The End of Another CSA Era

Our garden, with more of the rows tilled in

Yesterday was the last day of our October CSA session and thus the end of our CSA for the year.  I must say, our past two CSA weeks have been really good.  Last week, we pulled out and harvested sweet potatoes!  I was so excited for this, I should be devoting an entire blog post to it.  While I seriously love all root vegetables, sweet potatoes are one of my favorites, not to mention I was incredibly curious as to how to harvest them.  All you really need to harvest them are:

• a pitchfork; and
• a willingness to get dirty.

Sweet Potatoes!

That’s pretty much it!  Since our sweet potato vines had spread out all over, the first task of digging them up was to find their central stems.  Once we located those and pulled out some of the outermost vine parts, we used the pitchfork to dig around the plants’ roots and lift them out of the ground.  And lo and behold, there were sweet potatoes in the ground, just hanging out.  It turns out they grow similarly to potatoes after all, even though they aren’t in the same family.  While the plants didn’t yield as many sweet potatoes as I thought they would, we still had plenty for our CSAers and some extras for us to enjoy as well.

Ready for Halloween

It’s almost the end of October- what??  I’m having a hard time believing that we’ve already reached that point in the season, but with the leaves almost all down from the tulip poplars, I suppose it’s time.  That’s not to say that our garden is all turned over for the winter!  In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

As you can see from the picture, we have broccoli!  Isn’t it gorgeous?  Our lucky CSAers got some in their shares yesterday, and guess what they also got?  Pumpkins!  Our pumpkins have been hanging out on the vines for quite some time now and are ready just in time for Halloween.  I think pumpkins are one of the happiest vegetables.

It looks like we’re going to miss getting hit by Storm Sandy (I suppose she’s not a hurricane by now), but we are supposed to get lots of rain in the coming days. No complaints here!  I could use a few good rainy days and I don’t think our plants would mind either.

Guess the vegetable!

We’re Back!

Fall Mornings in the Garden

While it’s been a few weeks since we last posted, we’ve still been keeping busy in the garden!  We all almost all the way in fall mode, with our okra and green beans still hanging in there.  A couple of weeks ago the PVCC (Piedmont Virginia Community College) Horticulture class helped us pull up all of our tomatoes (it was time).  Last Friday we pulled up all of our eggplants and pretty soon our okra will go too.  The green beans are going strong though!

Our Garden, minus the tomatoes

As the weather fluctuates between 80 degrees and 50, our summer plants are leaving and our fall plants are thriving.  The lettuces are pristine and the beets and carrots have sprouted and are growing past their delicate phase.  The broccoli leaves are robust and expansive, and I keep checking for those tiny florets to appear.  Maybe not too much longer!

CSA October Shares, Week 1

Nasturtiums in this week’s salad mix- they look beautiful but they’ve got lots of kick!

In other news, we’ve started our October CSA session.  We have decided to try a different model: this time, we are requiring our CSA members to come out to Morven to pick up their weekly share of vegetables.  I really like this approach because it encourages our CSA-ers to have more interactions with our garden and how their food is grown.  Last Friday three of our CSA-ers helped us out in the garden and picked and put together their ow bags for this week.  So far, our new CSA model is going well.

Besides all of the vegetables, I love the mist in fall.  In the early mornings our garden will sometimes be blanketed in mist and it will slowly rise and evaporate off as the sun rises and warms up the air.  By the time I leave the garden, all of the mist has gone, but the dew still clings to the kale.  Fall is a wonderful time of year!

Three for Three!

Looking down on our garden from the hillside

After all the working getting ready for Gazpacho, it’s been nice these past two weeks to focus on other matters in the garden.  For the most part, right now in the season we’re just concentrating on caring for our plants and harvesting whatever’s ready to go (for the squash and zucchinis, this means daily).  We have planted a couple of crops recently though.  Last week we planted beans and snap peas where the cabbages used to be in order to put nitrogen and other nutrients back in our soil.  Also, the pumpkins we planted a couple of weeks ago have all come up and are growing well.

Our summer crops are coming in, with the glaring exception of our tomatoes.  We would have had a fair number of big, ripe tomatoes if not for a very hairy problem: groundhogs.  Groundhogs have been munching on our tomatoes as soon as they begin to turn red on the vine.  So rude!  Last week we set up a Have-a-Heart trap, but no luck catching them.

The Have-a-Heart Trap

However, this week we asked the guys at Morven for help, and they  stepped in with a plan.  They set up a trap outside of our garden off in the woods a little, and the trap kills on impact.  Since they set up the trap on Tuesday, we’ve caught a groundhog every day this week.  While it’s sad that three groundhogs have already died, we don’t have much mercy when they’re eating our carefully grown crops.  This morning I picked a tomato off the vine that was red and untouched- finally!

This Week’s CSA: look at all of that squash!

This was the last week of our second summer CSA session.  Despite the groundhogs also eating 14 of our melons, we were able to give our CSA-ers a half of either cantaloupe or watermelon.  As another surprise this week, we also had some okra which people could take handfuls of.   I calculated the total poundage that we’ve given our CSA-ers this summer (8 weeks of the CSA in all) and it totalled to almost 575 pounds!  What a great season!  We’re excited to start up our Fall CSA in September.  Let me know if you’re interested in joining (ris3xq@virginia.edu)!

The corn ears are coming in!

Gearing up for Gazpacho

We picked some zinnias!

Even with all the hubbub of preparing for Gazpacho, we still had a great CSA Day yesterday.  As Michelle mentioned in her post earlier this week, we now have eggplant!  Each of our CSAers got an eggplant as well as another new surprise vegetable this week: cucumbers!  These guys just snuck up on me and suddenly we had over 15 of them.  The vines are covered in flowers and bees, so we are looking forward to more coming in soon.

We picked a Carrot Woman too when we harvested the carrots for the CSA.

The CSA shares this week also included squash, zucchini, carrots, beets, Swiss Chard, cherry tomatoes, a bag of purslane, and assorted herbs.  Our setup was full of colors as well as healthy vitamins and nutrients!

The CSA Spread

Tomorrow is the big day: Gazpacho in the Garden!  With about 70 RSVPs, we’re preparing lots of Gazpacho and other foods.  All this week, we’ve been sprucing up the garden and I have to admit, it’s looking really good.  All of our rows are mulched with straw and weed-free, our plants have yummy compost around them, and our veggie washing station is so clean.

Our Garden this Morning

Michelle, Libby, Marie, and I have been checking the weather today constantly, looking for the latest update on the rain status for tomorrow.  Although I really really want to have Gazpacho in the Garden actually in the garden, we luckily have a cozy and rustic rain site in Barn 3 at Morven.  Only time will tell what the weather will be like!

A New CSA Session Begins

Amongst other things, gardening is about patience and sudden surprises.  Our bush beans are blooming, but I have not yet seen any beans.  The bumble bees are all over the flowers though!

A Bumblebee on a Bean Flower

Bean Flowers are so Funky Looking!

The Corn

The corn is another example of when patience comes into play.  Although it seems to grow each day, I can’t wait to taste our own Morven corn.  It is almost knee-high, and some of the pole beans and squash that we planted last week are sprouting.  I’m interested to see if the Three Sisters technique will work this year for us.

Even though I’m waiting for some of the vegetables to be ready to harvest, some of the other ones suddenly surprise me and are ready to go.  This week we harvested eggplants and cucumbers for the first time!  Although we didn’t have  enough to give to our CSA, we did sell some eggplants at our Farm Stand this week!

The CSA Setup this Week

Speaking of the CSA, this week we started our second summer session.  We have some returning members but also a lot of new faces.  We also have the biggest group we’ve ever had: 16 people!  We still had plenty of vegetables for everyone and had quite a spread this week.  The share included squash, beets, carrots, cabbage, radishes, cherry tomatoes, a bag of purslane (an herb), Swiss chard and kale, and a bunch of mint.  What a great start to the new session!

Experimentation: Who needs a mad scientist when you have a garden?

We’ve still been working under a hot sun this past week, but it looks like next week will be much cooler.  That sun hasn’t slowed us down too much though with our gardening tasks!  We decided to try out a few different experiments in our garden.

One sister waiting for the others

1) The Three Sisters technique: With our corn sprouting and looking strong, it’s time we phased in the other two sisters (beans and squash).  Michelle and I planted pole beans around the corn on the perimeter of the quadrant where they are and Libby planted all different kinds of squash in the rows between the corn.  We’ve been trying to keep that space well-watered all week, so we’ll see what happens there.

2) Cover Crops: In the rows where we used to have onions and potatoes, Libby and I planted buckwheat!  I’ve been reading a lot that not only is buckwheat good at fixing the soil with nutrients, but it also will bring in more pollinators like bees.  This is awesome news for me!  Libby and I also planted a whole bunch of wildflowers in with the buckwheat.  We hope that in about two months, those rows will be like mini meadows.

Our eggplants look so good!

3) Update on the radish/eggplant companion planting experiment: About a month ago, we planted radishes in between the eggplants in one of our rows.  The idea was that the flea beetles which were attacking our eggplants would be distracted by the radishes and would then go after them instead.  As it turns out, I can’t really tell the difference between the eggplants that have radishes around them and those that don’t.  However, they both look awesome!  We actually harvested some of the radishes this week for our CSA.

The CSA Spread: Radishes, Beets, Carrots, Squash, Cabbage, Kale, and Swiss Chard

Exploding Squash

Speaking of the CSA, we had another great week.  Our surprise item this week was…squash!  I wasn’t sure if we were going to have enough for everyone, but we ended up harvesting 13 squash and 3 zucchini!  Here’s the crazy part though: this morning Libby harvested 4 more.  I always forget just how fast they grow, they are such an exuberant bunch.

CSA Produce

The end of this week was just full of harvesting because this morning we harvested kale, Swiss chard, cabbage, purslane (an herb that can be put in salads), and basil for the Boars Head.  Next week is Restaurant Week so look out for Morven produce featured in Boars Head meals!

This morning was beautiful

Squash Discoveries and a Hot Sun

This past week in the garden has been a super busy one!  Michelle and Libby went to California for an Edible Schoolyard Garden conference, so Marie and I held down the fort.  Now only was it busy, but it became real hot real fast about mid-way through the week.  Unfortunately, it’s not looking like it’s going to get much cooler in the coming days!

No! Get away, squash bug eggs!

One morning I was checking the squash and zucchini for squash bugs, and I stumbled upon several discoveries.  First, there were in fact a few squash bug eggs on the undersides of the plants’ leaves.  However, there weren’t nearly as many as there were last year, so that’s a good sign.  At first I couldn’t remember how I used to kill the eggs, but I remembered, oh yeah!  I can just squish them between my fingers.

Go bees!

 

I also discovered that my bees love the squash flowers.  Especially in the earlier parts of the morning, the blossoms are a-buzz with bees.  We are going to have some serious pollination of those squash.  My third discovery was then a result of what was happening from the second discovery.  I found lots of baby squash!  This coming week we should be able to harvest some!  It’s finally the beginning of squash season here in the MKG.

Baby Squash

Beautiful Carrots

The CSA this week was great.  We had three new items this week: beets, carrots, and baby radishes.  We also had cabbage, Swiss chard, kale, and onions.  Our root vegetables are looking better and better as our soil improves.  They look so beautiful this year.

The CSA Set-up

Cabbage in the Sun

I hope we get some rain this coming week, but maybe not quite so intense as the storms we had come through this weekend.  We will see!

What’s Your Cabbage Pose?

As Libby mentioned in her blog post, we did have a special visitor yesterday: Judith!  Judith was an apprentice last summer with me and has been a part of the Morven Kitchen Garden pretty much since the beginning.  She and I ran the CSA together last year, so it was so fun to have her here for a CSA Day in year two!

The CSA Team Hard at Work

Yesterday the sun was blazing (the heat index was as high as 106!), but we had planned ahead, started early, and already harvested some of the vegetables included in this week’s share.  Also, with the help of Judith and Erin (one of our CSA members), all of the picking and packaging went quickly and smoothly.  We all make quite an efficient team!

While we were picking the cabbage, we decided to reenact our cabbage picture from last year.  We all have our own cabbage pose- what’s yours?

A Look Through the Door at our CSA Pick-up Station

Because of the heat, we held our CSA Station inside.  I’m pretty sure that small conference room in Newcomb has never contained so many vegetables before!  The tables were pretty much bursting with kale, onions, bags of potatoes, and Swiss chard, and we had a cooler on the side with bags of lettuce.  Another successful CSA week!

The Full Layout (minus the cooler of lettuce)

Michelle and Libby will be gone for the next week at a conference in California about Schoolyard Gardens.  This conference is organized by Alice Waters, a woman who started the famous Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley.  I’m excited to hear about what all they learned when they get back.  For now, Marie and I will be holding down the fort at the garden.  Although we have a lot on our list of things to do, we’re feeling up for the challenge!

…and end like this.

 

Summer Mornings start like this…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luck and a Pyramid of Onions

Good luck for the CSA!

Last Thursday marked the first day of our first summer CSA session!  With 13 CSA members this week, we needed plenty to harvest and package for each share.  Luckily, we didn’t have to look very far in our garden.  It may have helped too that I found  four-leaf clover that morning!

Starting off early

A Pyramid of Onions

CSA mornings are always rapid-fire and exciting, so we started off right at 6am.  After we planted the beets, we shifted into full harvest-mode.  Onions, broccoli, lettuce, herbs, sugar snap peas, kale and Swiss chard.  Our CSA share also included garlic bulbs which we had dried. Our kale bunches were just about the biggest I had ever seen.  To give you an idea of just how big they were, they weighed about 0.75 pounds each!  Our onions also were huge; in fact, everything looked lush and healthy.  In all, we gave our CSA-ers about 50 pounds of vegetables!

Libby at our CSA Table

We set up our pick-up station at a different spot than last year.  This year we are going to be stationed at the plaza between Newcomb, Monroe, and Brown College.  It’s an awesome spot because: a) we get a fair amount of foot-traffic by us (great for publicity!); b) there’s shade (although it was cool and cloudy on Thursday); and c) it’s right near where we can park.

Unloading everything went really smoothly, and all of the CSA-ers came within our two-hour timeframe.  I loved meeting everyone and telling them about our garden and the vegetables.  Although I was exhausted by the end, it was a really great day and I’m looking forward to Week 2 next Thursday!

CSA Table

Flash Season Extension

Our Garden this Morning

With the sudden drop in temperatures, we decided to have a flash season extension session last Monday.  With our fellow gardening friends, we built several season extension structures over our fall season plants in the waning light.  Unfortunately, the frost got what remained of our tomatoes, basil, and peppers, but it was time for them to go.  We really wanted to make sure that our lettuce, spinach, and other greens were covered and snuggled up nice and warm.  Thanks to all of our friends and work, they are covered up and doing well!

Our Row Covers

This week was our last one of the second fall CSA session.  We were worried that our CSAers wouldn’t get enough, but I think it was ok.  We had pumpkins, turnips, Swiss chard, kale, a little bit of broccoli raab, and a whole bunch of lettuce.

This Week's Recipe Booklet

The chickens are getting in gear for winter!   The guy who we buy eggs from told us that the chickens are shedding their old feathers and growing new feathers for the winter.  They are putting their energy into growing these new feathers; thus, we do not have eggs this week.  Well, although I’ll miss getting eggs this week, I hope that our chickens are growing those feathers well!

Washing Vegetables for the CSA