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The Field Crops
We are nearing the end of the summer field crops. Oliver is still picking a few zucchini, green beans, and peppers. The watermelon and sugar cubes are all picked and stored.
The biggest challenge right now is to be able to get the fields cleared, tilled, and seeded with the cover crop before the second week of October. With the very wet conditions right now, that is not happening. Hopefully after next Wednesday we will get some drier weather. In the mean time, Oliver is harvesting a lot of winter squash and pumpkins to store for the upcoming weeks and months. The sweet potatoes are curing and the onions have been put into crates for storage for the winter.
We are picking the first of the fall broccoli and the cauliflower is almost ready to pick. We are getting a lot of arugula from the fields and the last of the field lettuce. There are still a few flowers and fairy tale eggplant to pick.
The raspberries are still producing in spite of the rain, but they must be sold quickly and eaten quickly. On the days that it poured, we picked them and froze them for jam. The Concord grapes had all been picked earlier this month before the rains. The peaches are finished and the nectarines as well. We are selling the last plums of the year right now.
We have been picking some very nice lima beans. Lima beans do not always do well for us, but they really liked the very hot and very dry weather in late June and July.
We are still trying to pick tomatoes, but there are more bad than good. The warm rain is causing a lot of rot and splits. We still have a good many tomatoes for sale yet this year. If the weather dries up a bit, we should still be picking them until the middle of October.
The Tunnels
The cherry tomatoes have come back from the downy mildew. They are still producing, but we will be pulling them out after the first of October so that we will have room for the winter chard. We stopped pruning them about two weeks ago and now it looks like a jungle in there! The second tunnel is almost full of kale and spinach for the winter. Red beets have also been planted in tunnel one and this week we will plant the lettuces that are destined for sales in January.
We are picking spinach for sales from the early tomato tunnel. We will begin to pick the lettuce from that tunnel in November.
Greenhouse Seeding
We are not seeding hardly anything right now. I will seed three flat of lettuce for the tunnels this week.
CSA
The CSA is on week 17 now. We are changing from summer produce to fall brassicas and apples. This year we did not lose as many folks from the CSA when we began the fall session. Usually we lose about a third of the subscribers, but this year the numbers stayed pretty steady for the fall. That is good news! We hope that everyone was satisfied with everything for the year.
Canning, Gardening, Grilling and Preserving
I did a bit of grilling earlier in the month, but I have not ventured into it lately. I canned 14 two-quart jars of grape juice earlier. That was all the jars I had empty for this year. I also canned some whole tomatoes. I am planning to make a couple more jars of tomato sauce this week. I made a delicious chicken stew and New York Strip steaks with gravy and mashed potatoes last week. Gregg had a birthday in the middle of the month so I had to make some of his favorite seasfood recipes which I only make once a year.
The peaches are over for selling, but there are still a lot of peaches for “seconds” so I am making peach pies – another of Gregg’s favorites.
Every week I make two loaves of honey oatmeal bread. One for us and one I give to one of my daughters. Each week it goes to a different one – whichever one seems to be the busiest that week. Gregg and I can only eat one loaf a week. I know I could freeze it, but the freezers are full of fruits for jam and the girls have large families so the loaf is usually gone in one meal.
I hope you are staying above the dreary conditions. I do not know how folks do it in dreary places – England and Scandinavia. They must have other resources to draw their attention away for the sky. I am learning to look at thing up close – block out the background and concentrate on the small details right under my nose!
Farm Stands and Markets
The St Luke’s Farm Stand is open every Saturday from 8 – 1 pm . Come out and support the local farm on Saturdays!
The Belle View Condos Farm Stand is open every Thursday from 2 – 7 pm
The East Columbia Library Farm Stand is open every Thursday from 12 noon – 6 pm
The Fairfax Community Market is open every Saturday from 8 am- 1 pm.
Come out and support our farm in one of these locations.
Have a Great Day!
Louise
Orchard Country Produce and Fruit Farm, Inc
Gregg and Louise Keckler
Oliver and Lizzie Keckler with Isabelle, Remington and Cassidee, also
Orchard Country Produce and Fruit Farm, Inc
1410 Goodyear Rd
Gardners, PA 17324
717-486-4653
www.orchardcountryproduce.com |
