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Writer's pictureVictoria & Randy Rogowski

2021 Main Season Week 19D

Nothing says fall in New England like a pickup truck full of butternut squash driving through the farm fields. Am I right?

In all seriousness, the photos we've been snapping on these cool, crisp, colorful days remind us of how lucky we are to be able to enjoy this farm.


The vibrancy of this photo of Ethan restocking the pumpkin patch on Friday just captures the essence of that.

This week we'll be harvesting the first of our sugar pumpkins. We'll set aside many of those for our Thanksgiving Centerpiece Workshop and Extended Season shares, and the rest will be added to the patch.


More on the centerpiece workshop in the weeks to come (or through our mailing list if your subscription is ending soon). In case you missed it last week:

We are partnering with Shaggy Coos Farm again to sell Thanksgiving turkeys. Turkeys are $4.65/lb. and you'll place your order for a bird in a particular weight range: 6-10 or 10-14 lbs. There is a $20 deposit at the time of your order, and you'll pay the balance at pickup. Pickups will happen here on the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving, 11/22 and 11/23 (Sorry, no delivery). Click here to pre-order through us. We have very limited inventory. Please check out with credit card to place your deposit.


Just one thing to note: Brittany is short on larger bird inventory this year due to the heavy rains we had this summer. If you are looking for a bird larger than 14 lbs., you'll have to order and pick up directly with her (sorry about that!). Here's the link to do that through her farm:

 

This week is the final week of biweekly deliveries for the Main Season program. The Main Season program ends next week. Remember, if you are currently a delivery member who is part of the Extended Season, deliveries will end next week as well and you'll go back to picking up through the remainder of the Extended Season program.


Main Season biweekly delivery members, thank you for your participation this year! It means the world to us. We hope to see you again next season. And if you've decided not to participate next year, we thank you so much for this opportunity to be your farmers.


 

This week, Randy seeded his rye for the winter. Rye is one of the cover crops we use to prevent soil erosion over the winter and restore nutrients back to the soil. If we left the field a giant, empty patch of dirt, it would wash away over the winter. Having rye there helps to secure it. Cover crops are not planted to be harvested. Rather, they are selected for the benefit that they bring to the soil. Rye is great for accumulating nitrogen from the soil so that it can be readily available for crops to grow their root systems into next spring. Randy chooses rye because it's a fast growing grass. Because we do so much succession planting and extend our season as long as possible, we get our cover crops seeded pretty late. We need something that will sprout and grow quickly enough to bond our soil with its root system before we get a killing frost. Other cover crops might be something in the legume family, although again, not for harvesting.

 

Most of our winter squashes have been harvested at this point, where they'll reside in these giant storage bins inside our barn for a little while. Picking it up takes quite a few crew members. Typically we harvest into a large pile and then toss to a crew member or two on top of the truck. Then they place the squash into the bin. And usually someone drives along to keep the truck moving. It's one of those processes that you have to complete in one shot. You can't leave harvested squash in the field. It has to be dry or it'll rot. Typically we've been working on this little by little in the afternoons. You'll know the squash is ready when it's a certain color; for acorn squash, the spot on one side turns orange.

 

We won runner up for best farm stand in Connecticut Magazine! Thank you all for your votes and kind words. It truly means so much to us. We will never, ever underestimate the power of our farm community.

 

Randy and I went to Real Food Share's Local Harvest Celebration on Saturday night, and it was a beautiful evening. Real Food Share is an organization that grows food specifically to donate, and they pick up from local farms to donate to food pantries as well. As you know, their team of volunteers picks up every Monday here (leftover shares are donated to them), and they distribute 6 days a week. So far this year, they've donated 30,000 pounds of produce (which equates to 25,000 meals) to the local community. If you're ever looking for a non-profit to support, this is a great one!


 

The winner of our butternut squash weight guessing contest was Suzanne S. with a guess of 12.6 pounds! The squash was 12.70 lbs. Thank you all so much for playing and having fun with us!


 

Enrollment for 2022 Subscriptions is open! If you enroll by Sunday, October 17th, you'll receive 3 bonuses: a price discount, an invitation to harvest a bonus box next September, and first access to our bulk box waiting list. Click here for the product page. Thank you to all who've signed up on day 1! We're so appreciative of your support.

 

In Your Share (In approximate order from shortest to longest shelf life)

Small:

  • 1/4 lb. of arugula

  • 1 head of lettuce

  • 1 eggplant

  • 1 bunch of salad turnips

  • 1 lb. of tomatoes

  • 1 bunch of cutting celery

Large:

  • 1/2 lb. of arugula

  • 1 head of lettuce

  • 1 eggplant

  • 1 bunch of salad turnips

  • 1 lb. of tomatoes

  • 1 bunch of cutting celery

  • 1 bunch of scallions

  • 1 head of cabbage

  • 1 bunch of dill

Caring For Your Share:

  • Store arugula in a plastic bag in the fridge. When ready to use, wash in cold water and spin out in a salad spinner. Use within the week.

  • Shake out any excess water in the head of lettuce, then store in a plastic bag in the fridge. Wash and spin out when ready to use.

  • Keep tomatoes out on the counter and out of direct sunlight, where they will get plenty of air flow. If you choose the grape tomatoes, pour them into a shallow bowl. Do not put them in the fridge; it will dry out the tomatoes and change their consistency. Tomatoes continue to ripen after harvested, so use within a few days.

  • Remove the greens from the turnips and store them in separate plastic bags. Wash and eat the greens within a few days; the roots will keep for a couple of weeks if stored properly.

  • Leave the outer leaves on and store the head of cabbage in the fridge. The outer leaves will keep moisture in the head and prevent it from drying out.

  • Trim the bottoms of the celery stalks and dill and place in a jar of water in the fridge, like a bouquet. Put a plastic bag over the leaves to protect them.

  • Store eggplant at room temperature, like out on your counter, but keep it away from other fruits and vegetables that will emit ethylene gas, as this will cause it to rot faster (tomatoes, melons, bananas, etc.)

  • Store scallions roots-down in a glass of water in the fridge, like a bouquet. Cover the greens with a plastic bag. Or, store in a plastic bag in the fridge and use within the week.


LGF Cooking Club (The Library of Resources is filled with TONS of ideas about all of these veggies)

 

Biweekly Catch-Up:

Believe it or not, this week it was so tough to figure out what items were going into your share. We wanted to make sure we had a nice mix of summer and fall crops, and there is so much good stuff ready out there! They call this harvest time for a reason - summer crops are still rolling along, while cooler crops are ready now, too. We settled on "pick a pint" again this week to give you the chance to grab a summer item of your choice. Some of the greens were "must gos" and we knew they wouldn't hang on. It seems like a really great week for soup!


 

On the agenda this week: plowing under certain fields and seeding fall cover crops, picking up some drip tape irrigation, weeding beds (it's harvest time for weeds too, and we want to get those pesky plants under control before they drop too much seed), and planning for some more fruit crops that we'd like to plant up at Booth Hill. Much more on all of this in the weeks to come!



 

We had a blast at our bean harvesting event on Saturday! We've really lucked out with weather at our events this year, and it was a gorgeous day up at Booth Hill. Here are some photos from the day. Thank you for coming out! We love being able to spend more time with you.





 

Now that it's officially fall, we feel like it's safe to start talking about Thanksgiving. We are partnering with Shaggy Coos Farm again to sell Thanksgiving turkeys. Turkeys are $4.65/lb. and you'll place your order for a bird in a particular weight range: 6-10 or 10-14 lbs. There is a $20 deposit at the time of your order, and you'll pay the balance at pickup. Pickups will happen here on the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving, 11/22 and 11/23 (Sorry, no delivery). Click here to pre-order through us. We have very limited inventory. Please check out with credit card to place your deposit.


Just one thing to note: Brittany is short on larger bird inventory this year due to the heavy rains we had this summer. If you are looking for a bird larger than 14 lbs., you'll have to order and pick up directly with her (sorry about that!). Here's the link to do that through her farm:

 

At pickup this week, we're having another fun (massive item!) giveaway. This butternut squash will be on display, and you'll have the chance to guess the weight. The member with the guess closest to the nearest hundredth of a pound without going over will win the squash! We'll find the winner after we close on Saturday. Good luck!

 

Last week we added Hindinger Farm apples to our store (from Hamden, CT). We've never supplemented produce that we grow ourselves, but we love the idea of having additional options that we don't grow. Macoun, McIntosh, and Cortland were the 3 varieties we picked up.


Here's a story about why we love Hindinger Farm so much. When I interviewed for my first teaching job, I noticed that one of the teachers on the committee had a familiar last name. At the end of the interview, the staff asked me what I like to do for fun. I responded, "Well, this is a little random, but I love farming." The teacher instantly lit up and told me that her family owned Hindinger Farm. And, as they say, the rest is history.


Not only did Rachel become one of my closest friends to this day, but her father George and aunt Liz (and entire Hindinger family) are the absolute NICEST people you could ever hope to know. In the farming world, it's important to have role models, colleagues, mentors, and just friends who understand. George and Liz have been incredibly helpful along our farming journey and we just can't say enough great things about them. We think you'll like their apples just as much as we like the family. How beautiful are these?


 

2022 Subscription enrollment opens next Sunday, October 3rd at 7 a.m. Set a reminder for that day to get the spot you want! If you still aren't sure what you're hoping to sign up for, check out the product descriptions or read our blog posts to help you gear up for next year's program: Product Descriptions


The Early Registration period ends on October 17th and includes 3 perks: a discount, an invitation to come harvest a bonus box, and first dibs on our bulk box order form.


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