What’s been going on?

So this guy is walking down Summer Blvd. with a set of old directions in his hand. He approaches what should be Fall St. and the directions say he should turn here. He looks left and right and sees, in the short daylight hours, the trees turning color and dropping leaves, it looks like Fall but it could be the drought and even though it is a cool morning the forecast for the days to come are for temperatures still in the 90’s. He is not sure what to do, the directions he has indicate that this should be the turn and way down the street he can make out a sign that says Winter Ave.. A suspicious looking character walks up and whispers that the rumor is that just down Fall St. things really change, you can get all the good stuff-cooler temperatures, shorter days and even…rain!

Welcome to the new first day of Fall, not the way is used to be, we will just have to use our imaginations this year. The forecast is for temperatures in the 70’s on Sunday and Monday with a chance of rain. Being pragmatists we will wait and see. Not much left out in the field and by Friday it will all be gone except for the pepper plants, the turkeys, some vegetables for Thanksgiving and a few rows of flowers for next year. All the Big Tops are uncovered for the winter, almost everything is mowed down, waiting for some moisture so we can disk it in. I ran the last of the irrigation water out of the upper pond to the lower one, just enough to get us to the end. The dock in the upper pond now stands on dry ground. Seems like fall, just doesn’t feel like it.

As you all know by now this is our last week at Saturday Market for the season. Sure we’ll be back on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving for the special holiday market and to pass out the turkeys, and Betsy is threatening to make some guest appearances in December if we still have some produce left but we are turning onto Fall St. and going down it until we get to Winter Ave. Three weeks from tomorrow we will be flying to Italy for the Slow Food Terra Madre conference and after that to Spain to visit markets, eat more great food and search for new peppers to bring home to grow. Between now and when we leave there is still a lot to get done and hopefully I will have time to get another newsletter out but if not look for one when we get back with news of our adventures. As always we cannot thank you all enough for the support you give us and the farm, without you we would not be able to do what we do!

Picture of the Week

The early morning rays on a nearly empty farm

What’s going to be at the market?

Don’t forget about that Thanksgiving Turkey, reserve now while the selection is still ample.

Betsy doesn’t have much but what she will have is really nice. Crested and Plume Celosia in very fall like colors. Plenty of fragrant and beautiful Oriental Lilies in white and pink and a few yellow, non-fragrant Asiatic Lilies too.

Last chance to get some peppers roasted for this year. Not a lot left but still a fair supply of Anaheims and Poblanos, Jalapeno, Serrano. A few Cayennes and Habaneros for the incendiary among us. Also some of the hotter-than-they-should-be Padrone and a few (not so hot) 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. In Sweet peppers we have very limited amount of Red and Purple Bells, lime green Cubanelles and Corno di Toros. Finally we will have some Green Bells as we clean the plants off.

Tomato supply is very light. In Reds there is a small number of Big Beefs. In cherry types there is a pretty good supply of Sungolds. Look for some green tomatoes from cleaning the vines off. The last of the awesome Italian heirloom Eggplant. Basil to go with tomatoes. A few more bunches of Japanese Turnips.

Hope to see you all at the market!

Alex and Betsy