Abbe Hills Farm CSA

Greetings shareholders,

Tomorrow, we'll have potatoes, onions, the last of the eggplant and peppers, chilies, herbs, radishes; turnips, arugula, kale, chard, broccoli, lettuce, and a winter squash called "Stripetti".  http://www.recipetips.com/glossary-term/t--35482/stripetti-squash.asp .  Local Harvest CSA gave us the squash because they have too many of this kind.  We'll be cutting the squash out of our gardens this week.  Hopefully, they've all yielded well and we, too, will be overwhelmed with squash.

The potatoes will be either the white ones, "Superior", or "Russets", which are the oblong brown potatoes used for baking and making French fries.  They're not huge like the ones at the store because they haven't been overdosed on fertilizer all their lives.  Instead, they are medium sized and huge on taste.

Turnips are root vegetables.   They are usually harvested a little bigger than the ones we have now.  Peel them, and then you can eat them raw (crunchy and sweet),  or steam or saute them, or mash with potatoes, or roast with meat, or put in soup.  They have lots of uses, and have a flavor a little like sweet cabbage when cooked.

The eggplants, peppers, chilies, and broccoli left in the garden will all be killed when the temperature drops this weekend.  What a goofy year.  Rain, cold, dry, cold, flooded, cold, pounding rain, and now, a killing freeze way too early, before we have even had a light frost.  I hope this is the last time I have to farm in such extreme weather for a few years.  Sheesh.  It has been never-ending surprises and foiled plans.  We're going to have to hustle to have everything as ready as possible for the weekend.  It's possible that, if it gets really cold for more than a couple of hours, even the lettuce and greens could be damaged.  Won't know until it happens.  I've got lots of other things in the garden for you that I hope we will still get to enjoy this month, things like beets, Asian greens, spinach, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, turnips, chard, herbs, daikon radishes .... but we need them to survive the deep freeze and then get some heat and sun to grow just a little more to reach harvest maturity.  Hope for the best!!! 

Don't forget the CROPWalk this Sunday.  You can contribute by putting a donation in my donation envelope on the checkin table.  A good chunk of the donations to CROP will be given to our food pantry at the Southeast Linn Community Center.  The rest will go for international food and development aid through Church World Services.

I've collected a few of your things over the summer that you might like to have back.  They will be piled on the checkin table.  Please look them over and take what is yours.  I'm keeping whatever is left over, and there is some good stuff in the pile.

Please come prepared for rain and cold on Saturday,   Wear boots (there is mud everywhere) and coats and gloves that could get muddy (some mud on the food, too). I worked really hard this week to keep everything as clean as possible, but it's been a challenge.  And remember, please park on solid parts of the driveway, where there is rock, and leave the spaces on the grass near the shed for the people who have trouble walking far.  Thanks for your patience with all the mud and yuck. 

See you tomorrow.

Laura