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