With the season’s first harvest of Napa/Chinese cabbage and scallions entering the upcoming CSA share, we can say that we’re really starting to get into cool weather crops (even though temps haven't quite dropped yet). Everything seeded at the end of scorching summer is just now beginning to bear fruit–all the greens are in swing and cauliflower is right around the corner, along with beets, carrots, storage cabbage, spinach, and more. This is one of the most abundant times for us, now through December, with lots of variety and gorgeous vegetables. There’s truly no better time than now to get on board and sign up for a VRDNT CSA. You don’t want to miss what we’re scheming up for our Thanksgiving share (11/23-11/25). We are happy to include a perfect sampling of fall bounty: succulent sweet potatoes, the lucky first round of carrots, hearty collards and bok choy, crisp salad greens (arugula or baby kale), and dill for festive seasoning. Expect butternut squash in the upcoming share (11/16-11/18), which you can keep stored in your pantry until the holiday.
While this is the time of year when our late summer/early fall planting is starting to pay off, it’s also a time of diminishing sunlight. It’s a race against the clock for us to get things in the ground despite the heat of early fall, because waiting too long means losing too much daylight, and daylight is the engine that fuels vegetable growth. This current period is a tricky balance of seeding the final few winter crops to catch the last of the light as we move towards the solstice. As daylight wanes, it means the crops are growing slower. This may seem like a negative–of course, it means less crop production–but it allows for a sigh of relief. We can take a break from chasing weeds and spare more time for cleanup, getting a head start on spring planning, and finishing projects before bulk harvest season and freeze prep is upon us.
The approaching cool weather also means sweeter veggies. Ever wondered why winter carrots just can’t be beat and greens lose any hint of bitterness? It’s because of their defense mechanism to prevent freezing. In order to lower the freezing point of the water in their living cells, most vegetables convert their starches to sugars.That’s why the tastiest veggies are picked right after a frost when their defenses are up enough to sweeten the deal, but the temperature doesn’t drop enough to cause any damage .
Something else that’s sweet on the farm is the unlikely friendship between resident farm cat, Zucchini and frequent visitor, Sweet Potato. Nimbus, our other farm cat, is friends with everyone, as long as they promise to pet and feed her, but Zucchini is known as a lone, stone-cold hunter who seems to consider herself above the need for frequent love and affection. Until she met Sweet Potato, the charming, skittish tabby who hangs out by the crop he was named after.
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