How do chickens carve a pumpkin?
- Victoria & Randy Rogowski
- 58 minutes ago
- 6 min read
STORIES & UPDATES
This week we transition back to our Extended Season portion of the program. To be honest, we love this time of year extra because of how many unique items are in season. Since we now have much more inventory than members, we can offer some different veggies. We appreciate your enthusiasm for everything we grow on the farm.
We're excited to share Brussels sprouts and spaghetti squash this week. Every week you can expect to receive a different winter squash. We usually reserve butternut and acorn for the final two weeks because they store the longest. Your spaghetti squash will keep for weeks, but we recommend enjoying it before Thanksgiving to ensure it will not start to rot before then.
What other new items can you expect to enjoy in the weeks ahead?
Turnips
Rutabaga
Spinach
Leeks
Tatsoi, Asian mix, mizuna, and choy sum
This week, your free choice green include some fun options, such as an AMAZING bagged mustard green. These tender, baby leaves are sweet with a mustardy kick at the end. I absolutely can't get enough of them and hope you give them a shot. They can be enjoyed raw in a salad, or used as a bed for your protein, as well as wilted down in soups and stir fry.
All this talk of delicious veggies and gorgeous photos like this sure can make me appreciate fall.
Over the past year or so, we've received a lot of messages sharing a popular reel on social media. Have you seen the one where the chickens "carve the pumpkin"? If you haven't seen it, it's really cute - Google it!
Basically, you sketch out a design and shave away the tough outer skin. You let the hens peck at the flesh until they "carve" out the design.
So, this weekend we decided to try it. Some of the guys on staff sketched out some faces. Here's Eric with the finished products.
The hens loved the experiment!
Too cute!
Steph and Emily were working on sorting sweet potatoes so that we could get them out for sale.
We finished curing them in the greenhouse and are so thrilled with the result. Unfortunately they started to produce a little bit of condensation from the temperature swings, so the inner layer got wet. We opened up the doors of the greenhouse to help dry them out with the breeze. Now we moved them into our big tractor barn - where it's cool and dark - for storage. Randy had to turn the furnace on so that nothing down there will freeze since the nights are getting much colder. Our thermostat is set to 32, so it only kicks on if it's in danger of dipping below that.
We have plenty of sweet potatoes to carry us through to Thanksgiving, but we definitely didn't want to wait to let you try them! This week, members will receive a nice, big potato in your share. Additional inventory is now out for sale as well.
We've found a lot of interesting fragments in the land over the years. Whenever Randy turns over the soil, things are unearthed. We've found pieces of old dishes and milk bottles, doll faces and fragments, and sometimes we even find rocks in our baskets of potatoes, having mistakenly picked them up.
This week, Steph texted me to say she found something new...
A golf ball in the arugula! We use a greens cutter, which picks up the leaves and it kicks them into a basket. The golf ball must have been in with the arugula and happened to pick it up.
You all came through on our box request, and we are all set at this time! We'll let you know if we eventually need more to finish out our season. Thank you so much.
UPCOMING EVENTS
On Saturday, November 15th from 10-11 a.m. we're hosting a Thanksgiving "gleaning" of our fields.
Gleaning is a term that means harvesting excess produce. Join us for an hour of volunteering. You'll physically harvest alongside us specifically for donation.
Real Food CT will then deliver our bounty to local food pantries in our area.
This is a wonderful way to give back to our community! Kids are absolutely welcome - even if they only harvest one single leaf of kale, this a powerful chance to have them part of something big!
Details (including which of our locations) will be published the week before. No need to enroll - you can decide at the last minute. This will be rain or shine unless conditions are dangerous.
Pick-your-own has concluded for the 2025 season. Thank you for making beautiful memories with us at The Fields at Laurel Glen Farm!
The Shelton and Monroe Farmers' Markets have concluded for the season. We're grateful to our market customers, crew member Steve, and the market managers for another great year.
STORE INFORMATION
Here is the fresh produce we plan to have in stock while supplies last (through Friday, October 31st):
· Acorn squash
· Arugula
· Basil
· Bell peppers
· Bok choy
· Broccoli
· Butternut squash
· Cabbage
· Carrots
· Cauliflower
· Collard greens
· Cucumbers (winding down)
· Delicata squash
· Eggplant (winding down)
· Garlic
· Grape/cherry tomatoes (winding down)
· Green & wax beans (winding down)
· Hot peppers (winding down)
· Kale
· Kohlrabi
· Leeks
· Mashed potato squash
· Mustard greens
· Napa cabbage
· Onions
· Parsley
· Potatoes
· Radishes
· Salad turnips
· Scallions
· Shishito peppers (winding down)
· Spaghetti squash
· Sweet potatoes
· Swiss chard
· Tokyo bekana
· Tomatillos (winding down)
· Tomatoes (winding down)
· Yellow squash (winding down)
· Zucchini (winding down)
CURRENT STORE HOURS:
Monday: 10:30 to 4 p.m.
Tuesday: 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesday: 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Thursday: 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday: 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
VEGETABLE SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
EXTENDED SEASON WEEK 27 OF 32
(Tuesday, October 28th through Saturday, November 1st)
Share Contents (Listed approximately from shortest shelf life to longest)
Large:
1 head of lettuce
1 "Grab-a-Green" - arugula, mustard greens, Swiss chard, collards, bok choy, and more
1 bunch of salad turnips
1 stalk of Brussels sprouts
1 onion
2 sweet potatoes
1 spaghetti squash
Small:
1 head of lettuce
1 "Grab-a-Green" - arugula, mustard greens, Swiss chard, collards, bok choy, and more
1 stalk of Brussels sprouts
1 sweet potato
1 spaghetti squash
Storage tips and recipes for all of the vegetables in this week's share can be located on our website, here.
Vegetable Subscription Pickup Policies
All pickups must take place within store operating hours. For many reasons, we can't leave shares outside the store. Pickup days are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.
If you need to skip your share for the week, or change your pickup day, you must provide us with 48 hours' notice for any of the options below. This is because we pack shares the day before pickup. Once your share has been harvested and packed, we can not change or cancel your pickup.
For Tuesday pickups being changed, we need to know by Sunday.
Wednesday pickups, we need to know by Monday.
Saturday pickups, we need to know by Thursday.
You have the option to choose another pickup day in a given week: we offer share pickup on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday only.
You can skip a pickup and receive a double the following week.
If you miss your pickup, we will hold your share for 24 hours after your pickup day, and then it will be donated to a local food pantry. With more members than ever before, we don't have the cooler space to hold onto shares longer than this. This is a great option if you accidentally miss your pickup - just come the next day.
You can always send a guest to pick up in your place by simply notifying us of their name.
Please send us an email to laurelglenfarm@gmail.com 48 hours before your anticipated pickup in order to make a change. You must submit your request in writing in order to leave a paper trail. This allows you to show proof to our store staff at pickup in the event that we need clarification.
If a share is picked up outside of your scheduled time (aside from an approved change) or the 24 hour holding period, you will be billed for an additional share.