I’ve spent much of the last two weeks on my knees, digging through the soil on the search for potatoes, a cloud of fine dust has been following me all through the day like Pig-Pen from Charlie Brown. This year the search hasn’t been very hard. We have 2900 pounds so far, and a row and a half of fingerlings yet to go. It’s a huge harvest for us, and they’ve been beautiful tubers, with little worm damage and no rot—a promise of potatoes all winter and into next year’s spring and summer.

Tomorrow we plan to bring in the winter squash, which has been curing in the field in this wonderfully dry, cool weather, and the dry beans, vines and all, before the next rainy spell glues them down to muddy pathways. The vines will be spread in the hay mow of the bank barn until we have time to thresh and winnow them once the rush of autumn harvest passes by.

Farm Dinner and Pumpkin Harvest

We’re in the midst of planning next Thursday’s farm dinner and pumpkin harvest. We’ll gather pumpkins on the hay wagons during share pick-up (all hands are welcome, the more the merrier!), then bring them down to the barnyard with the horses at 6. We’ll make some hearty fall soups and have bread and salad. Members bring desserts and drinks to share and a table setting for yourself. Then, take home your favorite pumpkin for Halloween! Please rsvp by Tuesday so we can plan enough food.

In the Farm Shares

In the veggie share: winter squash, spinach, leeks, cauliflower, broccoli shoots, tomatoes, eggplant, sweet and hot peppers, lettuce mix, mesclun mix, white, blue and fingerling potatoes, garlic, sweet summer onions, red and white cooking onions, scallions, green, red and savoy cabbage, carrots, beets, kale, chard, wheat berries, whole wheat flour and ruby kraut with caraway and onion! There are still plenty of sungolds, tomatillos and beautiful flowers out in the field for picking.

In the meat share: Fresh steaks for the grill tonight. Ground beef and pot roast, pork chops, scrapple and broiler chickens in the freezer. We have beef stock, chicken and beef organ meats and lard available as well.

Sara Kurak
Full and By Farm

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