CSA Week 12

In your share week 12:

Yellow finn potatoes
Onion
Green onion
Baby turnips
Peppers
Kale
Cherry tomato

Full shares only:

Cauliflower
Dill
Salad mix

Half shares only:

Zucchini

Peppers are here!  These are one of the most difficult crops for us in our cool climate.  They are very difficult to get started in the spring, grow slowly, and take a long time to ripen.  This is pretty early for us to have them, typically they are an October/November crop here at the coast.  This year we added a lot more heated space in our propagation house and even installed grow lights just for the peppers, but in the end the mild weather this spring and summer had a lot more to do with them being ready so early.

We are very limited in the types that we can grow to full ripeness.  We’ve found that some of the extra early, thin walled bell peppers do the best and have the best flavor for us, so that’s what you’ll see in your share.  Today’s are a mix of all 3 kinds we grow: Sweet Chocolate is a brown pepper, and Shepherd’s Ramshorn and Gypsy Bells are both red.  All of our peppers have a long, pointed shape, but they aren’t hot.  They are sweet and crunchy with excellent, rich flavor.  You can eat them raw or cooked, store them in a bag in the fridge.

Charlene finished digging all the potatoes last week, which is a huge job!  She’s been our main potato harvester, and she has spent many hours digging through the soil to pull them all by hand.  Our crop is extra small this year, often it takes us well into October to get all the potatoes out and we’ll have a couple pallets of boxes sitting in the garage for fall and winter use.  But today’s yellow finns were the best looking potatoes out there, and that’s most of what we’ll have for the rest of the year.  Yellow finns are similar to yukon golds, and they store extremely well.  They’re a good, all-purpose potato.  You also have the first of our cured onions today: they and the potoates can both be stored at room temperature.  The onion can just be left on the counter, but make sure to keep the potatoes in a paper bag or cabinet, out of the light, so they don’t sprout.

These will probably be the last baby turnips in the CSA, we are in our last rotation and I picked it pretty hard.  The greens on these fall turnips have been excellent, and the roots get sweeter in the cool weather.  The zucchini are finally slowing down, the cold and rain are starting to catch up with them.  We actually had a touch of frost on our lettuce this morning, which is really a welcome sight this time of year.  The only crop that is really frost sensitive in the field is the zucchini, all of our other warm weather crops are protected in the greenhouses.  And frost actually makes many cold tolerant crops sweeter.  They increase their sugar concentration to lower the freezing points inside their bodies, preventing frost damage.  A little frost makes for delicious kale and carrots!

Note that there are just 2 more weeks of the Neskowin Farmers Market, the final day is September 29.  If you pick up your share at the market, I will get in touch about changing your pickup location to the farm for the remainder of the season (CSA goes until November 8).  On October 6, the Saturday after the market ends, we will be vending at the Neskowin Valley School’s Harvest Festival.  This annual fundraiser is an all day event featuring live music (I’ll be playing on the stage at 1), kids activities, a silent auction, fresh pressed cider, hot food and baked goods, and more.  It’s always a lot of fun and supports a great school, I hope we see you there!

Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta