Star Hollow Farm News

For the week preceding Saturday, October 24th, 2009

Hi folks,

Last Saturday was one of the yuckiest market days of the year for us. It rained from the time I left the farm until I got back home, about 15 hours later. Our sales at the farmer's market stand were paltry, but thanks to the online market and CSA, (whose sales were not influenced by the rain) we still had a decent day. Thanks for that!

This week's planned produce: We had a good hard frost several nights ago – 25 degrees – and that has put an end to most summer items (except for those grown under cover or picked before the frost). The night after the frost a lone deer – judging by the tracks – ate off all 30 feet of our sorrel row and 30 feet of parsley. Those are strong-tasting herbs that deer have never bothered before. I fear we're creating a new strain of gourmand deer here at Star Hollow Farm. The marketer in me says “so why not start selling herb-infused venison?”

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, beet greens, cabbage, chard (rainbow), lettuce (green and red leaf), kale (Lacinato and Gailaan), microgreens, pea shoots, spinach, tat soi.
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Veggies: broccoli, carrots (orange and maroon), celeriac, celery, garlic, kohlrabi, leeks, onions (cippolini and yellow), parsnips, peppers (bell, assorted chiles), potatoes (five or six kinds), rhubarb, scallions, shallots, sweet potatoes, tomatoes (standard red, assorted heirlooms, some cherries), sweet white turnips, winter squash (acorn, buttercup, butternut, delicata, kabocha)
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Herbs: chives, cilantro, parsley, peppermint, sage, rosemary, sorrel, tarragon, thyme
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Mushrooms: crimini, log-grown oyster, portabella, homegrown shiitake, white
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Tree fruit: bosc pears, apples (Fuji, Golden Delicious, Jonathan, Stayman and York.
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Other items: the usual eggs, butter and cheeses. New this week is Horseradish cheddar. Also 2 lb. honey jars.

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On sale or reduced:
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standard red tomatoes
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celeriac
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maple syrup
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5 pound bags of White potatoes
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10# boxes of winter squash seconds

On the farm: We've certainly had a reprieve from the yucky rainy gray weather last week, with two glorious Fall days in a row. I've been working primarily out at the wash area by our barn, washing, sorting and packing potatoes and winter squash. Today I packed 16 boxes for the Co-op and yesterday I sorted out winter squash for the online market for the rest of the Fall. (It's kind of tricky as we can't just sell a butternut squash – we have to have a group of them that are all sized evenly so that we don't have to adjust invoices.) Best of all was a walk I took up to look at the mushroom log area, which had been put to sleep last week, as the shiitakes were done. And to my surprise, there were the oyster mushroom logs, leaning against a pine tree, with clumps of beautiful mushrooms sticking out all over them. They hadn't done a thing all summer, and I had pretty much written them off as a complete waste of time, and now here they are, doing their thing, when the others are done! I'm sure it was last week's rain and the warm temps of the last few days that triggered their fruiting.

Upcoming market schedule: I guess it's getting to be that time of the year when we're not in DC every single Saturday, so I'll start now with the list of holidays and changes. We have 6 more weeks until our first break in 7 months of Saturdays – Thanksgiving weekend. We do not come down then. There will be 3 markets in December before we take off for Christmas.

Winter schedule change: And then, we plan to enact a major change for the winter months... We're going to switch over to coming down every other Saturday. We really need a break from the year-round routine after five winters, and figure that during the winter, most of what we have are storage items that hold perfectly well from one week to the next in your refrigerator, just as well as in our cooler. We'll talk more about this later, but thought we'd get the idea “out there” now.

CSA-Specific Information

Planned CSA produce for this week:

This week the plan is for Lacinato kale, broccoli, green bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, Austrian Crescent fingerling potatoes, butternut squash, sweet pepper relish, fuji apples. Enjoy!

Adams Morgan CSA volunteers: Thanks to Stephanie & Dan and Matt & Angie for their help handing out orders last weekend in the rain. We appreciate the help!


Thanks for your support!

Randy, Chris and all at Star Hollow Farm

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