Abbe Hills Farm CSA

Greetings shareholders,

This week, we have potatoes, onions, pretty good looking tomatoes, ripe peppers, eggplant, edamame, broccoli, gorgeous green beans, chilies, lettuce, chard, kale, and herbs.   Everything looks very good right now; I think you will really enjoy the vegetables this week.  Apparently, lettuce can live on fog, because we've got fantastic mixed lettuce now.  Covered with road dust, but lovely otherwise.  I didn't expect this lettuce to be ready to harvest until the first of October, so I was very surprised when I found it tonight.  Don't know how it happened, but we're rich in lettuce!  It tastes great now, and will become even sweeter as the nights get cooler, and with bigger leaves once it gets a good drink.  There is about nothing better out of the garden than fall lettuce.  It is so much nicer and so much easier to grow than lettuce in the spring.

You'll get some pretty tomatoes this week.  Some are from us, and some will be from the Local Harvest CSA in Solon.  One great thing about no rain for 23 days is that the tomatoes stopped dying!  So, we've been able to get some good tomatoes.  Finally.

I spent a good chunk of my time last week setting up the trickle irrigation system to get the fall greens, radishes, spinach, broccoli, turnips, etc.... up and growing.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work.  I can't figure out if the problem is with gravity and the long run of ups and downs between the pump and the garden, or with the new life form that seems to be living happily inside my filter system, or something else.  I worked all weekend to sort it out, but still can't get water to the garden.  Because of the dryness and the delay, we might not have the greens like I like to give you in the fall.  Or, I'll get it figured out, and right after that, we'll get a nice gentle, half-inch of rain, and the crops will come flying out of the ground because they are so happy to get a drink of the good stuff.

The deer have found the lettuce patch.  I intend to make good use of that lettuce over the next 8 weeks, and my plan does NOT include any deer.  It looks like there might have been a polka party out there sometime in the last few nights.  If you have a practical suggestion about how to keep them out of the lettuce that doesn't involve me sitting up all night with a shotgun in my lap, and also will not result with me getting my name in the paper, I would be happy to hear your idea. 

Never-ending potato digging continues this week.  Tuesday for sure, possibly Wednesday, and Saturday for sure, unless we get enough rain to make us quit.  Only about 2 miles of potato row left to go.  Everybody is welcome to join in.

For those of you coming up from Iowa City, Highway 1 is still closed on the north side of town.  To get the the farm ignore the signs and ignore your GPS.  Just stay on Highway 1 to downtown Mt. Vernon, turn left at the stoplight, turn right on 8th Avenue, go out of town a little more than a mile, turn left on Abbe Hills Road, and you'll find us about a mile west.

VERY IMPORTANT ITEM FOR YOUR CALENDAR:  This is the last week that you pick up on your regular Monday or Thursday night.  For the week that starts on September 27, everybody picks up on Saturday, October 3, between 10:00 and 2:00.  The last 5 pickups of the season will be the 5 Saturdays in October. 

ANOTHER VERY IMPORTANT ITEM FOR YOUR CALENDAR:  Family and Friends Harvest Celebration is next Sunday, September 27, 4:00 until sundown.  Please bring a main dish, and either a drink or dessert to share for the potluck.  We'll have hayrack rides, roast some marshmallows, and enjoy the evening.  You can bring a lawn chair and your neighbors, but not your pets. Please plan to attend.  It's usually a very nice time.  Everybody is welcome. 

In case of rain, check the website.  www.abbehills.com.  I'll put any cancellation information up by 2:00 Sunday afternoon.  Hope not.  But do hope for some rain before then.

See you this week,

Laura