From my pre-dawn vantage point it looks like we were spared of frost last night. Our first close call of the season and a reminder the fall is really on her way. I harvested the warm weather crops last night—tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, eggplants and peppers—just in case. The peppers are still rolling in, just hitting their stride, but the other crops have already started to taper themselves off.
The cool, short days are not quite sufficient to ripen up much fruit within a weeks time, and the sugary sweetness of hot summer is fading fast. The good news is that the fall crops—the ones that develop their sweetness from the cool nights—are just getting ready. Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower are tastier this time of year, and the leeks are sweetening up as we speak.
Pigs & Pork
Our focus this week has been all pork. We butchered five pigs on Sunday and have been cutting, cubing and mixing sausage spices for days. The hearty smells of toasted fennel and coriander, the chopping of eye-watering chilies, pungent garlic and the sweetness of several pounds of ginger root have filled every nook and cranny of the kitchen.
Extra thanks goes out to our friend Bill West for rewiring our meat saw, doubling the power and making cutting a breeze. Despite the warning that screaming of any kind while running a giant band saw designed to cut speedily through bone is not appreciated by those around you—James, repeatedly screamed with delight at the ease of operation.
Potato Hunting
Potato (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
At 10 am this Saturday we are harvesting potatoes and if time allows bringing in the winter squash harvest as well! Potatoes, which grow underground, are dug up and the dirt sifted through for tubers—it’s as fun as a giant easter egg hunt, except instead of neon plastic eggs you get to find really delicious potatoes to savor all winter long.
If you are unable to help out this Saturday, we have plenty of harvesting and winter preparations going on all of the time now and would love a few extra hands. Let us know when you are available and we will find a great, and extremely helpful job.
This Week’s Shares
In the veggie share: Chinese cabbage, broccoli, kale, eggplant, hot and sweet peppers, pole beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, melons, carrots, beets, chard, mesclun mix, lettuce mix, cabbage, garlic and onions. U-pick flowers and sungolds are in the field.
In the meat share: finally, fresh pork: chops, hamsteaks, roasts, ground pork and sausage! Chickens, ground beef, stock and leaf lard in the freezer. Bacon to come after curing and smoking.
Sara Kurak is one of the owners and operators of Full and By Farm in Essex, NY. She shares updates from the farm with her CSA members and also contributes those letters to the Essex on Lake Champlain Blog to share the news with a wider audience. Learn about farm life week-to-week through her reports!
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