Weekly Abundance, Vol 18-09

This Week’s Harvest

October 7 harvest

Romaine Lettuce

Fennel

Rainbow Chard

Tomatoes – Yellow Taxis and heirloom Silvery Fir Tree.  The Taxis were picked for us by Travis and friend, a CSA shareholder at the North Portland pick up site.  He and a friend came to pick cucumbers and tomatoes for canning and picked the Taxis for us while they were at it.  Thanks Travis!

Lemon Cucumbers

Broccoli

Beets

Delicata Squash

Upcoming Events

For the last several weeks, I have been allowing much of the Basil to go to flower so that the bees will have an ample supply of pollen to build their honey stores for the winter.  The remaining basil is beginning to show the effects of the chilly nights.  But, there is still plenty left.  If you would like to make and freeze a big batch of pesto before the deep winter chill sets in, you are welcome to come out to the farm Sunday afternoon and harvest yourself an armful.

The basil is free for CSA shareholders.  All others will pay a nominal fee.  Please let me know when you might be coming so that I don’t leave the farm for the hardware store just before you arrive.

Saturday from 10:00 until 3:30 is the Open Barn at North Valley Farm in Yamhill.  This is a great opportunity to learn about grass fed lamb and beef.  And… there will be other fun stuff.  I will be there talking about CSA’s and the 2010 waiting list.  There will be an Olive Oil tasting and some great fiber crafts too.  And, if you’d like to make a day of it, the Yamhill County Art Harvest Tour will be happening the same day.

North Valley Farm is located just three miles west of the town of Yamhill at 12775 NW Oak Ridge Rd.  You do not need to make reservations to attend.  If you’d like more information about the Art Tour, please visit www.artharveststudiotour.org.

Farm Life

We have had several light frosts this week.  As mentioned above, it is showing in the basil, and also in the cucumbers.  The leaves of the cucumber plants are dying back.  There are still some flowers and small fruit though so it is possible we may have cucumbers for another week or two, depending on the weather.

As the summer crops wind down, we are going to experience a lull before the cool season crops come in.  This means there will be fewer items to harvest.  It doesn’t help that the chickens love to eat anything in the brassica family, the plant family that performs  best in cool weather.

Plymoth Barred Rock Laying Hen

The chickens have eaten a whole row of kale down to the ground and made major inroads into the cabbage.  Since we are not selling as many eggs as I had hoped, we don’t need so many chickens any way.  So…. if you’ve ever thought about having back yard chickens, now is a good time.  The chickens are on sale for only $15 each.  These girls are proven layers and have had a healthy diet free of genetically modified organisms since their very first meal.  Backyard chickens are legal in many parts of the Portland Metro Area and these hens are young enough that they should continue laying through out the winter.  If you are interested, please let me know and I will reserve you a couple.  (Sorry, for food safety reasons, I can not bring live birds to the Portland CSA pick up sites.  We don’t want chicken poop on our fresh veggies!)

Several times each year, our harvest provides living proof that we use no synthetic pesticides on our farm.  Earlier this year, you saw that in the “Holey Pac Choi”.  This week we see it in aphids in the broccoli.

If you look at the broccoli closely, you will see three different things.  The first and most abundant are the brown to gray tiny aphids.  Next are the slightly bigger green thrips that eat the aphids.  Lastly, you might see some mummified bodies of aphids left after the thrips enjoyed their meal.

The presence of the thrips on the  broccoli is a good sign.  So is the lack of ants.  (Ants and aphids have a symbiotic relationship.  The ants nurse the aphids in exchange for their sweet excrement.)  It indicates that the natural balance is tipping in our favor.  Hopefully, we will have a good hard rain to wash all the aphids off the plants.  Meanwhile we will hasten things along by pulling all of the broccoli plants that have already gone to seed or are not healthy.  The aphids  attack the weakest plants first.  If we pull those and discard them, we eliminate much of the aphid breeding grounds.

Finally, please note that sign up’s for our 2010 CSA begin soon.  Our existing shareholders will be given  first priority.  Any openings still remaining after December 1 will be made available to those on our waiting list.  If you are not a current shareholder and are not on the waiting list, please send an e-mail to farmer@artisanOrganics.net and I will gladly add you.