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This Week's Share
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Brussels Sprouts, Carrots, Leeks, Portuguese Cabbage, Winter Radish, Celery, Winter Squash, Calabrese Broccoli, Tomatoes, Peppers, Baby Blue Potatoes, Plenty of Fall Greens, your choice of Apple Varieties, and you may cut some Fresh herbs. Welcome new Members!
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At the 'Market'
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Plenty of those great Summer Heirloom Tomatoes----although they are nearing the end, Sweet Adriatic Peppers, Brussels Sprouts, Portuguese Cabbage, Kale, Sweet Fall Leeks, several varieties of Apples to choose from, Baby Blue Potatoes and plenty of nice Fall Greens and Root Crops.
Hope to see you at the Market. Come for Breakfast and make a morning of it.
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Late Share Signup
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Sign up for the Late Season Share right here using PayPal or stop by the Farm with a check. If you would like to set up a payment plan please send us an email. |
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Hi Folks,
It's that time of year again-----coming right up on the season I refer to as "The Short Days". And while the Farm work continues, but at a somewhat slower pace, there is time for other things. Yes, there are still potatoes to be dug, root crops to be harvested for the Storage Barn and the planting continues in the Solar Greenhouses. There is maintenance to be done; Repairing wind damage to the Greenhouses---John and Ed will be working on that today. New, Coyote proof facilities have to be built for our laying hens. And as soon as the Tomato vines can be removed from Greenhouses #s 2, 5, 10, 11 and 12, we will be transplanting Leeks, Chard, Onions and Spinach for the Spring Share that starts on Patriots' Day weekend in April.
But, as I said, the pace here at Arrowhead slows a bit, and there is, indeed, time for other things. All Spring, Summer and Fall this Newsletter has been filled with the news of the day---plantings, harvests, Shares, Markets etc. But for the next few months there will be time to discuss things that affect Agriculture in the long run. And remember, any of us who eat are involved in Agriculture.
And some of the topics? Climate change. A new generation of Beginning Farmers. Food prices and shortages. GMOs---the Good, the Bad and the Ugly----and yes there are plenty of Good GMOs; we just have to get past the hysteria and think a bit. Land Use and Planning. Roof-top Farming--not just Gardens mind you, but full scale Agriculture. Big Banks---and how we use our Money. Food Quality. And, of course, Robert Frost..... No shortage of things to talk about. Can't wait to get started. |
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But, Back to the Present 
Last week saw the end of the Summer and Tree Fruit Shares. I am incredulous at, and humbled by, the ratings Members gave these Shares; On a scale of one to ten---ten being best---the Summer Vegetable received a score of 9.4, and the Tree Fruit Share was rated a 9.5.
I simply cannot thank you enough for this kind of encouragement.
This Saturday starts The Late Season Share, which is always Members' favorite Share. New pick up hours will be Saturdays from 11 until 3 and Mondays from 10 to Noon. Please note there will be no Sunday pick up hours as it simply gets dark too early. (Don't forget to turn back the clocks this weekend).
This weeks Share will include Brussels Sprouts, Carrots, Leeks, Portuguese Cabbage, Winter Radish, Celery, Winter Squash, Calabrese Broccoli, Tomatoes, Peppers, Baby Blue Potatoes, Plenty of Fall Greens, your choice of Apple Varieties, and you may cut some Fresh herbs. Welcome new Members!
There is still room for a half dozen memberships in this Share. Please send me an email if you wish to participate. Next week will start the sign-up for the Mid-Winter Share. Thank you. |
CSA 101
(a rerun from 9/28/12)
Oh, how I hate that 101 cliché, but it does seem appropriate here. CSA Shares represent a contract between Farmers and Consumers. The Consumer, or Member if you will, agrees to provide the working capital to produce the crops in the Share for the Consumer. And the Farmer agrees to do her/his best to produce a plentiful and healthful crop.
But, the Farm needs the cash up front to grow the crop for the Member---BEFORE the Share crops are planted. Arrowhead started planting crops for the Late Season Share back in February (Brussels Sprouts, Leeks, Cabbages and Kale). We planted more crops for this Share in May (Squashes, Sugar Pumpkins, Potatoes).. In June we planted Kohl Rabi, Rutabaga and Broccoli. In July the Carrots were planted and in August over twenty greens were planted--Spinach, Arugula etc., along with Root crops such as Turnips, Radish and Daikons. All of the expenses for growing these Late Season Share crops have been incurred already---quite a ways back.
Now, most Members paid for this Share on a timely basis early in the year---January, February and March. The Farm not only needs the cash to produce the crops, we need to know how many Members to plant for.
But, about two dozen Regular Members have not signed up for the Late Season Share yet and they are getting a free ride paid for by the rest of the CSA Members. If you are one of these chronically delinquent Members, we ask you to get signed up this week, excuse me while I say it again,THIS WEEK! And all will be forgiven! Next week will start the sign-up for the Mid-Winter Share for 2013, which we have already started planting.
Payment plans are always available---all you need do is ask. And we also have Volunteer programs available. And we also have Sponsor-a-Share Funds available if you need assistance paying. BUT WE NEED TO KNOW HOW MUCH TO PLANT!!! Thank You.
And if you are one of those many Members who signed up on time last Spring as you usually do, thank YOU!
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Contest Winner!
And the Contest Winner is.......ME! No one sent in a guess that last Saturday morning was Robert Frost's "Hushed October Morning Mild". I'm the only one who got it---so I get to eat that great Grass-fed Red Ranger Chicken. If you have not tried one of these great birds then you don't know what real Chicken tastes like! Still a few available, by the way.
And, it's time to Talk Turkey. If you want a Heritage White Holland Turkey for your Thanksgiving Table you should order it this week---only a few left that aren't spoken for. And you and your Family can visit one of our Turkeys at the Newburyport Farmers' Market this Sunday. One of our Narragansett Hen Turkeys will be visiting the Market for everyone to meet. A good excuse to stop by. |
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The Apple Crop is Harvested
The cooler is filled and there are still a few bins of Macs and Cortlands that won't fit in the cooler. A good time for a little reflection so I will leave you with Robert Frost's 'After Apple-picking'. Thanks as always for reading along, hope to see you at the farm this weekend.
Cheers,
Dick Chase
MY long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.
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