It hasn't been so cold that we've needed to take extra measures to protect our many thousands of pounds of winter squash, which we've got on 15 pallets in our large machine shed. We don't really have adequate storage for the quantity of squash we harvested, so we're cooking them off as fast as we can in our processing kitchen, about 1,000-2,000 pounds a week. That will happen until our brand new walk-in freezer is full--probably in a week or two. Meanwhile, we're putting as much squash as we can justify in the boxes each week. There is some extra room in our insulated jar storage area, where we store our salsas and processed tomato products, and I bet we end up using that space when the really cold weather rolls in, usually by December, for whatever is left.

In the field, we're getting ready for the big fall root harvest. We did start with carrots and beets last week, and things are looking good. Before the rain this week, we'll get what we can out of the field, but we're still waiting for another $5,500 of harvest bins that will hold about 15,000 pounds of roots. They should arrive this week. Really, it is scary, and things aren't adding up. Nobody can see this but me, but the math says that even with these new bins, we'll be about 10, 000 pounds short on storage capacity. We are hoping the weather will remain warm and dry long enough that we can empty enough bins that are currently full so that we'll have enough room for everything. It will be very close, but I do think the warmth in the forecast for the next two weeks will give us what we need.

So there are carrots in the box this week! If you can't tell by now, carrots are just about my favorite crop. They challenge us in ways that make everything else on the farm seem easier, they reward us with fantastic yields, they are beautifully orange, they're really good for you, and they last for many months. We're also including shallots for the first time this year. We harvested them way back in July with the onions. There has been so much other stuff we haven't been able to find a good time to include them. The value was only 20% over this week when we finished the CSA spread sheet (with so much produce, we've been shooting for at least 30% over value), so I decided to throw shallots in. They're glorified onions to me, not quite worth the stink everyone makes about them, but they are a little different and distinctive, so I grant them that. Given the food value, the work, and the difference they make compared to onions, I have a hard time justifying them, but they do demand a high value, so we can. I'd just as soon grow and eat those red, torpedo shaped onions we had earlier this year. They yield much better per square foot, unit labor, and unit time, and taste just about as good as a shallot. Many people would disagree, but I come at all this from the peasant perspective.

This is the half-way point of the fall season. I'm starting to feel like a fundraising campaign for public radio, but still feel compelled to remind everyone that we're offering our maximum discounts this time of year for people signing up for multiple seasons. Somehow, we need to find a fraction (10% to be exact) of the 8,000 to 10,000 people in Chicago who buy a summer CSA share, but do not purchase locally in winter. I don't get it. It's almost like the whole thing is a trend that only gets followed in summer. Our winter share is incredibly diverse and amazing--in many ways our best boxes of the year. We're hoping to attract a significant chunk of those regular season Chicagoland CSA participants to help us put a serious dent in our growing inventory. This would also allow us to make enough money to clear the rest of our debt and embark on capitalizing the farm more fully--we're almost there, thanks to you.