September - CSA Box #7
The seasons are certainly shifting. However, yesterday was a perfect beach day in Chicago so we are eternally grateful to everyone who accommodated an earlier or later delivery than usual. We greatly enjoyed our Labor Day relaxing in the sun. Although it might be slipping into fall, this is actually one of the busiest times of the year for us. Seed collecting takes up a good chunk of time, along with harvesting, and planting the last of the fall crops and garlic for next year. It’s a race to the first frost in October. We still have two bountiful boxes of produce coming after this one!
Corn - We are Midwesterners so it should come as no surprise that this box has corn (again)! We still have some rows left and look forward to harvesting the rest of our ears soon.
Green Onion
Carrots came out of one of our raised beds with ease and were looking tasty!
Speckled Lettuce - We rose early to make sure these heads were picked in the cool morning air day of so they would stay fresh longer. We shared some pretty interesting facts on our Instagram, but Seed Savers Exchange was able to trace the origins of this heirloom back to the Mennonites in the early 1800s! This juicy green lettuce flecked with red was likely brought from Pennsylvania to Ontario.
Peppers - This week is all about peppers. We let this area grow wild and although some of our plants are slumped over, and perhaps would have benefitted from trellissing, they are loaded with fruit. In this round, you should have received Poblanos, Sheepnose Pimentos, Organe & Red Picnic Peppers, Jalapeños, and a variety of sweet peppers large and small. The majority of our hot peppers that pack a punch are not quite ready. Let us know if you like it hot and we will load you up! We tend to find that our jalapeños are not super spicy but feel free to correct us if we are wrong. (We always recommend tasting before dumping them into a dish just so you know what you signed up for, and don’t get the surprise of a lifetime or a meal that’s too spicy to handle.)
Eggplants had a great 2 weeks and we were super pleased with the beauties we pulled off the plants. The Nagasaki Long and Black Beauty were particularly choice and looked amazing! Below are the varieties we have been growing in case you are curious to learn more about the ones you received: Black Beauty Eggplant, Nagasaki Long, Ping Tung Long, Piccolo F1
Cucumbers (Suyo)
Tomatoes - Summer’s end is a sea of tomatoes. We have too many varieties to keep track of but this week is a repeat of last week for the most part with the Sunrise Bumblee and Pineapple varieties being featured. Expect another onslaught next box and a healthy mix of some of our other favorites: Romas, Sweetheart Cherry, and Black Strawberry!
Squash (Patty Pan, Golden, Black Beauty & Nimba Zucchini)
Kale - We hope you’re learning to identify your kale varieties by this point. Dino is back. These plants were growing like little palm trees out in the section we lovingly call “Old World”. This was the last harvest off of these as we are now able to grow some more delicate greens as the nights and days grow cooler.
Beans - Primarily our Gold Rush Yellow Wax bean but a few Maxibel Haricot Vert green beans slipped in there as well. This is the first of our bush beans that were ready but certainly not the last!
Onions (Amber)
Garlic - This week we bring you our cured Music Garlic which has noticeably large cloves and is a fan favorite for all garlic lovers.
Strawberry Syrup
This little bottle is filled with a magical, red elixir that is purely our strawberries and sugar. We saw someone share this on Instagram and talk about it preserving the fresh strawberries' amazing flavor and knew we had to try it for ourselves. We filled a big mason jar and put it in the fridge for a few weeks. This is the result and it is delicious. Drizzle on a Dutch baby pancake or mix it into a cocktail like a Strawberry Basil Fizz.
Variety is the spice of life! This week a few lucky subscribers also received Kabocha squash and/or rhubarb.
Herbs
BasilSageRosemary
This week’s bouquets featured: Amaranth, Sunflowers, Dahlias, Gomphrena, Pincushion Starflower, Chocolate Lace Flower, Celosia, Dianthus, and Aster
