September 2024: Gimme Gimme Fall
Fall's Arrival on the Farm 🍎 Farmers Market & Beyond 🥗 Recipe Share 🌾 Cover Cropping 💐 News from the Farm
Fall’s Arrival on the Farm
Today begins meteorological fall. And I am here for it.
This summer has been hot, humid, and dry. The days have been very long. My body aches for the coolness of fall mornings and honestly, at this point in the season, my mind drifts to day dreams of snow covered fields.
“An ancient sigh, a calling home, into the dark half of the year,” as Lia Leendertz puts it.
As each day approaches the autumnal equinox - the equal hours of light and darkness -I’m reflecting that half of what is happening on the farm is harnessing the light and the other half is focused on the dark. It’s equally thriving and living, while also preparing for shorter, colder days ahead.
For instance, there are still so, so, so many crops that are growing in the fields. (Don’t think that our fall and winter market table will be bare!) There is a co-mingling of summer tomatoes and cool-weather loving arugula and radishes. I’ll be sowing lettuce and other greens until the end of September for November and December harvests. The growth - the light - has not retreated so far yet and things are still quite active. Bees are gathering pollen. Blossoms are present on the last round of string bean and snap pea rows.
But then there are the tasks that signal that the darkest days of the year are approaching. The cover crops being sown into beds that are “done” for the season. Packaging of cured onions. The planting and tucking in of strawberry roots. Covering rows of crops with metal hoops and frost-protection fabric. The notes being scribbled down to be able to recall what worked (and what didn’t) when it comes time to make decisions in the slower months of winter.
There is still so much to do and still so many veggies left to savor.
Find us at the Farmers Market (September & Beyond)
The Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market takes its hiatus this Saturday, September 7 so the Peach Fest can take center stage in Academy Park.
But! If you’d like to grab some veggies from us next weekend, we will be at the Wandering Gypsy Brewing Company’s summer market on Sunday, September 8, 10am-2pm in Ransomville.
(You can also snag a bag of our salad greens every week at Shenandoah Acres Farm Market on Ransomville Road at their self-serve market!)
And don’t think the farmers market is over! We will be back in Academy Park with your fall favorites from September 14 - October 12 from 9am-1pm with the Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market.
➡️ ➡️ ➡️ That’s 5 more Saturdays in the park with arugula, fall salad mix, mustard greens, collard greens, cured onions, garlic, radishes, turnips, as well as summer favorites like eggplant and tomatoes so long as the frost stays away!
Starting Saturday, October 26, we move to the indoor Winter Market, hosted by the Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market, at 505 Cayuga Street (in 1st Presbyterian Church’s Social Hall). The indoor Winter Market runs from 9am-1pm, and we’ll be there with veggies on October 26, November 9, November 30, December 7, and December 21.
🍁 I am also planning to offer a Thanksgiving Share and a Winter Holiday Share, to help make your holidays a little easier, so stay tuned for share and ordering details! 🍁
Recipe Share
Pasta is probably my favorite thing to eat, mainly because I’ve always loved my grandma & mom’s homemade tomato sauce. But since my husband can’t enjoy tomatoes anymore because of their high acid content, we’ve been trying different pasta dishes without defaulting to tomato sauce.
Here are 2 recipes that we’ve been enjoying and modifying based on what’s available on the farm (and currently in my fridge!)
Arugula Pasta (20 minutes)
2 ½ cups tomatoes (omit if you’re trying to reduce acid in your diet)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves crushed
8 ounces of pasta
3 cups arugula, torn and trimmed (any type of cooking green could be substituted here: mustard greens, kale, collards, chard, etc.)
½ cup asiago or parmesan cheese, grated
Directions
Combine tomatoes, olive oil, garlic in bowl and set aside
Cook and drain pasta
Add hot pasta and arugula to a bowl and toss with the tomatoes, olive oil, and garlic.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Multi-Veggie Pasta (25 minutes)
I used the Pasta Dinner with Caramelized Zucchini recipe from Cooking with our CSA as a guide for this recipe and I’ve been experimenting with adding in other local flavors.
16oz of dried pasta in a shape that you love
2 medium zucchini (I’ve experimented with substituting summer squash, patty pan squash, sweet peppers, etc. I think this is where you can get creative with what is in season — about 2 cups of produce)
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves, 1-2 medium onions, or 1-2 cups of scallions to taste (again, I think this is where you can be creative. I’ve even added in a local mushroom mix from Hana Mushroom as this ingredient)
16oz ricotta cheese
1/2c + of parmesan cheese, grated
optional herbs: fresh or dried - basil, parsley, oregano, etc.
Directions
Cook pasta
Whilepasta is cooking, slice and saute veggies, garlic (or onions, etc), and olive oil in a frying pan.
Once your pasta is cooked, hold back about a 1/4 of a cup of pasta water as you drain your pasta.
Add ricotta and grated parmesan cheese to the pot with your drained pasta. If you need to add the leftover pasta water to thin the sauce to your liking do that now.
Once the pasta and cheeses are combined, remove the veggies from the frying pan and toss with the pasta.
Serve with fresh or dried herbs, as well as salt and pepper to taste.
Earth Stewardship - Cover Cropping
It's cover crop planting season. ✨ I sow cover crop on many of our permanent, no-till beds throughout late summer and fall to build nutrients back up (like nitrogen) and add organic matter into the growing soil.
Sowing cover crops prevents the soil from eroding with the winter snows and spring rains before they're ready to be planted in. It also helps keep weed pressure down in beds before the heavy frosts kill the annual weeds.
Cover cropping fallow fields has been used for centuries by many different peoples around the world.
The process was commonly used until the early 1900s, when industrial chemicals for fertilizing, weed, and pest control (herbicides & pesticides) became broadly available and economically practical. The broad application of synthetic chemical compounds stresses the soil’s ability to retain moisture and decreases beneficial organisms found within the soil.
By being spray-free and using cover crops, my goal is to support and build soil microbial life so I can provide a good crop yield for customers for years to come. 🙌🏻
Personal Story from the Farm
A few weeks ago I was able to have one of the coolest, and likely one of my proudest moments since starting my business.
I was able to supply a DIY bouquet bar at a baby shower with items 100% grown on my farm, by me, and without the use of pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides.
And not only that, this was a shower to honor a very best friend. K and I became fast friends during my senior year of college - spending hours studying and having fun together, including the time she went as my sorority formal date. Because she lives in Pittsburgh and we’re both moms to busy toddlers, I’m not able to really share much of my farm life with her often, aside from photos on Instagram.
Needless to say, being able to sprinkle love on her in the form of flowers I grew was so, so special. A true example of my love language - wrapping folks up in food and gifts I grew or made with my hands.
