Catalpa Ridge News–Vol 19 No 19–October 27, 2014

Freeze at the Farm !

We did have both frost and a freeze at the farm with a low of 30ºF. The warm weather crops were about done anyway so no unplanned weather events impacted the delivery.

We planted garlic with Michael’s Boy Scout Troop on Sunday and had a beautiful day to do so. All of the five beds that were prepared for planting were planted with about 10 different varieties .Our soft neck varieties did not do well this year due to the super cold winter we had last year. Three main varieties of soft neck garlics were planted (Ozark, French Red and Italian Purple) with the hope that the winter will not be as traumatic as last year and will produce a better yield. Additionally more than 7 different varieties of hard neck garlics were planted including NY White and Spanish Roja both of which are our favorites and good producers.

 

Franklin Greenhouse Report:  We still have some peppers, lettuce and Oriental greens for the final week of the season (next week). Just a few eggplant remain as well as some hot peppers and these will be harvested for the last week of the season. The greenhouse will be cleaned out and prepared for winter. The stand of rosemary that was replanted is coming along with the hope that we will have a better winter. The prior stand had been destroyed during last year’s super cold winter. That stand had been in production for the last 7 years.

 

From the Fields: A tree fell into the back field and did take out part of the fence. This is on the list of things to fix during the off-season. The back field production was lost during the season due to the lack of water so the deer have been feasting on what was left in there now that the fence is down. Farmer Rich is getting the chain saw ready.

 

Weather Report: Aside from the cold mornings the temperatures have been pleasant for this time of year. We did get about 2” of rain during the week on Wednesday and Thursday leaving the crew to take off Wednesday and work in the Franklin greenhouse on Thursday.

Animal report – A raccoon is the culprit breaking in to the main greenhouse though not doing any damage just finding a nice place to rest for a while at night. The crew has to make sure that they don’t leave their donuts out!

Next Week–
LAST DELIVERY OF THE SEASON

• November 3^rd for Mahwah
  November 4^th for Hoboken
  November 5^th for Franklin and November 7^th for On-Farm pickup

Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 19 No 18–October 20, 2014

Frost is Near!

Sorry there hasn’t been a newsletter the last two weeks but Sue’s Mom was admitted to the hospital then transferred to a health care center and there wasn’t time or energy left to get a newsletter done. Sue’s Mom is on the mend at 88 and we are all hoping for a speedy recovery to get her back home.

Surprisingly there hasn’t been a frost yet at the farm, though there was one in Franklin about 10 miles south. It usually is colder at the farm as we are up the mountain close to High Point. A freeze is predicted for Monday early morning but by then the harvest has been picked, sorted and loaded on the van for delivery!

Franklin Greenhouse Report:
The eggplant and pepper production is winding down. The transplanted greens have come along nicely and are doing well for the last few weeks of the season.

From the Fields:
All the transplanted crops are really doing well, mostly helped by the rain we have received over the last week. The upcoming crops over the next few weeks from our main field will include: Chicories, lettuces, Oriental greens, winter squash, leeks and green onions.

Weather Report:
We received two inches of rain and warmer temperatures during the week. We are long overdue for a frost though we know that it will be coming soon and perhaps right after I am writing this newsletter early on Sunday morning. The frost actually makes some of the cold weather crops sweeter such as the collards, lettuces, kale, Oriental greens – though too cold will make them toast! So far we are not at the point that we have to worry about a deep freeze.

Animal report – Either a raccoon or opossum decided to break into our main greenhouse, though not too hard to break in as the screening on the bottom of the door was missing.

Jerusalem Artichokes (Sunchokes)

From: www.vegparadise.com/highestperch26.html

The Jerusalem artichoke has no relatives in the artichoke family but is actually a member of the sunflower family. A native of North America, it grew in the wild along the eastern seaboard from Georgia to Nova Scotia. The explorer Samuel de Champlain first encountered sunchokes growing in an American Indian vegetable garden in Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1605. In his opinion they tasted like artichokes, a name that he carried back to France. The American Indians called them sun roots and introduced these perennial tubers to the pilgrims who adopted them as a staple food.

STORAGE: Keep the tubers wrapped in plastic and refrigerate. They will keep up to two weeks, but it's always best eat them as fresh as possible for the best flavor and nutrition. Their sweetness is known to increase when refrigerated after harvesting. If you grow your own, refrigerate them for a day or two before consuming.

PREPARATION: Scrub the sunchokes clean with a vegetable brush. Since much of their nutrients are stored just under the skin, it's best not to peel them. Once cut, sunchokes discolor quickly, so it's best to cut them close to serving time, or cut and immerse them in water with lemon or vinegar to prevent oxidation. Cooking them with the skins on may cause a darkening of the skins because of their high iron content.

RAW:
Slice sunchokes and enjoy the crunch they add to your salad.
Slice and serve them along with crudites and dips.
Shred them into a slaw. Dice them into a chopped salad.
Slice, dice, or shred and marinate in a little extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice or rice vinegar. Coarsely chop sunchokes and add to the blender when preparing raw soups.

STIR FRY: Slice, dice, or shred and stir fry along with other fresh vegetables in a little extra virgin olive oil. They will become softened in about 4 to 6 minutes. For a tender crisp texture, stir fry about 2 to 4 minutes.

BAKED: Sunchokes can be baked whole or sliced. Toss them in a bowl with a little extra virgin olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Set the oven temperature at 375 and bake 30 to 45 minutes for whole, and 20 to 25 minutes for sliced, turning them half way through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

STEAMED: Coarsely chop the Jerusalem artichokes and put them into a steamer basket. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Continue at high heat and steam for 5 to 8 minutes. Test for softness. Remove and season to taste or mash like potatoes.

BOILED: Sunchokes can be boiled whole or cut as desired. Bring a covered saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add sunchokes and boil for 10 to 15 minutes for whole, and 5 to 8 minutes for cut up. Season as desired or mash like potatoes.

Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 19 No 17–October 13, 2014

 

Sorry no newsletter this week – Sue’s Mom was hospitalized and now in a PACU unit to get back on track and Sue hasn’t had the time to put a newsletter together. We appreciate you understanding.

Deliveries by Farmer Rich will be made as normal.

Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 19 No 16–October 6, 2014

 

Sorry no newsletter this week – Sue’s Mom is in the hospital.

Deliveries by Farmer Rich will be made as normal.

Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 19 No 15–September 29, 2014

Colors Starting to Change !

The trees are starting to turn color so it is pretty time of year to be at the farm. According to AccuWeather.com; "Experts say the summer season has set the stage for potentially exceptional fall colors in the Northeast, though the weather through mid-October will ultimately determine how stellar of a display will emerge."

We have a lot of ash, oak and maple which does make a stunning display at peak foliage. Interestingly the Catalpa tree just turns black after a frost, which is the "ugliest" of all.

Michael and Farmer Rich expanded the picnic area by removing some brush, fallen trees and overgrown bushes on Wednesday. Farmer John brush hogged the upper field, which is an ongoing project. This will put that field back into hay production.

Franklin Greenhouse Report: Dory transplanted oriental greens and lettuce in the greenhouse. An additional 4-5 flats are set to be transplanted over the next week. We have the beds ready, just timing the planting for harvest later in the season.

All the prior transplants are doing really well and the lettuces that we planted a few weeks ago are already starting to show up in the deliveries.

 

From the Fields: 

With little field work to do as we are caught up, the crew cleaned garlic in the greenhouse. They were especially happy to be "inside" with these cooler days.

Harvesting was started on Saturday and was finished on Sunday, so on Monday we only have to sort it by delivery sites and head down to Ridgewood, Paramus and Mahwah for the Monday afternoon deliveries.

 

Weather Report: 

The low of the week was 38ºF with no rain. The daytime temps were great hovering around 80ºF with no humidity. We were in Saugerties on Saturday to pick up some new garlic varieties to plant for next year. All the garlic farmers we talked with stated how they are having basically the same dry weather that we have been having. Some of the western NY growers lost their crop due to the super cold temperatures over last winter. This included their garlic and shallot crops which was similar to us losing our perennial herbs of rosemary, oregano and sage.

 

Fruit report:

The apples this week are from Soons Orchards. There are different varieties being delivered to each of the CSA delivery sites.

 

Animal report - We decided to have an ice cream social with the crew on Friday with some pumpkin ice cream. While we were enjoying the cups a ground hog broke into the field and ate some lettuces. We can only assume it was mad at not being invited to the ice cream social and went looking to for other treats.

 

Upcoming Events

Garlic Gathering – Garlic Day at the Sussex Farmers Market
October 4^th 9 am – 2 pm (moved from Olde Lafayette Village location)

Sussex County Harvest, Honey & Garlic Festival Celebrating the best in Sussex County and Northern NJ Agritourism, Ecotourism and Heritage Tourism October 11^th Sussex County Fairgrounds 10am-4pm

Annual Heirloom Garlic Festival – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street October 12^th 1-5 pm
Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce for sale as well.

September 29th - 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 19 No 14–September 22, 2014

Autumn is Here !

The autumnal equinox brings the fall season to the Northern Hemisphere on: September 22 at 10:29 P.M. EDT so Happy Autumn!

 

The little rain we received definitely helped. With the shorted days and cooler temperatures, the crops are not drying out as fast as they were in the dead of summer. We do have to irrigate some of the fields.

 

Franklin Greenhouse Report:

The last planting of lettuce and Oriental greens will be done this week. The eggplant and Hungarian Hot Wax peppers are still producing well. The replanted rosemary that we lost during the winter is coming along and hopefully will make it through this winter. A nice crop of lemon grass is almost ready to harvest.

 

From the Fields: 

Most of the summer zucchini and cucumber plants have been pulled up as they have stopped producing. These beds were replanted with Oriental greens. The

sunchoke crop (Jerusalem Artichokes is looking good and will probably start to be harvested in about two weeks. We should harvest some red cabbage for next week. The fields are looking good for the rest of the season and all the beds have been weeded. With the cooler temperatures approaching  we know that even a light frost won’t damage the cold weather crops such as kale, chard, celery, onions and the Oriental greens. A freeze would be a problem, but that should not occur until very late in the season or hopefully after the last delivery.

The back field which was abandoned a few weeks ago due to lack of production from the lack of rain was visited by some deer. They actually broke through the fence and devoured any remaining tomatoes as well as the tomato plants.

Weather Report: 

We received about ¼” of rain which definitely helped “fluff” up the crops, especially the transplanted fall crops. On Friday we pulled down the tomato plants in one field and it was “freezing” with everyone having to put on hats, jackets & gloves. We did have to take a few warm-up breaks by jumping into the truck and turning on the heat.

 

Fruit report:

The apples this week are from Soons Orchards. Jonamac is the variety and it is a nice all-purpose apple. Jonamac Apples were developed by the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station from a cross between Jonathon and McIntosh apples. It was introduced 1972.

Upcoming Events

Garlic Gathering – Garlic Day at the Sussex Farmers Market
October 4^th 9 am – 2 pm (moved from Olde Lafayette Village location)

Sussex County Harvest, Honey & Garlic Festival Celebrating the best in Sussex County and Northern NJ Agritourism, Ecotourism and Heritage Tourism October 11^th Sussex County Fairgrounds 10am-4pm

Annual Heirloom Garlic Festival – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street October 12^th 1-5 pm
Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce for sale as well.

September 22nd - 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 19–No 13–September 15, 2014

Finally Some Rain !

The week started out on the dry side with some rain finally coming on Saturday. The field crops really benefited especially the newly transplanted plants. We were barely keeping them alive with our irrigation. Only about 1/4" of rain fell but all the crops definitely perked up.

Franklin Greenhouse Report:  Dory cleaned up some of the beds and we plan on more seedings and plantings for the last weeks of the season. The ginger crop never rebounded so unfortunately there won’t be any ginger this year. The eggplant have slowed up a bit but are still producing.

From the Fields: We managed to plant more lettuce plus some broccoli and sugarloaf chicory. We weeded the main field and most of the round field and pulled up two rows of tomatoes which had shut down production. Some Oriental greens will be planted and will try some cauliflower as well. The tomatoes are starting to stop producing but we hope to be able to continue the harvest until the first frost. The sweet peppers still continue to do well and should be around until it freezes. Farmer John is helping with brush-hogging the upper field so we can get that field back into hay production.

Weather Report:  We finally received some much needed rain. The temperatures are now in full autumn mode and the trees are just starting to change color. The crew has to start later in the morning as it is too dark at 6:00 am until we go back to Standard Time the beginning of November. The heater in the greenhouse is now beyond repair and Farmer Rich hopes to order a new one this week as with the colder mornings it is nice for the crew to be able to go into the heated greenhouse to warm up between harvesting in the field.

Fruit report:  The grapes in your CSA delivery are from Marjorie’s Vineyard in Wantage, NJ, just a few miles from the farm. This week’s variety is Vanessa. The Muskat’s may be coming soon! Soon we will be delivering apples from Hillcrest Farms in Frankford.

Shishito Peppers  The pepper is small and fingerling sized, slender, and thin-walled. Although it turns from green to red upon ripening, it is usually harvested while green. The name refers to the fact that the tip of the chili pepper looks like the head of a lion, and in Japanese it is often abbreviated as shishitō.

About one out of every ten peppers is spicy. The occurrence of pungent fruit is induced by such factors as illumination, and other stress may predispose the peppers to turn spicy.

Upcoming Events

Garlic Gathering – Garlic Day at the Sussex Farmers Market
October 4^th 9 am – 2 pm (moved from Olde Lafayette Village location)

Sussex County Harvest, Honey & Garlic Festival Celebrating the best in Sussex County and Northern NJ Agritourism, Ecotourism and Heritage Tourism October 11^th Sussex County Fairgrounds 10am-4pm

Annual Heirloom Garlic Festival – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street October 12^th 1-5 pm
Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce for sale as well.

September 15th - 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 19 No 12–September 8, 2014

Dry Weather Continues !

The dry weather continues, but we have had worse conditions in the past. We are not at a crisis point, yet. We are irrigating the main fields to keep the production up and the back field has been abandoned as it is not going to be productive even if we are able to get some water on it. We will start getting that field ready for next year by removing the plants and tilling it up to plant with a cover crop.

The tomato plants continue to be very productive and probably one of our best tomato years to date. It is just a matter of time before they start shutting down, though at least another few weeks of harvest should be on the agenda. The crew spent at least three hours harvesting just the cherry tomatoes this week.

The Sunchoke flowers (Jerusalem Artichoke) are in full bloom. We plan on delivering the sunchokes in October.

Franklin Greenhouse Report: Some Oriental greens were seeded and the crew transplanted our last planting of lettuce. These should be planted in the fields in about two weeks. The seeded carrots in the greenhouse may not work as it did get too dry, but that bed will be replanted arugula. The bed where the harvested Oriental greens from last week’s delivery will be reseeded with more greens for the fall. The hot peppers continue to mature and more eggplant will be harvested.

From the Fields:  The newly planted transplanted crops are all doing well for the fall deliveries. We think that at least 1000 plants (if not more) were planted with crops for the fall. Some of the previously transplanted did get “fried” in the hot weather but will be replaced this week. Aside from some broccoli, cauliflower and parsley root, all the fall transplants are in the ground. We did use up one of the garlic beds to plant some sugar chicory, broccoli and lettuce. The weeds are starting to get ahead of us between the beds and Farmer Rich weed wacked to improve the air flow around the crops.

Weather Report:  It was hot and humid most of the week and the glory days of the cool weather we were having is over. Due to the heat and humidity we started early in the morning and ended our days by lunch time. No real rain to speak of and the threatening severe thunderstorms predicted for Saturday never came (at least at the farm). Just 3/10” of rain fell on Saturday evening which actually helped!

Fruit report:  The grapes in your CSA delivery are from Marjorie’s Vineyard in Wantage, NJ, just a few miles from the farm. This week’s variety is Vanessa.

Upcoming Events

Garlic Gathering – Garlic Day at the Sussex Farmers Market
October 4^th 9 am – 2 pm (moved from Olde Lafayette Village location)

Sussex County Harvest, Honey & Garlic Festival Celebrating the best in Sussex County and Northern NJ Agritourism, Ecotourism and Heritage Tourism October 11^th Sussex County Fairgrounds 10am-4pm

Annual Heirloom Garlic Festival – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street October 12^th 1-5 pm
Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce for sale as well.

September 8th - 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 19 No 11–September 2, 2014

Garlic Beds ready for Planting

The Garlic Beds were prepared during the week and are ready to plant the garlic. First, we had to brush hog the fields, then they were tilled and cross tilled. We applied fertilizer before the final step of wrapping the beds in plastic.Franklin Greenhouse Report: The adolescent Oriental greens were harvested from the Franklin Greenhouse and will be in your CSA delivery. These beds will be rolled over during the week and we should get another crop by the end of the season. The eggplant have slowed down due to the cooler temperatures we had last week. We’ll see if they pick up again as this week the forecast is for warmer temperatures. For those of you who like hot peppers they still are coming along nicely.

From the Fields:  We are still harvesting some cucumbers but they really are finally winding down. The new planting of zucchini are doing well. The crew transplanted four beds; mixed lettuce, radicchio, Oriental greens and chicory. We still have quite a bit more to plant into the beds.

We had great success with planting potatoes between the garlic beds so we are planning on doing the same this year with a little planning as we plant the garlic. We will be scheduling a garlic planting day sometime over the next three weeks and will keep you posted on when that will be.

Weather Report:  Most of the week has been dry and the little rain that fell did definitely help. We continue to irrigate the main fields. The morning temperatures went from the high 40s to the low 60s by Saturday morning with an increase in the humidity. We hope that the predicted scattered thunderstorms for early in the week with scatter over the farm.

Fruit report: The grapes in your CSA delivery are from Marjorie’s Vineyard in Wantage, NJ, just a few miles from the farm. This week’s variety is Vanessa.

Upcoming Events

Garlic Gathering – Garlic Day at the Sussex Farmers Market
October 4^th 9 am – 2 pm (moved from Olde Lafayette Village location)

Sussex County Harvest, Honey & Garlic Festival Celebrating the best in Sussex County and Northern NJ Agritourism, Ecotourism and Heritage Tourism October 11^th Sussex County Fairgrounds 10am-4pm

Annual Heirloom Garlic Festival – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street October 12^th 1-5 pm
Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce for sale as well.

September 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
  United Synagogue of Hoboken

Catalpa Ridge News Vol 19 No 10–August 25, 2014

Great Day in Hoboken !

We had a great day in Hoboken on Sunday at the 15th Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting. We got to meet many Hoboken area CSA members as well as those interested in joining next year. This event is a fundraiser for the Hoboken Historical Museum and has become a “must stop” the last Sunday in August each year (unless the last Sunday is Labor Day weekend).

We thank everyone who helped and the Museum volunteers 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 Orange Sun Gold followed by Jelly Bean Cherry Tomatoes.

Franklin Greenhouse Report: On Tuesday Dory transplanted 3 varieties of Oriental greens. We also planted some rosemary (abit late) to try to replenish the crop that was lost over the winter. The bumper crop of hot peppers will start to show up more in the deliveries soon.

From the Fields:Finally some rain! We managed to till up one section of the main field to plant with fall crops. These will be planted with Lettuces and Oriental greens (5 varieties). Our great basil bed was decimated by a plant disease. Farmer Diane lost her basil about 2 weeks ago and Michael lost his about 1 month ago. We were fortunate to have gotten many harvests from it before it was lost.

This week Michael helped putting in new beds and setting up the irrigation, both overhead and drip for these new beds.

Our late planting of zucchini are starting to produce, though the cucumber plants are winding down. Eggplant in the field are still coming along nicely. The little bell peppers really perked up after the rain.

 

Only the best at Catalpa Ridge. We take a great lunch break in the picnic area each day and our crew really cooks up a storm. Here are some Zucchini Pizzas on the grill that they made with zucchini just harvested from the field.

Weather Report: Finally 2” of rain fell which was desperately needed. Any crops that were showing signs of strain “fluffed” right up. The cooler temperatures prevail and this is great to be able to continue to work later in the day.

Fruit report: We depend on the fruit from neighboring farmers and this year has been spotty. The orchard master’s state that the apples this year aren’t as bountiful as last year due to the horrendous winter. We are working with Paul at Marjorie’s Vineyard for grapes for next week. They are definitely later than last year.

Upcoming Events

	Garlic Gathering – Garlic Day at the Sussex Farmers Market October 4th 9 am – 2 pm (moved from Olde Lafayette Village location)
Sussex County Harvest, Honey & Garlic Festival Celebrating the best in Sussex County and Northern NJ Agritourism, Ecotourism and Heritage Tourism October 11th  Sussex County Fairgrounds 10am-4pm	Annual Heirloom Garlic Festival – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street October 12th 1-5 pm Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce for sale as well.

August 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
  United Synagogue of Hoboken

Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 19–No 9–August 18, 2014

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 24^th 1-5 pm. We will have a great selection this year of heirloom tomatoes and farm fresh seasonal produce will be for sale as well. It is always great to meet our CSA members so if you are in town on Sunday stop by.
Franklin Greenhouse Report:  The crops continue to do well in our Franklin greenhouse and the newly planted crops are coming along nicely. We should have two beds to transplant this week and the seeded beets are already up. Our hot pepper plants continue to produce.

From the Fields:  On Monday the crew cleaned up beds for transplanting but it did get too hot to actually transplant. We didn’t want to chance transplanting in to the plastic mulch as the plants would “fry”. We  finally tilled up one section in the main field only to find it was too dry to put the beds in so that project is on hold momentarily. We did find a nice rock the size of a small car which was a surprise as we have been working these fields for the past 20 years. Apparently, it was located just to the side of the old greenhouse which was destroyed
during Hurricane Sandy and never was noticed before. I guess it just worked its way to the surface.

Weather Report: Cooler temps have moved in and the crew is finding that they need flannel shirts and gloves to work in the early mornings. It is almost like October weather. The dry conditions continue and it is taking its toll on the back field. We just can’t get enough water back there so we are concentrating on saving the crops in the main & round fields. While it did rain in the area, such a Montague 2”; we didn’t receive any.

 Animal report: The only issue this week is one of the rabbits is enjoying a few tastes of kale. The groundhog has stayed outside the fence and that is a good thing.  It seems that there is a “crop” of late baby animals this year. Since it was a rough spring perhaps they all got a late start. This week we sighted some examples, such as a mama bear with two very tiny cubs as well as very small polts (turkey) and a baby-baby deer. Of course the latest crop of rabbits went from 6 to 12!

 Upcoming Events
Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street August 24^th 1-5 pm
Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce for sale as well.
Sussex County Harvest, Honey & Garlic FestivalCelebrating the best in Sussex County and Northern NJ Agritourism, Ecotourism and Heritage Tourism - October 11^th Sussex County Fairgrounds 10am-4pm
Annual Heirloom Garlic Festival – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street - October 12^th 1-5 pm Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce for sale as well.

• August 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
  United Synagogue of Hoboken

Catalpa Ridge News–Vol 19 No 8–August 11, 2014

Dry Weather

Congratulations are in order for Lisa & Michael. Lisa’s Brown Swiss won first in her class, Reserve Champion Senior and Reserve Champion overall in the Brown Swiss division at the Sussex Farm and Horse Show on Thursday. Michael had 10 Blue Ribbons, Best in Show and overall 3^rd place in the Beverly Post Awards for Most Excellent in the Open Vegetable Show.

We have a nice selection of heirloom tomatoes this week. There are many different colors as we grow a great many varieties at the farm from plants we started for our spring transplant sales. Each variety if unique in its color, shape, size and flavor. Some of the varieties we are delivering this week are Pink Brandywine, Carolina Gold, Yellow Brandywine, German Johnson and German Pink just to name a few.

Franklin Greenhouse Report: The transplanted crops are doing well. The eggplant harvested for this week’s delivery are all from Franklin and the plants continue to be very productive. The bed where the Chinese cabbage that was harvested for delivery will be replanted with Oriental greens or lettuces. The hot pepper plants continue to look good.

From the Fields: Dory finished transplanting all the crops for the fall. We hope to plant them into the field over the course of this week and next. The Crew should be planting on Monday as Rich will be making his deliveries to Bergen County.

The basil plants continue to be very productive, as you know with an extra abundant amount this year. I guess you can never have enough basil! The collard greens, chard, and kale are the most productive we have had in years. The cucumber and zucchini plants remain on target, though the cucurbit plants are known to shut down at a moment’s notice. This is our second planting so far this season.

The rabbits moved under the husk cherry plants and we are only finding the empty husks so apparently they are eating the fruit. At least keeps them out of the main fields.

Weather Report: It has been stone dry the whole week without a drop of rain. We continue to irrigate but there is nothing like a soakin’ kind of rain to perk everything up. Michael spent a great deal of time getting water to the back field to help improve the sorrel, cucumbers, leeks, and sunchokes.

Animal report: We hope we don’t have a problem with the animals now that we are almost in a drought condition. We have seen in past years when it is too dry, the animals look into the lush green fields and want to break in. We have been so fortunate that we haven’t had any major problems so far this year with any break ins to date.

Upcoming Events 
Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street August 24^th 1-5 pm
Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce for sale as well.

• August 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
  United Synagogue of Hoboken

Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 19 No 7–August 4, 2014

Sussex Fair Week!

Michael exhibited at the Sussex Farm and Horse Show and place 3^rd overall and received a Best in Show ribbon for a Trombocino squash & Ping Tong Long Eggplant. He also won 10 Blue Ribbons!! Farmer Rich was one of the three judges this year and all the judging

is done with the exhibitor's name shielded from all the judges, so no favoritism is shown to any exhibitor. If you do visit the fair stop by the Greenhouse at Gate 1 to see the Open Vegetable Show.

If you happen to visit the fair on Thursday, look for Lisa exhibiting her cow.

 

Franklin Greenhouse Report:  The crew worked in the greenhouse on Thursday and cleaned up the radish bed. Additionally, they transplanted four varieties of oriental greens which by the time the harvest from the greenhouse started on Saturday had already doubled in size. All the eggplant that we are delivering are being harvested from the Franklin Greenhouse. Also all the hot peppers are in full production and are showing up in the deliveries. Some celery is ready to be thinned out and the Chinese cabbage will probably be harvested for next week’s delivery.

From the Fields: Up at the farm we have been very busy getting ready for planting the fall crops. Seeded & up & growing: 4 varieties of lettuce, escarole, fennel, 4 varieties of Oriental greens, broccoli, cauliflower, chicory and radicchio. Lots of chard, basil, collards and kale are all doing well in the field. The tomatoes are just starting to produce. You will see some Heirloom Tomatoes starting to show up at each drop-off location. The last planting of lettuce bolted so is being replaced with a new planting.

We still have not turned over the garlic beds as we got behind due to the harvest schedule and volunteering at the fair. We just have to get the transplants from the greenhouse to the field, hopefully this week and some next week as there are different stages of growth.

The peach deliveries will be starting soon and unfortunately they are still behind on the harvest at the orchards. We do have blackberries from Marjorie’s Vineyard (local) in tonights delivery. They have supplied the grapes and berries that we have delivered over the past few years.

Weather Report:  While the week was threatening rain we received almost zero. Some areas close by did receive almost 1” the storms did not pass over our farm. We definitely need rain and our irrigation system is working but may be missing some areas due to the size of the fields. The daytime temperatures have been reasonable, especially for this time of year. We have been starting at 5:30 am and often have to put on gloves for the first hour or so.

Animal report: The rabbits continue to multiply with daily sightings! They are enjoying our picnic area and have yet to cause a problem in the fields.
Upcoming Events

NJ State Fair – Sussex County Farm & Horse Show – August 1^st to August 10^th. More info: http://www.njstatefair.com/

Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street August 24^th 1-5 pm

Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce for sale as well.

• August 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
  United Synagogue of Hoboken

Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 19 No 6–July 28, 2014

We enjoyed a great day at the farm on Saturday with the CSA members and friends helping out with the exciting job of weeding. We couldn’t have asked for a better day. It was cool and overcast with a nice breeze and no humidity. Farmer Sue cooked up some red, white and blue potatoes which were just harvested as well as onions and peppers.

Thanks to all who made the trip to help out, we really appreciated it.

 

The Sussex Farm & Horse Show (The NJ State Fair) starts on Friday. The Open Vegetable Show judging is on Saturday at 12 noon and Farmer Rich was asked to be a judge this year. If you visit the fairgrounds, stop by the greenhouse and you will be able to see the veggie exhibits. 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: www.newjerseystatefair.org.

Franklin Greenhouse Report:  Dory, Michael and Farmer Rich staked up the eggplant and pepper plants as the plants are quite large this year. Weeding was also done to get the celery, peppers and eggplant under control. We planted most of the eggplant in the Franklin greenhouse as there is less problems with insects. We had to pull out the husk cherries as they weren’t doing well, though we do have a nice section of them in a field at Art’s farm.

From the Fields:   All the potatoes are not harvested and we have started to deliver to each of the drop-off sites. We will need to replow and disc the fields for replanting. What normally happens this time of year is that about ½ of the fields are now fallow and will need to be planted for the fall crops. Dory has been seeding in the greenhouse for transplanting; Sen Posi, Maruba, Red Streak Mustard (Oriental Greens) and about four different varieties of lettuce. Some of the plants were planted in the rows which were wrapped in plastic and luckily did not succumb to the hot since as most of the week was cooler.

The fruit deliveries will be starting soon. We hope that next week we will have some peaches. The orchards, like us are delayed in their harvests. We started the veggie deliveries about two weeks later than normal and the orchards are on about the same time frame.

Lettuce, escarole and radicchio will need to be transplanted before they go into the field. These plants need to be more mature before field planting.

Weather Report:

It has gone from too wet to a bit too dry over the past week. The irrigation system is working well on the front fields. We will need to get some water on the leeks and herbs in the back field. We enjoyed great temperatures and low humidity all week.

Animal report:

A few rabbits decided to investigate what was going on in the greenhouse and smiled as Farmer Rich & crew stopped by to retrieve some supplies for the field. Since the nights are getting cooler we can only image they are enjoying the heat of the greenhouse. The greenhouse they are in doesn’t have anything in it for them to eat!

Upcoming Events
	NJ State Fair – Sussex County Farm & Horse Show – August 1st to August 10th. More info: http://www.njstatefair.com/
	Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street August 24th 1-5 pm Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce for sale as well.

July 28th  - 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 19 No 5–July 21, 2014

Trip to the Farm !

We have planned a trip to the farm on Saturday, July 26^th starting at 11:00 am. We hope that many of our CSA members will be able to join us to help with a few on farm projects and get a tour of the farm, our new “little rock house” and enjoy a late afternoon barbeque. Details below.
So far we are having a good year with little crop loss. One of our more productive crops to date are the cucumbers and there will be an abundance in your delivery. We have grown about six different varieties from the long thin oriental to the traditional field cucumber. A nice planting of lemon cucumbers is yet to come. They are just not ready to harvest yet. Right now all the plants look good but you never know when the plants just shut down for one reason or another.
We are pleased to announce that it looks like we will have an on-farm walk-in cooler. Matt & John assisted with getting it put together on Saturday and we now await our electrician and refrigeration service to get it up and running. This will be a great addition so we will no longer have to travel to Scott’s cooler about 15 minutes away to store our veggies after harvest.
Franklin Greenhouse Report: Eggplant is being harvested for the deliveries and will start to filter in to the delivery sites. There may not be enough for all sites this week but over the next few weeks everyone will get eggplant. The celery is doing well along with the hot peppers. The newly seeded radishes are up. They were planted where the potatoes were harvested. Once the Chinese cabbage is harvested, Farmer Rich plans on replanting the bed with Oriental greens. We will be seeding the on-farm greenhouse with carrots for the fall deliveries.
From the Fields:  The garlic harvest is complete and the garlic is now in the greenhouse curing. It is probably one of the best harvests we have had in years. The inter-planting of the potatoes between the garlic rows worked out really well as the potato harvest has shown better production than in years past. They are on the small side as we did plant a bit late. They will probably be harvested this week and that field will be planted with the seeded transplants for the fall.

For the garlic to cure we had to make more racks in the greenhouses as we ran out of room.
This past week Dory seeded in the greenhouse for transplanting in a few weeks: Oriental greens (4 varieties), lettuce (2 varieties) and transplanted in the field some herbs, kale and some odds & ends. Additional green onions were also planted
Weather Report: About ¾” of rain fell early in the week which was need especially in the back field. It has been cool in the mornings for the crew to work and overall the week wasn’t too hot for working in the fields and greenhouses. Our drainage project for the round field has worked out well as the heavy rains earlier in the month didn’t wash out our plantings. The main field on the other hand will still need some improvement due to the recent crop losses mentioned last week.
Animal report:  Every time we turn around another rabbit appears. So far none are eating anything in the fields. Some fawns have been sighted along the low lying brush at the edge of the woods. They always seem to have been left in place by their mom and told not to move until she gets back. A skunk was seen in the back after he/she decided to disturb the mulch looking for insects to eat. Luckily they aren’t apt to eat any veggies.

Trip to the Farm – Saturday – · July 26^th – for CSA members, family & friends who would like to drive up and help with a few projects.
Start Time: 11:00 am on July 26^th
· Get a tour of the farm as well and we will break for a late lunch (around 2:30 pm
· Please RSVP so that we may plan lunch & refreshments

July 21st  - 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 19 No 4–Week of July 14th

Garlic Harvest !

Our ½ mile of garlic was harvested by the crew and is now in greenhouse curing. The curing process is when the flavors and richness of the variety sets in. There is about 1/3 of a row remaining which will be harvested on Wednesday. Probably over 20 different varieties had been planted in the fall, some with CSA member participation during the trip to the farm last year. This was planted earlier than normal but seems to have worked out well.

One of many bins filled with garlic on the back of the truck

Franklin Greenhouse Report: The eggplant should be showing up in the deliveries over the next few weeks. The white icicle radishes are starting to show up at the delivery sites this week, though not enough for everyone this week they will eventually filter in to all the sites. The hot pepper selection is really impressive with at least 12 different varieties to be harvested. Some baby celery will be ready soon. We are about 95% replanted in the greenhouse. Unfortunately the ginger is not doing well this year despite several years of great production. Farmer Rich feels that this is due to the late start (which was close to one month late). It was difficult to force tropical plants into our climate this year. It was minus 4°F at the time we usually plant.

From the Fields:

The garlic is almost all harvested and it appears the crop is above average. Next week we will probably deliver the Elephant Garlic rounds and then start to deliver the different varieties that we grow. The fava beans are all harvested and we will start to remove the plastic from the garlic beds and brush hog both of those fields and start to plant some fall crops. The round field plantings are doing well, and they include broccoli, squash and kale. The chard, basil, kale, and collards in the main field are all doing great. Dory seeded lettuce, escarole, Chinese cabbage, and radicchio during the week for transplanting in a few weeks for the fall crops. More potatoes, Adirondack Blue, Adirondack Red and Yellow Fingerlings from Farmer Less are yet to be harvested from the main field. It appears that the plants have been very productive.

Weather Report:

After the 5+” of rain fell during/after hurricane Arthur, another 1” of rain fell early in the week which destroyed a few plantings. Spinach, turnips, beets and red radishes are among the casualties. The week turned out to be the typical hot/humid summertime weather.

Animal report:

The rabbits are all over the place and fortunately are not eating very much. A new crop of baby deer was sighted and a groundhog decided to move under the deck of our “little rock house” across the street. Farmer Rich sighted a hummingbird hovering over the elephant garlic flowers but it took off by the time he was ready to shoot a photo.

Trip to the Farm – Saturday – July 26th – we are planning on having a trip to the farm to those CSA members who would like to drive up and help with a few projects. More details will follow over the next few weeks.
Save the date!

 

 

July 14th  - 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 19 No 3–July 7, 2014

Thunderstorms !

The thunderstorms came well before Hurricane Arthur, then the remnants of Arthur came and went. We were lucky not to receive any hail as the cold fronts moved in on Thursday evening. The crew was only able to work a few hours in the fields on Friday due to the torrential downpours. We were also ankle deep in mud! Fortunately we were able to get some work down in the greenhouses and stay out of harm’s way. Farmer Rich was convinced that the storm was going to miss us, but he was wrong.

Franklin Greenhouse Report: The eggplants were staked to encourage increased production and make it easier to harvest. The hot peppers are coming along great though the Cubanelle peppers that we planted turned out to be Hungarian Hot Wax (a very mild hot pepper). We guess the seed was wrong or we tagged them wrong. The White Icicle Radishes will probably be harvested for next week’s delivery. The Adirondack Blue Potatoes were harvested from the greenhouse for tonight’s delivery and Farmer Rich seeded another planting of radishes.
 

Starting the harvest @ dawn

From the Fields: 
French Breakfast radishes (a nice red radish) are almost ready for harvest. The fava greens in tonight’s delivery came from the front field. They will stir-fry up well or simply use in your salad, though remove the stalks. Scheduled soon will be the fava bean harvest. The garlic harvest started, but was interrupted by the ugly weather we had over the end of the week. It looks like over a ½ mile of garlic will be harvested. The bulb size look on the medium to large size so far and we are hoping for some jumbos to appear. The cucumbers in the back field are doing well and the field planted heirloom tomatoes are also coming along nicely. The greens; kale, collards, chard, and cabbages are probably the best field greens we have had. More blue potatoes as well as some Adirondack Reds will be harvested over the next few weeks. These were interplanted between the garlic rows with the thought that they would be ready to harvest just after the garlic and then this entire field can be planted for fall crops.

Weather Report: 
We really needed some rain, but not that much at one time. We received about 5 ½” over two days. Some erosion occurred on our roadways and fortunately the fields held up well. Farmer Diane did have a flood in one of her barns and her farmstand was under about 18” of standing water. A reported tornado touched down close to Lisa’s house and missed doing damage to her and Matt’s farm. There was major hail in the area and Farmer Art’s zucchini were damaged.

Animal report:
The rabbits continue to blossom at the farm. They enjoy watching Farmer Rich and the crew with one eye! After we planted the round field we never checked the fence in the back which was blown down over the winter. The deer simply walked in and decided to eat the broccoli. Farmer Rich fixed the fence during the early part of the week.
 
Trip to the Farm – Saturday –  July 26th – we are planning on having a trip to the farm to those CSA members who would like to drive up and help with a few projects. More details will follow over the next few weeks.
Save the date!

 

July 7th  - 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