Thank you so much to all of you who stopped by Harvest Fest on Saturday. It was wonderful to see so many of you, and get to say hi. If you wanted to say hello to your favorite farmers, but you missed the Harvest Fest, don’t worry. On Saturday, September 26th from 10am-noon we are having an open house on the farm. There will be a farm tour, tractor rides, and treats. It’s completely free, family friendly, and open to all. Invite your friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. We hope to see many of you there!

Mother nature has flipped the switch and thrown us into fall weather. Sunday night and Monday night this week, the farm is predicted to have overnight lows in the high 30’s. This isn’t as terrible for the plants as a hard frost, but it does put a lot of stress on some of our warmer weather plants. Last week we picked the last of the melons. Even if we don’t get a hard frost, cool days and nights will prevent future fruit from properly ripening this time of the year. Melon season couldn’t last forever, but we sure enjoyed it while it was here.

The cooler weather has the potential to damage the leaves on the pepper and tomato plants, but the fruit should still be just fine until we get a hard frost. On the opposite end, our carrots and kale love this kind of weather. The colder weather means that the plants will start working overtime to convert starches into sugar in an effort to keep the plant alive and healthy. This means sweeter carrots and kale.

When we aren’t thinking of the weather, we’ve been harvesting away on the farm. Some crops are starting to slow down, but others are just starting to pick up. We’ve reached the end of our cucumbers just in time to say a big hello to winter squash! Onions are still coming out of the field, and being placed in drying areas so the paper skins can cure for winter storage.

In your box this week:

Basil – Green Beans – Broccoli – Carrots – Greens Mix – Leeks – Onions – Parsley – Sweet Peppers – Jalapeno – Red Potatoes – Acorn Squash – Tomatoes – Zucchini

This Acorn Squash Salad is a great way to use up the squash and greens mix in your box this week. The salad still has some bright summer flavors from the greens mix and the lemon tahini dressing. However, it also leans into fall with the squash, cherries, and nuts.

My favorite way to use up an abundance of vegetables that isn’t soup, is to turn it all into lasagna. This Vegetable lasagna is a great recipe for that. It makes Leeks the star of the show. You can add other veggies such as zucchini, bell pepper, or carrots to this. If you aren’t a fan of kale, try swapping it out for spinach, or even try it with the greens mix in your box this week.