezer for future use.

Farmer Rich is researching why this is a problem this year. Currently is affecting on the NY White variety and we hope that it won't affect the other varieties we grow.

Weather Report: Another dry week and we have to continue to irrigate. The plan is to water the newly seeded crops which are just coming up by hand until we can establish some irrigation to those areas. The pond is starting to drop again. Fortunately it is not as bad it was earlier in the season, but it is dropping fast enough to be a concern. So far we are doing well, all things considered. The heat is not as hot as it was in July and we continue to work full days, starting early in the mornings.

Animal report: Aside from a few rabbits cruising around the "outside" of the fence for a change, it is quiet in animal land for now. We haven't seen the twin fawns for a while now, probably because the plum tree stopped dropping its fruit.

Fruit Delivery: The variety this week we have again the Starfire Peach. These peaches from Windy Brow Farm are a nice scarlet orange-red and taste great. This is the first year we have delivered this variety from them. We like to get the peaches on the "hard" side for better transportation and less bruising. They should ripen up in a few days.

NJ State Fair - Sussex County Farm & Horse Show - The NJ State Fair in Augusta, NJ runs to August 15th. For more information you can go online to www.njstatefair.org to see what events are scheduled for each day. If you go, stop by the greenhouse to see Lisa, Hannah & Renee's blue ribbon entries!

Week of August 9th - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken

Volume 15 - No 9 - Week of August 2nd

Cooler Temps!

We are glad to see July over, as it sure was hot and humid! The average temperature for July was over 7ºF hotter than last year's average and the rainfall was an average of 3" less than last year. Overall, great for many of the crops that love the hot weather, such as the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, but not so good for the lettuces, arugula and tender greens.

We had some intermittent showers occurring off and on during the week. The sun doesn't come up at the farm until after 5:30 am, so Farmer Rich is getting an extra ½ hour sleep! The early morning harvests are nice & cool and even Farmer Rich has to put on a flannel shirt!

The potatoes were harvested this week at our fields up at Scott's Farm. The potatoes will be mixed between Red Norland, Katadin and Russet. The potato harvest did not yield as much as it should have, mostly due to the dry weather. Estimates are about ½ of what we should have been able to harvest, but we do have plenty of potatoes for the rest of the season.

The leeks & squash that were weeded & mulched by the CSA members who came up to the farm are much happier. The mulch is helping keep the moisture in the soil.

For those of you getting the arugula in your delivery - you may notice some insect holes. What happens is that they bite into the young plant and then the leaf grows and the hole becomes larger. The Arugula tastes REALLY GOOD aside from the cosmetic problem.

What's up & growing:

On July 21^st we planted Cilantro, Dill, Sen Posai, Turnips, Tendergreen Mustard, Dicon Radish, and French Breakfast Radishes in the back field and they are growing great. You should start seeing thinnings in upcoming salad mixes.

The July 14^th planting of carrots are finally growing! Carrots do take a long time to germinate.

We divided the chives plants, to plant long rows as well as planted some basil.

The eggplant crop is growing very well and each week one or two delivery sites are receiving them on an alternating basis until we have enough for all the sites. The eggplant varieties we have been harvesting consist of Rosa Bianca, Florida High Bush, Ping Tong Long, Black Beauty and Orient Express. We are also encouraged by the production of our sweet peppers plants. We have some great colored varieties, such as ivory, black, chocolate, purple, golden, fryers & some standard greens.

Weather Report: Very little rain fell during the week, most of which came on the 25^th during the trip to the farm. There have been some storm fronts moving through the area but have been more of a hit-or-miss at the farm.

Animal report: The rabbits have multiplied, but are not creating a problem. We haven't seen the two fawns this past week either. We have our "natural" pest controllers working in the greenhouse. They are small toads who just love to eat insects!! In the early morning hours at the farm we see a number of bats swirling around and when they go to sleep the birds then wake up! Nature isn't it wonderful!

Fruit Delivery

The variety this week is the Starfire Peach. These peaches from Windy Brow Farm are a nice scarlet orange-red and taste great. This is the first year we have delivered this variety from them. We like to get the peaches on the "hard" side for better transportation and less bruising. They should ripen up in a few days.

NJ State Fair - Sussex County Farm & Horse Show

The NJ State Fair in Augusta, NJ starts on Friday and runs to August 15^th. Hannah & Lisa are looking forward to entering a few exhibits in the Open Vegetable Show which will be judged on Saturday. For more information you can go online to www.njstatefair.orgto see what events are scheduled for each day.

Week of August 2nd - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken

Volume 15 - No 8 - Week of July 26th

Great Day @ the Farm!

We had a full-crew and then some come up to the farm on Sunday. It was record attendance for a trip-to-the-farm, outside of our October Garlic planting trips. All our CSA delivery sites (Mahwah, Hoboken, Jersey City and On-Farm Pickup) were well represented with members & their families and friends helping out with a few projects. Even some former CSA members from New York City came up to help as well. We gave a tour of the farm to start out the day and then took to the fields to work on weeding & mulching the leek & zucchini beds with one crew and the other crew planted some potatoes. Thanks to all who came up to the farm - we like the help & really enjoy the "community" in our community supported farm. We were a really "close" knit group huddling under that tent!

Though, late in the season to plant potatoes, they should be ready by October. They are a short-season variety and we are taking a chance that they grow in time, but better to try then not try at all. The reason they didn't get in earlier, was the box from last year's harvest was left in Scott's cooler. They "grew" (the potato eyes grew about 18") while in the cooler and Farmer Rich thought it best to try to get them in the ground. We didn't want to plant them in the spring (which is the normal time) as we were worried that perhaps they may have carried the late blight that was prevalent last year. But at the point of rediscovering them in the cooler, they were in good shape we had no fear of them having any sign of late blight. The day was a bit hampered by an afternoon rain storm, but at least we were able to get some work in, have a nice lunch and then huddled under the tent to keep dry!

What's up & growing: The back field is getting enough water so the Cilantro, Sen Posai, Turnips, Tendergreen Mustard, Dicon Radish, and French Breakfast Radishes are all up and growing well. Last week's plantings of carrots and Redmeat Radishes are also doing well and the newly transplanted winter squash have taken off and are growing great both on the farm and in the fields at Scott's. The potatoes in Scott's should be harvested this week and we hope to get them into the delivery next week.

Planted this past week:
More Brussels Sprouts
Lettuce (which didn't take well due to the heat)
Kale
It was TOO!! Hot to plant anything else

Weather Report: It was another super HOT week and the humidity level was high as well. Rain fell on Friday and then again on Sunday, both of which were much needed. These intervals of rain have helped immensely. There was a threat of severe weather on Friday night with a chance of "golf-ball" sized hail, and the chance of a tornado, but fortunately neither passed over the farm. We did hear there were quite a few reports of severe weather in the Passaic & Bergen county areas with a number of trees down.

Animal report: Fortunately all was quiet this week in the fields, with just a few voles tasting the eggplant, sweet peppers and beets. Luckily the pesky rabbits have been around for the past two weeks. Farmer Rich and John saw two fawns on Saturday under our one plum tree. They were enjoying the plums that had dropped to the ground. We had hoped they would come out on Sunday during the trip to the farm for all to see, but the rain must have kept them undercover or perhaps they ate too many plums and were resting with stomach aches!

Fruit Delivery: The variety this week is Shiro which is another Japanese variety. They are a nice yellow plum.

Week of July 26th - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken
  

Volume 15 - No 7 - Week of July 19th

Trip to the Farm Sunday!

The first work-day at the farm for the season is scheduled for Sunday, July 25^th. We plan on a few projects for those that are coming up. The main projects will be to weed & mulch the leek bed and hopefully mulch between the beds of peppers and tomatoes. We hope that Farmer Adam will arrive this week to cut the hay in time for Sunday. We can always come up with other projects as well.

Due to the excess heat this past week, we had to change up our schedule a bit. On harvest days, we start about 5 am, as the sun isn't quite up and it is the best time to harvest to prevent wilting. Once harvested, we can get the produce into the cooler. By 11 am, we are a little "burned out" and work on smaller projects and try to keep cool and well hydrated.

What's up & growing:The tomatoes, eggplant and peppers continue to do well. The zucchini have slowed down just following the dry period we had. The herbs are doing well and the last planting of peppers that was "borderline" have bounced back. The winter squash are in. We should have some new potatoes within the next week or two. Hannah's cut salad mix is coming back for another harvest soon. The newly seeded lettuce is doing well, but the oriental greens are having problems. The Brussels sprouts are almost ready to harvest. We removed the plastic over our lower greenhouse, mostly due to the excess temperatures, in an attempt to save the husk cherries & tomatoes that were planted in it. We hope they will recover and will keep you posted.
Planted this past week:

Rainbow Carrots Cilantro Golden Ball Turnips Dill Sen Posi

Tendergreen Mustard French Breakfast Radishes Dicon Radishes Redmeat Radishes

We plan on seeding this week:

Kale Collard Greens Lettuce

Last planting of Zucchini Chinese Cabbage

Weather Report: It was super HOT again this week, and the temperatures are running about 7-9º higher than normal. The humidity level was up as well which severely hampers our farm activities. It is just too hot to maintain long hours in the fields. Friday the 16^th was perhaps the worst day of the year, even worse than our 100ºF+ on July 7^th. There was a trace of rain on Friday night and the 4" of rain last week helped immensely. The pond went from being low to filling up again. The days are getting shorter now which means we need less water. Irrigation continues as the rains have been spotty at best.

Animal report: Continued break-ins are attempted, especially during the drier periods. The baby rabbits break in but were not much of a problem this week. Fortunately the ground hogs are staying away. The voles, "in-season vegetarians", like to munch at ground level. Their favorites are carrots & beets and actually destroyed the last beet crop, which left us just with the greens.

Trip to the Farm - planned for Sunday July 25^th

Start time will be 11 am. In addition to some "work-time" we'll give you a tour of the farm. We like to work a little, have some lunch and enjoy a day in the country! Please RVSP if you plan to attend so that we can plan on refreshments and provide you directions.

Fruit Delivery

This week is the first delivery of Plums from Windy Brow Farm. The variety this week is Redheart which is a Japanese variety. The main varieties of plums are European, Japanese, Cherry plums and cross-hybrids.

Week of July 19th - 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.

• Recipe Links
• Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Delivery
• Hoboken Midtown Delivery
• Hoboken West Delivery
• Jersey City Hamilton Park Delivery
• United Synagogue of Hoboken