Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 18 No 12–Week of August 26, 2013

Great Day in Hoboken

We had a great day in Hoboken on Sunday at the 14th Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting. The event is a fundraiser for the Hoboken Historical Museum and we also get to meet many of our Hoboken area CSA members and there were many new prospective members who stopped by as well.

The volunteers from the Museum did an incredible job at the tasting table, helping with setup, checkout and breakdown. They even had a Vote for your Favorite Tomato at the tasting table. This year’s winner was Cherokee Purple.

Michael’s last day will be on Friday as he heads off to college. His has been an extremely valuable member to our already incredible team with Ali & Lisa.

Franklin Greenhouse Report: We have one bed that is scheduled to roll over and it will be planted with Oriental Greens for the fall deliveries. The celery should be ready to harvest for next week or the week after. The Oriental Eggplant continues to produce well and they are being harvested to filter into each of our drop-off sites on a rotating basis.

From the Fields: Since some of the fields are a bit on the dry side some of the newly seeded crops are not up yet; namely the spinach and lettuce. The remaining seedings are doing ok. This week we transplanted some chicory, escarole, lettuce and broccoli. The prior plantings of zucchini and cucumbers are doing well. Our field planted eggplant seems to be in the one part of the field that is too wet so they are behind in their production. We also lost one row of tomatoes due to the same problem. All of the other rows of tomatoes continue to produce well especially with the warmer temperatures returning.
We had some crop losses with the red cabbage splitting from the earlier rain storms that we had but do hope another crop is ready by the end of the season.
A great variety of arugula is on the horizon to be harvested within a week or two. 

Fruit Report: We are pleased to offer again this year grapes from Marjorie View Vineyard. This week's variety is Vanessa Seedless; it is great looking blushing red with equally tasty too! Marjorie View Vineyard is a new vineyard in northern NJ and is about 5 miles away from the farm. We enjoy working with Paul and look forward to a few more weeks of grapes from him.

Animal report: The day before we started to get ready for the Hoboken Heirloom Tomato Tasting we noticed that a rabbit had found its way in the middle field and basically ate a full planting of cilantro. Since that wasn't enough to fill its belly he started to nibble on the radicchio. We will have to see if there is any major chance of a crop loss but are hoping that just a few plants and not a whole row were damaged. This week we had no problems with the deer.

Weather report: Though we have had excessive rain this month, many of the fields are quite dry. The temperatures have warmed up which is especially good conditions to ripen the tomatoes on the vine. The early mornings are quite cool and our field work does require jackets and gloves, though it gets almost too hot by noon. Oh the joys of farming!

August 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
  United Synagogue of Hoboken

Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 18 No 11–August 19, 2013

Heirloom Tomato Tasting Sunday!

 

We hope you join us on Sunday for the Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting at the Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street August 25^th  1-5 pm. We will have farm fresh seasonal produce for sale as well.

 

We managed to do quite a bit of maintenance this week. Michael weed-wacked for the better part of a half-day on Thursday. John hooked up our brush-hog and worked for two days on reclaiming the upper

field above the pond.

 

Maintenance was our top priority as it doesn’t take long for things to get out of hand.

 

We cleaned up some of the beds that have been harvested and started to till them as garlic planting will be right around the corner.

 

Sunday was spent sorting the heirloom tomatoes for the delivery. With the cooler temperatures the tomato production is starting to slow up.

 

Tonight’s delivery of sweet corn is an old time variety (of course NOT GMO), it is very similar to “Butter & Sugar”. As with any sweet corn – eat tonight!!

 

Franklin Greenhouse Report:  Some of the newly seeded Oriental greens are doing quite well. Unfortunately one of the earlier planting had to be removed due to a crop failure. The celery is coming along great and the eggplant have been harvested for different sites each week, as there is not enough for all the sites to get them on any one week. The ginger actually looks better than last year’s crop. A new project for next year will be the mango ginger. Though we planted it this year it is very slow. It came from the Fuji Islands and perhaps it is on Southern Hemisphere time. We planted it in March and it is just starting to sprout now.

From the Fields:   The heavy rains from last week did take a toll on the newly transplanted cauliflower, chard and collards. We lost about one row of tomatoes as well. We transplanted into the field zucchini and cucumbers, though close to end of season, they should work before the end of October. With the cooler temperatures, we have made numerous transplants in cells in the greenhouse to plant in about two weeks in the field. The previously seedings are doing well and the newly seeded radishes, turnips, mustard, Chinese greens, beets and chard are all up. The newly seeded lettuce and spinach aren’t up yet, but they do take a bit longer than the others. We transplanted many veggies this week and are on schedule with our staggered plantings.

The sorrel rows have been cleaned up and we hope to harvest it within a week or two. The stand is not as vigorous as in past years, probably being three years old for this perennial. Before the end of the year all sites should receive it and next year we will plant a new stand.

 

The thinnings from the microgreens are taking off and the fall harvest is looking great at this point. Our arugula planting is almost ready to harvest.

Fruit Report: Tonight’s peaches are from Sonnes Orchards and are the Redhaven variety. Paul at the vineyard said the seedless grapes will be coming soon, probably about a week or two. The apples will be close to harvest as well.

Animal report:  On Sunday morning as Farmer Rich and Michael both pulled into the driveway at the farm a deer darted right through the fence that surrounds our large field. They spent about ½ hour looking for it to make sure that it did manage to escape. Michael and Ali proceed to fix the fencing before starting the harvest.

Weather report: We had about ½” of rain on Monday evening and by the time we started tilling the fields we had no idea where the previous week’s rain went as the fields were very dry. The night temperatures have been very cold for this time of year. We did spend a lot of time transplanting in the greenhouse to stay warm in the early morning hours. The Weather channel showed a low on Thursday of 48-degrees which tied the record low from 1957. The cooler weather has made pleasant working conditions in the fields.

August 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
United Synagogue of Hoboken

Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 18 No 10–Week of August 12, 2013

Another Rainy Week !

The heirloom tomatoes are finally starting to come in and we harvested most of the heirlooms right before the rain. Since the heirlooms are thin skinned they will crack if they take in too much water at once. This also happens to other crops as well such as the cabbage.

 

Our drainage ditch overflowed due to the rain and flooded the round field which has been out of commission all season anyway. In the greenhouses we had brooks flowing in each aisle. Farmer Rich and Michael worked on keeping dry during the deluge and the girls decided to stay home for the day and make it up over the weekend.

Our stunning pepper harvest (beautifully arranged by Ali):

 

 

Franklin Greenhouse Report: The broccoli raab is up and some Oriental greens are schedule for next week’s harvest. The Oriental eggplants are producing well and are filtered into the different drop-offs each week.  The celery is close to being harvested and looks like it will be a nice crop.

From the Fields:   The zukes and cukes will now start showing up sporadically as the original plants are shutting down and the new plantings will be coming on board soon. Microgreens in this week’s harvest are thinnings from our planting in the field from three weeks ago. They will include baby radish and baby turnip greens. This will make a nice addition if you are making a salad from the romaine lettuce you are getting this week.

Fruit Report: Finally peaches are here. The fruit crop from our neighboring orchards have been slow this year. The variety this week is Redhaven.

Animal report:  Luckily it has been quiet in the fields. Only a few deer cruise around the outside of the fence and none have broken in. Hopefully it will stay that way.

Weather report: We unfortunately had a very rainy end to the week with a total of 7” of rain between Thursday and Friday. We also heard other farms in the area getting at least 5” of rain and the Farm & Horse had their share of rain causing muddy parking.  

The seeded transplants are ready to be planted in the field; broccoli. lettuce, chickory, escarole, cucumbers and zucchini to name a few.

The whole back field was planted on Thursday (before the rain) with:

Lettuce 2 varieties	Spinach	Peas for sprouts
French Breakfast Radishes	Golden Ball Turnips	Tendergreen Mustard
Maruba	Fava Greens	Beets
Chard

The previous planting New Zealand Spinach failed so that bed was replanted with the chard.

Wow – Our Carrot Harvest. That sure is a nice pile of carrots!

Upcoming Events

Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street
August 25th 1-5 pm
Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce for sale as well.

August 12th  - 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

Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 18 No 9–August 5, 2013

NJ State Fair through Sunday !

Congratulations to Michael for exhibiting at the NJ State Fair/Sussex Farm and Horse Show in the Open Vegetable Show. He received 4 Blue Ribbons, 7 Red Ribbons and 2 Yellow Ribbons. The Blue Ribbons were for Sweet Peppers, Yellow Summer Squash, Rosemary and Garlic. The girls decided not to exhibit this year. Farmer Sue is on the Veggie Committee and helps out during the time the exhibitors bring in their exhibits to coding all the entries and results in the computer. The Veggie Show looks great and many varieties of vegetables are on display from over 120 exhibitors from NJ, PA and NY.

The NJ State Fair – Sussex County Farm & Horse Show continues through Sunday. Some of the upcoming events: 4-H Shows: Horse, Beef, Goats and more livestock. You can also see the Demolition Derby, Flower Show Judging, Gingerbread Building Contest, Cupcake Decorating Contest for Kids, Farm Tractor Pull, Grand Prix Horse Show and so much more…. The fair has many wonderful events from livestock shows, outdoor entertainment, tractor pulls, 4-H exhibits, creative arts, photography, wine tasting and of course their famous Horse Show. It makes a great day out. More information can be found at: http://www.newjerseystatefair.org.

Franklin Greenhouse Report: The newly seeded crops are coming up and doing well. We will be getting greens soon from the greenhouse. The ginger is also doing well, though we don’t have as many as last year due to problems early in the season. Some eggplant have already been harvested from the greenhouse and are mixed in with field grown eggplant in the deliveries this week We have a some husk cherry plants there as well as some field planted and we hope to have them within 2 weeks. Chinese greens are slated to be harvested for next week, such as Sen Posi and Tendergreen Mustard. Now that the weather is cooler, more microgreens are slated to be planted.

From the Fields: Almost everything that was seeded is up with the exception of New Zealand Spinach. We will probably replant this on Thursday. The dill appears delayed, but it does take longer than other veggies. The fava greens are very happy and are slated to be harvested in about 2 weeks. The Heirloom tomatoes this year are very slow and we hope that within the next week or two they will be more bountiful for delivery. So far there is no sign of late blight, which has been widely reported in NJ, PA and Long Island. We don’t want to jinx ourselves, though! We have ripped out two zucchini and two cucumber beds as the plants were shutting down and also had some insect population problems. We have two beds left of zukes and cukes which should last for another week or so until the new plantings are ready. Renee planted 500 cauliflower plants on Thursday since our first planting was a disaster. We’ll try again! The plants for transplanting; such as escarole, chicory, lettuce and broccoli are up and will be transplanted in about a week or two.

Our previous planting of lettuce (over 1000 plants) did not germinate as the temperatures were over 100 degrees. The current planting of lettuce has germinated well and will be transplanted in two weeks.

Fruit Report: Blackberries from a neighboring farm were harvested last week for Mahwah.Hoboken West and Hoboken Midtown. This week they have been harvested for USH, Valley & Kraft. We hope to have peaches next week, but it is all up to the peaches!!

Animal report: The woodchuck that was discovered in the fave bean patch has not left the back field. Farmer Rich’s figures it has made a new den in that field and fortunately there is not too much for it to eat in that field as the newly seeded crops are just germinating.

Weather report: We did receive quite a bit of rain this week and some was heavy at times. Saturday’s deluge was the worst and interrupted our harvest. The crew cleaned garlic on Thursday as the rain prevented working the in the fields. They also cleaned up and organized the greenhouse. We couldn’t harvest at all on Saturday so all the harvest was accomplished on Sunday. The crew did an excellent job of getting this harvest done when we thought it was impossible.

Upcoming Events

NJ State Fair – Sussex County Farm & Horse Show – starts August 2nd. More info: http://www.njstatefair.com/

 

Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street
August 25th 1-5 pm
Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce for sale as well.

 

August 5th  - 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