U-Pick Wrap-Up

On: October 07, 2015
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Steve and I are still coasting on the energy from our pumpkin u-pick this past Sunday. Lots of members wandered the farm to pick pumpkins and glean some extra produce. We’re happy to share. Much of the gleaned produce would be lost to frost in a week or two. Some of you have brought your children to our gleaning party since they were babies. We always hope mucking around during the u-pick will encourage open-mindedness about food in a few more children. Parents told us lots of broccoli and carrots were munched on during the u-pick. For those who are curious, here’s the final list of gleaning crops we offered: carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, tomatillos, Italian beans, kale, jalapeños, cilantro, peppers and raspberries.

I’ve posted photos from the u-pick on our Facebook page, but here are more.

Steve and I enjoy the chance to visit with members. We’ve fed you all season!

Second runner-up winner in the ‘guess the weight of the giant cauliflower’ contest, with her prize. The giant cauliflower would fit in a CSA box, but there would not be room for anything else.

I love this photo because it captures the scale of our farm. First-time gleaners mentioned the unexpected distance they covered while gleaning. The farm feels big when you are on foot. FYI, the grassy planting on the right is a rye-vetch cover crop.

It’s not just pumpkins that are interesting. Thanks Marty for the last two photos!

Julie Garrett found the beauty in our raincoats hung up in the washroom.

Questions that arose during the u-pick.

If one person asked, then others are probably curious too.

What about that tomato u-pick?
We are busted – we promised a tomato u-pick this season but did not pull it off. For a u-pick to work, we need a big surge of tomatoes. We planted two tomato fields (as usual) but the early one did poorly because of the wet spring. The second tomato planting did great, and really carried the load for the CSA boxes. Week after week, we had enough tomatoes for 4 lb per box, but those were all harvested from one field. We had just enough extra tomatoes to bottle tomato juice for next season. Without two fields ripening at once, we never reached a moment when we were sloshing in tomatoes and ready to host a u-pick. Maybe next year?

Are you going to put raspberries in the CSA boxes again?
Nope, our raspberry-production days are over, due to the fruit fly that arrived in Wisconsin a few years ago. We mowed down half our raspberry planting but can’t bear to rip it out completely. That’s where members picked berries this weekend.

Is the CSA season over now that the gleaning party has happened?
No, there are six deliveries to go, including this week. See below for the final delivery dates.

A member asked if this is the first time the gleaning party happened before frost.
He remembered many years when frost came a day or two before the gleaning party, and how much it affected the tomatoes he tried to glean. That’s pretty accurate. We time the u-pick for near the average first frost date for this area, October 8. If we host it too early, we won’t be ready to offer crops for gleaning. If we wait too late, most of the gleaning crops will be badly damaged.

Six boxes yet to pack

November 5/6 = final delivery for purple EOW members
November 12/13 = final delivery for weekly members and green EOW members.

Veggie List and Veggie Notes (October 8/9, 2015, week #21, purple EOW)

Sweet potatoes, about 2+ lb
Broccoli, 1 head, some are small
Red kale, 1 bunch
Carrots, 2 lb
Bell peppers, red or green, about 3
Yellow onions, about 2
Fennel, 1 head with fronds
(You might not get fennel if your cauliflower is big.)
Cauliflower OR globe eggplant OR Japanese eggplant
Anaheim chiles, HOT, 2 – 3
Scallions, 1 bunch
Baby ginger, 1 chunk
Garlic, 1 head

Next week’s box will probably contain potatoes, peppers, winter squash, broccoli or cauliflower, and more.

Sweet potatoes – Some of these are BIG. The early samples we dug seemed so modest in size. At harvest, we found they had grown quite a lot. Don’t worry, quality is fine for the big ones. Just don’t try to roast them whole. It will take a long, long time. Big ones, small ones, all are excellent cut into pieces, oiled, and roasted at 425oF , e.g. as sweet potato fries.
Anaheim chiles (long slender peppers, red or green) – These are HOT peppers. Anaheims usually have medium spiciness although it varies from pepper to pepper. As usual, the heat is concentrated in the seeds and midveins. Remove the seeds and midveins is to lessen the chili’s heat. Anaheims are easily mistaken for Italian frying peppers. We never send them in the same box for that reason. Keep this in mind if you have peppers left over from previous weeks.

See how much this week’s HOT anaheim chiles (above) resemble last week’s SWEET frying peppers (below)? Keep them separate if you still have peppers leftover from last week.