Last night we attended live music as part of the Birdsfoot 50th Reunion. The jazz band was fronted by Seba who grew up at the intentional community and is now a full-time musician in Boston. It was a type of “coming home,” for Bob to be amongst all these familiar faces. He first moved to northern New York from a CSA farm he managed in Colorado, and Birdsfoot was the first place he set roots. Now, two plus decades down the road, it’s a marvel how our own individual stories make up pieces of a much grander whole. When we began to landscape the roadside fields at littleGrasse, we planted some sucker rootlets from a Mother Hazelbert bush graciously offered by Patreesha from Birdfoot. The following season not far from the struggling new nut planting, birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) began to appear in our lawn. Bob says, “These days, without fail, every time pass through this area of our farm, I am flooded with memories.” Community is a gift that keeps on giving.
The Fall Only, Free Choice Share start the first week of September and lasts 8 weeks. If you know anyone that is interested in joining there’s a limited number of shares available, the sign up link is here. All new shareholders would attend an orientation before starting their regular farm visits.
Crop updates: After the current bed of carrots has been fully harvested, there will be a lull for several weeks until the fall. Soon there will be a new patch of fresh cilantro available, likely next week. We started harvesting a new bed of cucumbers, which includes long green slicers, yellow slicers and a round variety called lemon. The basil is very abundant right now and with the bountiful tomato harvest, it’s a great week for pesto!
- Wednesday, Aug 17th, 9am-noon
- Wednesday, August 17th, 5:30-7:30pm
- Next Garden Morning, August 27th 9am, with noon potluck
After the onions were pulled, all the Wednesday harvesters were challenged to go find the largest bulb in the patch. We weighted them all, and Aurora was the winner! The onion pictured here clocked in at just under 3 pounds.
The onions are curing in the new barn. Thanks to a host of good-natured folks for participating in the harvest and transfer to the barn including April, Aurora, Frank, Jenn, Jim, Kim, Levi and Regan.
If you’ve been a shareholder for a few years, here’s a familiar face you might recognize. Kealey apprenticed at the farm and lived here for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He came up for a visit this week and we loved having him in the garden again.
August is an excellent time to create an everlasting bouquet. Harvest flowers such as the gomphrena/globe amaranth pictured here and hang them upside down out of direct sunlight for a couple weeks to dry further. Other blooms that dry easily are the multi-colored strawflower, spiky celosia and yellow craspedia. Many blooms can be dried (without molding), some folks use silica gel packets to boost the process along and others experiment and see what works naturally.
Tips for Success
- Do you have any harvest containers at your house? Please return! All the flower buckets, harvest containers, totes, baskets, knives and scissors should stay here at the farm for all to use. The only exception are the large rectangular blue stacking totes that we send bulk produce home with Stocking Up or Root Cellar Shares.
- Tomatoes will continue to ripen off the vine. When you visit the farm for pick-up, you can take tomatoes at a range of ripeness, set them out at room temperature and eat them over the course of several days.
Tomato season has finally arrived. Shown above are 3 varieties, a plum type called Juliet, an orange paste called Sunrise Sauce and a round slicer called Moreton. We harvest the crop every other day and bring to the share distribution room. The haul is divided between our Free Choice Shareholders and the Stocking Up Shares who receive larger quantities at a time to put up for the off-season.
There’s a new bed of green butterhead lettuces available!
Crops Available
Cell phone numbers, Flip: 315-854-5399 and Bob 315-854-5395.
*Asterisk marks crops added this week
- Beans, yellow wax
- Beets
- Carrots
- Cucumbers, green or yellow
- Cutting celery (harvest individual stalks, not entire plant)
- Flowers
- Head lettuce
- Kale
- Onions
- New potatoes*
- Rainbow chard, also called Swiss chard
- Sweet peppers
- Tomatoes
- Zucchini and summer squash
- Anise hyssop
- Basil
- Bee balm
- Bronze leaf fennel
- Dill
- Lemon balm
- Mint
- Nasturtium, edible flower
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Sorrel
- Tarragon
- Thyme
- Winter Savory