Crop updates: The tomato crop is still coming in strong. There’s abundant beans, and now is a great time to make pesto and other basil items. We harvested the first round of potatoes which will be available within the week. The yield was lighter than we would have liked but there’s many good spuds in there. September brings winter squash harvest, and our estimates in the field so far are positive.
BONUS: While the Free Choice share is intended for what your household can eat for meals fresh (compared to our Homestead Shares which are bulk quantities), the tomato crop is abundant and all shareholders are welcome to take more tomatoes in the next week for a preservation project, such as making sauce to freeze.
Good times in the next month include our September Garden Morning on Saturday the 30th plus the Swap it! Community Trading event on Sunday, October 8th 1-3pm.
We seeded the last planting of outdoor spinach this week. Also, there is a new bed ready for harvest in the Front Range Field.
Local Foods Weekend is here! As you know, littleGrasse is offering a fermentation workshop in the new barn on Sunday as one of 30+ events Friday to Sunday. Hear from Flip and another participating producer Canton Apples in this video.
Tips
- The whiteboard in the wash stand lists the crops available by area. If you need a refresher as to field names, check out the laminated map above the sign-in area.
- Some folks find it useful to take a photo of the whiteboard to refer to when out in the field for reminders about crop location and limits.
There’s a lush new bed of mixed lettuce greens available in Irene’s field along with young cilantro. Both of these crops are considered “cut and and again”, so harvest the leaves above the point where new grow emerges approximately 3 inches above soil. They also both have pink flags. Find the flag where the last person had stopped and start your harvest at that point. Take as much you like, then pull flag stake up and move forward to the point that you stopped harvesting.
New homestead project: During the bounty of tomato season we enjoy making and canning a vegetable juice with a tomato base plus other flavors including celery, onion, basil, sweet peppers and such. It’s a refreshing cold beverage and we also use as a soup base or the liquid to cook rice. After that process is complete there’s a big pile solids. This year we spread that in the dehydrator for a vegetable scrap leather. The result: two tasty products and no waste.
Crops Available
This list and availability are subject to change, check the share whiteboard at the start of every visit. If you are unsure about how to harvest: ask us! In person, via text or email.
Cell phone numbers, Flip: 315-854-5399 and Bob 315-854-5395.
*Asterisk marks crops added this week
- Arugula
- Beans- 2 varieties
- Carrots*
- Celery stalks
- Chard
- Cherry tomatoes
- Flowers including Calendula, Celosia, Cleome, Coreopsis, Cosmos, Daisy, Dill, Echinacea, Feverfew, Gaillardia, Salvia, Snapdragons, Sunflowers, Tithonia, Zinnias
- Head lettuce
- Hot Peppers
- Kale- 3 varieties
- Mixed lettuce greens
- Onions
- Spinach*
- Sweet peppers
- Tomatoes
Culinary and Medicinal Herbs
- Anise hyssop
- Basil
- Bronze fennel seeds
- Calendula
- Cilantro
- Dill
- Lemon balm
- Lemon verbena
- Mint
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Tarragon
- Thyme
- Tulsi holy basil