What’s been going on!

Success!  It took just about everything we had but we managed to get all the soil worked, cover crops seeded and flowers for next spring planted.  Just another piece of a strange weather year to work around including only a few hours of sunshine in a ten day period.  Soil didn’t work up as nice as I would have liked but good enough and ready for the winter and all of next year.  This is maybe the most important week/job of the year as it sets the farm up for the whole next season.  All the tomato and pepper beds for next year are set, the lettuce beds for early spring are up, and on and on.  Two acres all ready, 200 beds just waiting to be planted sometime before next June.  Whew!

If that hasn’t been enough there has been plenty of other meetings, classes and other things going on.  We did have a great cooking class at A Southern Season last night focusing on peppers.  Our now frequent co-presenter at these classes, Craig Lehoullier, more famous for tomatoes than peppers was again fun to work with as he is just about as crazy about peppers as he is tomatoes and comes from a home gardener perspective.  The Cooking School staff did a great job with all kinds of dishes including a delicious Chile Poblano relleno in nogado sauce.

So tomorrow Betsy and I get on a plane for Italy and are we ever ready!  Once again into a food filled exploration of Umbria with Ben and Karen Barker.  Nearly daily stops at the best farmers markets in the region to search for potential new crops, display techniques, seeds; and then afternoons spent eating the local food and seeing the historical sights to be followed by leisurely evenings “reviewing” the day’s activities.  A week with the Barkers and then our usual visit with our farm family near Torino which is always a treat.  We will come back with many stories, hopefully a few new ideas, until then Jennie is in charge and will be at market the next two Saturdays.

Picture of the Week

Another grey day but a farm ready for next season, doesn’t look like it now but this will be a field full of lettuce next spring!

What’s going to be at the market?

No pepper roasting for the next two weeks but make sure you come and visit with Jennie while we are gone!

Don’t forget your turkey reservations, only about 5 birds left.  Only birds over 15 pounds available.

The fall vegetables are at their best!  Turnips and Easter Radishes are back!  More Broccoli Raab, tender Spinach and Collards.  Lots of the sweet and tender Little Gem lettuce, Green Boston, Red Leaf and Romaine.  Beautiful Lacinato Kale and Bok Choi.  Sweet Red Onions.  In herbs we have Cilantro and Italian Parsley.  Plenty of the amazing Baby Ginger root.  Maybe the first Beets.

Still a fair supply of sweet peppers this week with Red Bells and Red, Yellow and Orange sweet Corno di Toro’s.  Rounding out the sweet peppers are Purple Bells and Cubanelles.  In hot peppers a fair amount of Anaheims and lots of Poblanos for stuffing and other uses.  In the rest of the hots we have Passillas, Jalapenos, Serranos, Cayennes and some of the Picante Pimentos.  In not or rarely hots more of the Aji Dulce (the habanero without the heat) and the appetizer Japanese Shishitos and Spanish Padrons.

Hope to see you all at the market!

Alex and Betsy

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