What’s been going on?

Ah, September at last and a hurricane on the way, sort of. It was fourteen years ago this week that Fran roared across the Piedmont still carrying 80 mph winds with it as it’s eye passed just east of the farm. Those of us in the area will never forget that storm or the week that followed, cleaning up without power or water. Now our senses are on high alert anytime a big storm is on the track that Earl is on just in case. This time we don’t plan on taking all the plastic off the greenhouses but we are still watching all the storm reports carefully.

As promised early in the year, this week marks the start of Turkey reservations. We always wait until Labor Day when we have a better idea of how many birds will actually be available. By the time they get this old they are usually pretty hardy but even now we can lose some to one thing or another (like the two that died last week). There will only be about 85 birds available this fall with the majority being the larger Broad Breasted Bronzes (about 60). All the information about what kind we have, how much they will be and the order form is now on the Website for easier access.

Look for the order form near the bottom of the page under “How do I reserve one of the special birds?” You can easily download the Word document there. We will also have the order forms at Market on Saturdays through the end of the month. I can also tell you that already, with the “Frequent Flyer” reservations, nearly a third of them are spoken for. I will continue to update how many are available on the website. Don’t wait too long.

Typical end of the season chores going on. The guys are beginning the mulching the blueberries today, later in the week more of the early tomatoes will be taken out. The last of the huge pepper picks will happen the end of the week as this is the peak of the season and there will be much fewer fruit on the plants from here on in. Cleaning up, mowing, getting ready for winter cover crops.

Picture of the Week

What else, turkeys on the morning strut.

What’s going to be at the market?

This will be our last Wednesday market, just plain running out of enough stuff for two markets.

The flower season continues to wind down with limited quantities. A bit of Lisianthus is back this week. Some nice Zinnias of course. Crested Celosia back with the last planting. Betsy’s beautiful bouquets. Plenty of fragrant Oriental Lilies in white and pink and the non-fragrant Asiatic Lilies too.

This is the peak of the pepper season this week so make sure you get what you want in the freezer now. In hot types there are plenty of beautiful Anaheims and Poblanos (maybe the best we’ve had in years), Jalapeno, Serrano, Cayenne and Passilla. Cayennes and Habaneros for the incendiary among us. Padrone and Shishito, the Spanish and Japanese snacking peppers, just quickly coat them in a pan with some hot olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and eat the whole thing. The Peregrine Picante Pimientos are back with nice red, slightly hot, thick fleshed fruit. In Sweet peppers we have small supply of Purple Bells, lime green Cubanelles and Corno di Toros. Looks like a good supply of Red Bells, with small amounts of Yellow Bells this week too.

Tomato supply is very light. In Reds there is a small supply of Big Beefs. In cherry types there is a pretty good supply of Sungolds, with a few pints of Grape tomatoes. There is a smattering of other colors around too.

More of the awesome Italian heirloom Eggplant. Basil to go with tomatoes. I think finally some of the Summer Crisp lettuce.

Hope to see you all at the market!

Alex and Betsy