October 17th, 2009 Farm Message

Star Hollow Farm News

For the week preceding Saturday, October 17th, 2009

Hi folks,

We just did something crazy. Chris, Sam and I took a two-and-a-half day vacation since we were in DC on Saturday, and just got back last night! Sunday morning we got all the chores done, loaded the car, and drove north about 150 miles to Tioga County, PA, along the New York border. (Pennsylvania's northern tier is it's least-populated area.) The main attraction was to see the so-called “Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.” I had never heard of it until a few years ago when Sam and I were studying PA history. Anyway, it sounded interesting, and we wanted to get away from the farm after a pretty hectic and stressful Fall harvest season, and it made sense to go while the leaves were pretty.

The canyon – a thousand-foot deep gorge actually named Pine Creek Gorge – was quite beautiful and well worth the trip. It is a formation left behind by the glaciers that covered that part of the state during the Ice Age a few years back. As an added bonus we got to stay in the county seat town of Wellsboro, a very tidy and well-cared-for place. We spent the night in the 150-year-old Penn Wells Hotel, which was kind of fun also.

The second day we took a 20-mile excursion ride on the Tioga Central Railroad, a small rail line with several 1950s-era engines and cars. (Chris and I spent the whole trip in the club car.) On yesterday's ride home went drove one county further west, into Potter County, and came back south nearly a hundred miles in some of the remotest parts of Pennsylvania I've seen. This is where thousands of hunters will head in just about a month for deer season, and it's loaded with small, seasonal, whimsically-named (Liar's Den, Bear's Nest) cabins or “camps” as they're referred to around here. The area is home to many of the state's bear and elk, in addition to the ubiquitous deer. In 4 hours driving through that wilderness area we saw not so much as a squirrel (well alright, maybe one squirrel). When we pulled in our farm lane at dusk last night, at the end of our escapade, there stood in the middle of our first field a 6-point buck, about 50 feet away, just standing there, watching us, and no doubt thinking “Why'd they think they had to leave the farm to see wildlife? They can do that right here.” It was good to get away – and good to get back.

This week's planned produce: There have been several frosts now, and a number of summer items are gone until next year, with the rest of them ready to depart in the next week or two, depending on which farm grows them and whether they're using any frost protection or not (row covers). New or back-on-the-list items are underlined. Some items sell out fast. As at any farmer's market it's first-come, first-served.

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Greens: arugula, cabbage, cress, lettuce (green and red leaf, romaine), kale, baby spinach, stir-fry greens mix.
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Veggies: beans (green, edamame), broccoli, carrots (orange and mixed), cauliflower, celeriac, celery, English cucumbers, fennel, garlic, onions (cippolini and yellow), peppers (bell, assorted chiles), potatoes (five or six kinds), radishes, rhubarb, shallots, sweet potatoes, tomatoes (standard red, assorted heirlooms, Romas, canners, cherries), sweet white turnips, zucchini, winter squash (acorn, buttercup, butternut, delicata, kabocha)
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Herbs: cilantro, parsley, peppermint, sage, rosemary, sorrel, tarragon, thyme
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Mushrooms: crimini, portabella, log-grown shiitake, white
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Tree fruit: bosc pears, apples (Fuji, gala, golden delicious, Stayman/Winesap and york.
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Other items: the usual eggs, butter and cheeses.

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On sale or reduced:
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Roma tomatoes by the 10# box (END)
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5 pound bags of White potatoes
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10# boxes of winter squash seconds

On the farm: Yes, the 2009 summer season is definitely winding down fast, and we're shifting into winter and storage crop mode. Much of our day today will be spent sorting, washing, weighing and bagging or boxing up potatoes or winter squash. Chris has been drying herbs. I plan to get back into a more regular greenhouse planting schedule for microgreens, microbasil, pea shoots, and some other goodies.

Our 2009 sales at market have been down all summer from 2008, and we worried about that a good deal as the summer progressed, as we'd never had a year – out of the 18 we've been doing this – that wasn't better than the year before. I guess I'm coming to the conclusion that not only has the economy been a factor, but 2008 was just a spectacular year with interest in farmers markets and CSAs peaking simultaneously, probably due to all the movies and books and “buzz” about local foods. Last week we went over 20,000 online orders filled since we started our online farmers market and CSA in 2005, and the support that this gives us is “up” over 2008, such that we feel reasonably confident going into the winter that we will have still done alright in 2009, in spite of the economy. That's pretty reassuring, as many sectors of agriculture are in crisis mode right now! Thank you for your support.

CSA-Specific Information

Planned CSA produce for this week:

This week the plan is for carrots, garlic, kohlrabi, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, zucchini, purple potatoes, lettuce, and some Stayman apples. Enjoy!

Number of CSA harvest boxes available: It's been quite a few weeks now since we've sold out of our 72 reserved CSA boxes, so we reduced it to 60 boxes last week, and still only sold 52. I try not to have more CSA boxes reserved than you all will want, as then that produce isn't available online to others. Remember, you can shop a la carte if we're out of the CSA Harvest boxes when you go shopping.

Adams Morgan CSA volunteers: Thanks to Gabe, Jul & Frank, and the Rigers for their help handing out orders last weekend. We appreciate the help!


Thanks for your support!

Randy, Chris and all at Star Hollow Farm

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