This weeks selections included:
Tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, green peppers, summer squash, trombocinni squash, kale or Chinese cabbage, and onions.
One of our CSA members called this week to ask about the strange squash that keeps showing up in the box. That is one of my favorites. Trombocinni squash is both a summer squash and will then ripen to a winter squash. As a summer squash it is fantastic sliced and sauteed in olive oil with some onions. It can also be added to so many dishes as it has a mild flavor. We had some in chicken and noodles that my daughter had requested for her birthday this week.
Today I talked with a wonderful intern/volunteer about life on the farm. He has joined us the last few Saturdays in part to help him decide if the country life is the life for him. I love people that will jump in and see what it is really like! The first week he went home with more mud on than our pigs usually have on them. This week he said he wasn’t quite as exhausted as he was after digging the hole he worked on last. We appreciated his help unloading hay and putting up a barrier on the hay shed to protect it this week. We then sat and enjoyed some water while talking about fall planting. When market gardening or planting for a CSA, the challenge is in not getting too tired to keep planting. This is the time to really get a lot of late fall crops in the ground. We have planted broccoli, cabbage, greens, radishes, carrots, kohlrabi, cucumbers, and lettuce in the last few weeks. When dealing with the constant weed load and daily livestock farm chores it takes endurance to also get the continued plantings done. This is much different than when you have a soybean/corn rotation in the ground. Yet the reward is so great. I still love the look of a good CSA box. Next week I hope to have our summer peaches in the boxes………….
Next week during class we will talk about laying hens. Eggs are the perfect protein.