CSA Week 14

Well, we are finally seeing summer weather at the end of September! This warm stretch will help the crops we are still waiting to mature and keep the summer crops going a little longer. Our tomatoes are now officially full of late blight, which was an inevitability with the cool, wet weather we have been having this summer. Luckily, we are only seeing blight on the plants themselves and not the tomatoes. We will definitely have tomatoes in the share this week. I hope we can get at least one more week after this but blight can kill an entire planting of tomatoes overnight. The drier weather we are seeing right now will help to slow the disease progression down slightly.

My apologies to any share members who received garlic that was rotten on the inside in previous weeks. We seem to be dealing with some sort of fungal issue with our garlic. This is very disappointing as it looks like nearly 60% of our garlic will be fit for compost only. We think it is due to the very wet summer (our garlic was in one of the fields that flooded in the spring) but are also exploring other potential reasons. I am getting better at predicting which bulbs will be rotten inside and am being ruthless in weeding these out. For those that had a bad bulb, I will be bringing extra garlic this week for you to help yourself to a replacement bulb. 

Now, Terran and Rowan would like to share their thoughts on 'Our Favourite Things' list. Terran, who is 12 years old, typed out his answers and emailed to me. Rowan, who is 8, dictated his answers to me so these are all their own thoughts!

Favourite Farming Task
Terran: Harvesting. I love to harvest leaf lettuce, and green/yellow beans.
Rowan: I like helping to cut leaf lettuce with scissors and pulling the Vermont Garden Cart around the farm. 

Favourite Crop to Grow
Terran: My favourite crop to grow are onions. I like to plant and weed them.
Rowan: Tomatoes are my favourite crop to grow and I like to check every day to see if they are ripe.

Favourite Vegetable to Eat
Terran: Green beans, especially when boiled.
Rowan: Potatoes, tomatoes, summer squash, mushrooms, and carrots are vegetables I like to eat all the time. 
 
Favourite Kitchen Hack
Terran: Get all of your ingredients out before you start making anything, including bowls.
Rowan: Make sure to cut up all your vegetables before you turn on the burner. This way, the oil in the pan doesn't burn before I am ready to add vegetables. 

Favourite Non-Farming Past-time
Terran: Driving my remote control car and playing video games ;)
Rowan: I love to ride my bike and watch Terran drive his remote control car. 

Favourite Farm Attire
Terran: Jogging pants and a t-shirt because those are the most comfortable things EVER.
Rowan: Shorts with underwear, a t-shirt, and rubber boots or Blundstones. [editor's note: I'm pretty sure underwear only makes his list because he hears me remind him often enough to wear them :)]

Favourite Way to Pass Time While Doing Field Work
Terran: Thinking of playing video games and driving my remote control car.
Rowan: Thinking of what I want to do when I am done working. 

Hope you enjoyed 'Our Favourite Things'. We will be back to normal next week with some recipes!