Summer CSA – Week 15 – Upswing Farm

It’s starting to look more fall-like on the farm. This field used to have sweet corn, beans, winter squash and a few other small crops like fennel, celery, lettuce and sunflowers.

This is going to be a short email. We are working hard to get our storage crops out of the ground so we can get a healthy cover crop planted. We managed to get rye cover crop down on almost all of the fields that are on the hill. The rye will live through the winter, holding the soil together and scrounging up excess nutrients in the soil, which will be turned in when we get ready to plant next May and feed next years crop.

We still have 3.25 beds (450ish feet/bed) of sweet potatoes to dig. They are amazing this year. Not only are we seeing yields of about 2.5 lbs/bed foot, the tubers are situated right at the top of the hill, without much running under ground. It makes excavation so much easier.

Sweet potatoes growing together in the hill. We dug the soil away.

Erin digging the sweet potatoes after we mowed the vines.

The total yield from one, 450′ bed. Roughly 1100 pounds of very nice sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes need to cure in the greenhouse for at least two weeks to sweeten. Right now they are edible, but still very startchy. We will put a few sweet potatoes in the last summer share, but these impressive yields are going towards the fall and winter shares.

So, what’s in the second-to-last summer share?

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Carrots

Sweet Peppers

Choice: Kale/Chard/Cilantro

Choice Mix: Beets, Green/Purple Peppers, Eggplant (limited quantities), Potatoes, Onions, Leeks, Delicatta Squash . . . maybe a few more items

Choice Containers: Paste Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes (maybe), husk cherries, hot peppers, shishito peppers (maybe).

Just a quick note reminding you that although we love being able to offer choice, we sometimes don’t estimate correctly what people will choose or we simply don’t have enough for everyone. We are grateful that you chose to participate in our CSA and we want you to have the best experience possible, while still honoring the intentions of the CSA, which is to eat what the farm has available.

You are on your own for recipes. I might make fajitas, potato leek soup, carrot soup, salads, pasta with roasted tomatoes and onions . . . .

Enjoy!

One thought on “Summer CSA – Week 15”

So bummed to see that this is the next to the last week of the Summer CSA, I love Summer! Thank you for all the hard work you and your staff put in. We have definitely eaten a better variety because of the CSA this year. Look forward to our first Fall and Winter CSA and already marking my calendar for next years.
Cindy Valovcin

LikeLike