This week's best food to eat:
Roasted Root Vegetables. Did you know that we have this and all our other recipes right here on our website?
Let's see, what did we do this past week?
We knew we were getting a frost, so we rescued (harvested) all of the sweet potatoes. That, friends, is a large task. There were about nine thousand pounds of them to dig up and pack away into bulk bins! Done. Pictured above: a flattering image of dear Tillie, nestled in the fluffy sweet potato dirt, sleepy after a vigorous morning of vole slaughter. Voles are a rodent that eat roots, so you can imagine that they like to try and live near sweet potatoes. It was a nice try, voles, but Tillie actually eats you for breakfast.
Frost would also kill the beans, flowers, peppers, basil, eggplant, and tomatoes, so all those had to be harvested. Done.
We had our farm tour/potluck on Saturday, with beautiful weather, a nice cozy bonfire with s'mores, excellent, excellent dishes that were shared with one another, great company, a horde of wild children that ran around screaming happy screams, and nice twinkly lights strung above the tents for ambience. Pictured above is Jess(me) explaining carrot growing during the farm tour- you can see from the look on my face that I'm psychotically interested in this topic (photo credit Glenn Cantor!).
Now, since we had that frost, we've been working on deconstructing all the plantings of the crops that died so we can get beautiful cover crops growing in that space. I think I'll wax on about cover crops in a later email, but just know they are vitally important.
We've also been doing some scheduled giving back of our time. It can't all be about us, right? On Friday we had a group of writing seminar students from a local secondary school visit to learn about sustainable farming. On Monday, we hosted a video crew from Garden State on Your Plate to make a recording about kohlrabi for elementary school students. One thing I really have to point out here, is that as with many small businesses, the business owner often is the only one featured in these fun events. That was the case this week. But the whole farm team is needed to make any of that stuff happen. I didn't use my two hands in the growing of the kohlrabi at all this year, ironically enough! I guess I just want to point out, to really drive the point home, that it takes a team, to farm. Or really pull off most meaningful things. I'm really thankful for ours, and if you appreciate out vegetables, then you are too! Want to meet them? Here is an intro.
Eat well!
-Jess, writing for Chelsea, Darci, Kelsey, Kyle, Lara, Monica, Morgan, and Scott
PS: we're looking for a couple kittens. You got some? email us!
PS2: Looking to join or renew your Farm Membership? You can do it via mailed in check - look at the form here on our website. You can also pay by credit card here on our Square store, note that there is a 3% surcharge for card payments.
Harvest List:
At Pennington and Hoboken only: Mother Earth Organic Mushrooms
At Pennington, Hoboken and Summit: Solebury Orchards Apples
Arugula
Beets
Carrots
Chard - limited
Garlic
Kale
Ketchup- regular and hot!
Kohlrabi
Rolled Oats
Onions
Peppers: green bells, red sweet peppers, shishitos (a frying or grilling sweet pepper), orange snack peppers, and hot peppers
Potatoes- big ones and fingerlings
Radishes
Salsa
Scallions
Spinach: it's growing slow
Sweet Potatoes
Tatsoi
Tomato sauce
Fresh herbs: cilantro, dill, chives, oregano, and sage
Winter squash: butternut, acorn varieties and cheese pumpkins
