Full Share: Carrots, Jelly potatoes, Shishito Peppers, Green Beans, Slicing Tomatoes, Sungold Tomatoes, Red Onion, Garlic
Partial Share: Carrots, Jelly Potatoes, Shishito Peppers, Green Beans, Sungold Tomatoes, and Slicing Tomato
Hello CSA Members!
It is the end of August, and it is week #16 of the CSA! Lot’s of people have asked, so here’s a reminder that the CSA runs 18 weeks. That means the last CSA shares will be September 13th through the 16th, depending on your pickup. Then our end of the season Stock Up Sale at the farm will be held on Thursday, October 5th from 4pm until dark. And then there is always The Farmers’ Stand in Whitefish that is open 6 days a week and is a great place to find our produce.
This week the weather looks like it goes off a cliff! Eighty eight degrees today, 90 tomorrow, and then a high of 57 on Wednesday? Only in Montana. But the farm is taking on that sort of vibe. The farm consists of many small cycles within a larger cycle. While the season goes from start to finish, within it there are plant successions that repeat. For example, today I mowed in the old broccolini plants from early summer, but at the same time I was picking new broccolini from a young planting on the other side of the farm. Some crops, like green beans and Shishito peppers, are in their peak harvest window, while other crops, like the potatoes and carrots, are fully mature and need to get harvested before they get too big. The last couple of days we’ve harvested thousands of pounds of carrot and potatoes that we’ll hold in our cooler for sale later this fall. It’s also right about the time of the season that we begin to compile the list of all the things we need to do at the end of this season to set us up for success next season. The past couple of years, winter has hit us early and hard, and so there is surprisingly little time to wrap up the season. This year we are really going to make an effort to get ahead of it. As I look out the kitchen window, I can see the combine across the river harvesting wheat in a race to get it all in before the rain tomorrow night, so I think he’s feeling the same pressure. Out the other window is a huge, beautiful moon coming up that reminds me that the first frost is likely not that far away.
The CSA share this week will be very similar to last week. As I mentioned, you’ll get a second serving of Shishito’s and Green beans. The tomatoes are still going strong. And the Jelly potatoes this week are our favorite. It is a really hard variety to find, and one that we like better than Yukon Gold or Yukon Gem. But the only company that sold it went out of business, and so we have been holding some of our own production each year to plant as seed. I think it is the best yellow potato around. And this week we will have the first red onions, which are just now starting to fall over, indicating they are ready.
If you like the heat, tomorrow is your day to thrive. Enjoy it while it lasts! See you at CSA pickup, and remember to bring a jacket 🙂
Todd
