17th Week of the Summer CSA Season: Week of October 1st

Sep 28

Fall fennel will be ready to harvest this week. Is fennel new to you? There are a myriad of delicious ways to use it, but for something simple, use it like an onion and slow sauté it at the beginning of a recipe, to add a savory sausage-y flavor to your meal. If you are like me and loathe the taste of licorice, have no fear: That licorice scent is only present with fresh fennel, and it transforms to a delicious flavor when cooked. photo by Adam Ford

This Week’s Availability

This week we will have

Greens: baby lettuce, spinach, arugula, green curly kale bunches, lacinato kale bunches, rainbow chard, brussels crowns, bok choi, mini romaine heads, green cabbage, Napa cabbage
Roots: carrots, new red potatoes, rutabaga, red beets, watermelon radish
Alliums: onions, garlic, garlic scapes, shallots, leeks
Fruiting Crops: heirloom tomatoes, tomatillos, sweet Italian Carmen peppers, sweet snack peppers, jalapeno peppers, spaghetti squash, husk cherries, green tomatoes, delicata squash, and green beans
Herbs and Miscellaneous: parsley, rhubarb, celery, fennel

We listed several items available for bulk purchasing at wholesale pricing on the online platform. This week we have garlic, onions, brussels crowns, carmen peppers, and frozen elderberries available in bulk amounts if you do any preserving for winter. If you pick up at the barn and want to order any of those items in bulk, just send us an email.

Click here to order your veggies for a delivered bag to Ludlow or Rutland

*rows of winter lettuce growing, photo by Adam Ford*

*rows of seeded greens emerging, photo by Adam Ford*

*recently transplanted kale for winter harvest, photo by Adam Ford*

Farm News

This week we hosted a Northeast Organic Farming Association workshop on climate adaptation and soil building strategies, and farmers and service providers from around the state and the greater New England Region joined the gathering. Ryan walked us around the farm to explore various strategies we use to grow in a changing climate: mulching with shredded hardwood bark, growing directly into clover sod, transplanting into killed cover crops, cover cropping soil ridges, compost as weed management, using willow plantings to slow water, etc. The biggest theme we explored was always adapting and experimenting…. That’s what farming demands in general, but certainly with the extreme weather we more frequently navigate. It’s always a privilege to connect with other farmers to learn from each other and share ideas.

*gathering for the start of NOFA's workshop on climate resilience... It was well attended by about 40 folks, photo by Adam Ford*

*Ryan showing attendees what the soil is like after a season of the shredded ash bark mulch breaks down, photo by Emily Landenberger*

*Ryan explaining all the tools in our toolkit for managing soil health, photo by Emily Landenberger*

*Discussing growing vegetables directly into clover sod, photo by Emily Landenberger*

*Lingering over food to continue talking about farming, photo by Emily Landenberger*

We finally finished transplanting all the tunnels to the various winter greens. Next week we will start several of the larger fall storage harvests: rutabagas, watermelon radishes, beets, etc. We will also turn our attention to finding spots for various perennial plants we have been nursery-ing in the propagation house that we actually want in the ground, but haven’t had time to attend to this season.

Have a great week,

-ESF Team: Ryan, Kara, Galen, Bryan, Cindy, K2, Katie, Vanessa, Evan, Leah, Natalie, and Taylor (and Sky and Soraya)

Weekly Recipe

Seared Napa Cabbage with Miso Butter