September - CSA Box #7

We got a much needed break with a few weeks off from pickups and deliveries. Looking forward to cooler temps, bonfires, and leaves changing this fall. As the seasons shift, we are excited to share some new items in the coming weeks including pumpkins and winter squash!

• Watermelon - ‘Orangelo’ and ‘Moon & Stars’

  • We were very pleased to see many of these made it through the summer unscathed (or minimally affected) by pest pressure. The cucumber beetles this year have been particularly persistent and decimated many of our other vines but the watermelons seemed to have been spared somewhat. We would have had several other varieties similar to honeydew and cantaloupe but alas they did not make it! This week we bring you ‘Orangelo’ and ‘Moon & Stars’. The bigger the melon, the sweeter they tend to be, but they also have the potential to be hollow inside. Since the last month has been dry, we have been moving sprinklers around the garden nonstop but have struggled to maintain consistent moisture in certain areas. The Moon & Stars are pinkish red on the inside and have darker rinds that are swimming with a constellation of yellow dots. Orangelos have wavy, stripes and an orange interior!

• Radishes - ‘Cherry Belle’ and ‘Pusa Jamuni’

  • This summer we started our radishes a little early in an experiment to see if we could produce a crop sooner but the jury is still out on how successful we were. Radishes tend to love cooler weather and that has been scarce the last few months. We did pull some nice sized beauties but a few looked like they may be more on the woody side. Let us know how they tasted!

• Lettuce - Gourmet Blend

  • Lettuce is BACK and our beds looked lush and fantastic. We timed it right for a succulent harvest that was lovingly hand watered by Derek for days in a row. This lettuce is not pre-rinsed - please send it through your spinner prior to eating if you are concerned about soil particulates or freeloading insects that came along for the ride.

• Potatoes - ‘Purple Magic Molly’, ‘Goldrush Russet’ and ‘Russian Banana Fingerlings’

  • The obvious stunner of the group are the inky, black-purple potatoes this time but the russets are a close second. We saw some seriously huge spuds come out of the ground and were pumped to have so many to share so we loaded you up heavy with taters this week.

• Leeks - ‘Comanche’

• Onions - This week we had green, red (‘Cabernet’), cipollini and white onions (‘Gladstone’) to share.

• Garlic - Assorted Softneck varieties (sadly the last of the season most likely)

• Kale - Dwarf Curled

• Tomatoes - Mixed bag

• Eggplant - ‘Ping Tung’ and ‘Nagasaki Long’

• Peppers - An array of sweet and hot

Herbs:

• Parsley, Dill, Mint and Lavender

This week’s bouquets featured…

Dahlias, Sunflowers, Snapdragons, Spider Flower, Celosia, Ageratum