Pages

Monday, August 25, 2014

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

Great Day in Hoboken !

imageWe 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.

 

clip_image002[5]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

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.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

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

Heirloom Tomato Tasting Sunday
clip_image002[4]We hope you join us on Sunday for the Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting at the Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street August 24th 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.
HotPeppers-FranklinFranklin 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 FieldsOn 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
clip_image004[3]Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street August 24th 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 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 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






Sunday, August 10, 2014

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 3rd place in the Beverly Post Awards for Most Excellent in the Open Vegetable Show.

clip_image002

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 Eventsclip_image004[3] 
Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street August 24th 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

Monday, August 04, 2014

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

Sussex Fair Week!

Michael exhibited at the Sussex Farm and Horse Show and place 3rd 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.Lisa with Brown Swiss

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.

clip_image002

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 ReportWhile 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

clip_image002[3]

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

clip_image004[3]

Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting – Hoboken Historical Museum – 1301 Hudson Street August 24th 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