Pages

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 18 No 16 Sept 23, 2013



Great Trip to the Farm !
We had a great day at the farm on Saturday planting garlic with help from CSA members.

It was a gorgeous day, just the right temperature, and partly sunny. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day. We planted a lot of garlic, had a tour of the farm and finished with our famous campfire lunch. Many thanks to all who participated and we hope you enjoyed your visit!

Franklin Greenhouse Report:  On the horizon from the greenhouse for delivery are rosemary, celery, oriental greens, eggplant and ginger. The eggplant have slowed down with the cooler temperatures and shorter days.

From the Fields:   The fall crops are looking good and the turnips are starting to “turnip-up”. The transplants of lettuce will be planted this week and that will be the last planting of the season. The backfield greens are really nice and we have a great upcoming crop of chard. Our chard crop this year has not been nearly as productive as in past years. We have planted three different varieties and finally this latest crop is producing well. Our sunchoke patch is looking larger than ever and are almost in full-bloom.

Our late planting of squash and cucumbers probably will not produce for delivery. They have seemed to stop dead in their tracks with the cooler temps.

John has continued to work diligently on the upper field. We hope that by the end of the year it will be back in hay production.

The upcoming apple crops from Hillcrest Farms is looking good. They have many classic varieties. On a special note, if you want to go Apple Picking, Hillcrest Farms in Frankford Township has Pick-Your-Own-Apples on Saturdays in Sundays throughout September and October. They are located at the corner of Plains Road & Davis Road. You can also visit their dairy cows, take a scenic hayride and they have great fresh apple cider & cider donuts. For more information call: 973.703.5148.

Animal report:
All quiet in animal land. Since we have mowed down the brush the groundhog has decided to find greener pastures. There is a family of chipmunks in the greenhouse storing goodies for the winter. We did see the first woolly bear caterpillar at the farm on Saturday. Preliminary prediction of this particular woolly bear caterpillar is a mild winter as the center stripe is wide. Further reports will be forthcoming as the season progresses and more woolly bears are seen!

Weather report:
Another ½” of rain fell on Saturday evening which was needed. The temperatures have fallen and we feel that a frost will be coming Tuesday morning. We harvested the peppers, tomatoes, eggplant in the fields feeling that the frost is coming. The cool weather crops will be ok and they actually like the cold temperatures. The crops in the greenhouses are safe.

Fruit Report: This week are the last grapes of the year from Marjorie View Vineyard. The variety is Golden Muscat. They are extremely sweet, though they have seeds. We are looking forward to continuing to working with Paul next year for his grapes and he will have berries next year.We had a great day at the farm on Saturday planting garlic with help from CSA members.


September 23th - 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
United Synagogue of Hoboken

No comments: