The weather this week is telling us that Fall will be here before we know it. 

On the farm, we’re keeping a close eye on our Fall crops, and enjoying our summer crops before we must say goodbye.

Last week we spent a lot of time with our winter squash. Holy moley it is all so happy this year! Our delicata plants are the largest they’ve ever been, and they’re producing big and beautiful squash. The acorn squash is already sizing up, and the sunshine squash are a beautiful light orange.  The plants have about 2-3 more weeks of growing before we plan to start harvesting them. 

There have also been talks about where we will put our Spring spinach. Our plan is to plant the spinach in the next few weeks so it has time to germinate and start growing a bit before it gets too cold out. Once it starts to get too cold, we’ll put a frost blanket over it, and tuck it in for the winter. During the winter, the spinach will enter a dormancy period (think hibernation but for plants) where it will stop growing, and instead conserve all of its resources until the Spring when the temperatures get warmer and the days get longer. Once Spring hits, the spinach will start growing again, and be ready to harvest for our final Winter CSA boxes.

Over-wintering frost tolerant vegetables is a great way to get a jump start on the growing season. Instead of having to wait the full 50 days for the spinach to be ready for harvest, we only have to wait about 2 weeks. This gets fresh greens in our bellies much faster, and seeing green gets everyone excited for the new season to start.

In your box this week:

Tomatoes – Zucchini – Cucumbers – Green Beans – New Red Potatoes – Cilantro – Basil – Sweet Onions – Jalapenos – Green Peppers – Carrots – Garlic

Shakshuka is a favorite in our household this time of year. Try out this recipe from Downshiftology for a great way to use up lots of produce from this week’s box. This recipe calls for Red Bell pepper, and a can of whole tomatoes. I’ve made this recipe hundreds of times with Green peppers, and using fresh whole tomatoes that you cook down. Yes, the fresh tomatoes make it take a little longer to cook, but you can’t tell the difference. Dice up your jalapeno for an extra kick!

Lots of people will be having their goodbye summer parties this weekend. This Cucumber Agua Fresca is a great way to celebrate summer one last time. It’s light, refreshing, and a great way to use up extra cucumber. If you want to make it extra fancy, try freezing cucumber slices and/or mint leaves in your ice cubes.