Is it weird for a farmer to be talking about chocolate? Man cannot live on veggies alone! Many of you know our good friend Sarah, of Anna Banana’s Homemade Goodness. Sarah will be joining the Monday pickup this week with all kinds of goodies – only the caramel apples need to be ordered ahead (it might break our website if we tried to put up all of her crazy creations). You can now get your award-winning cheese*, chocolate, and veggies all in one place. Now if we can only convince the simple folk to sell their bread with us, it’ll be one stop shopping!
It’s become unsurprising to check the weather report and see “near-record temperatures” this season, but hopefully today will be the very last 90 degree of the year. I guess that’s not hoping for too much given that it’s creeping toward mid-September. Most of the garden continues to limp along, especially our previously outrageously productive tomatoes that I’ve been bragging about since July. A few theories on that, one more common, another intriguing, and the third more of the same.
Boring theory #1: We’ve had a few cold nights recently – I even saw 48 degrees one morning! Tomatoes like nights in the 60s, so it’s possible that the loaded, healthy green plants just haven’t been ripening their fruits as quickly. But…the slowdown seems too dramatic. The plants went from overdrive to basically nothing, which makes me wonder about…
Intriguing theory #2: A new friend of the farm stopped by to put in a morning of good honest work. She had noticed that her tomato plants had been dropping brown flowers (future tomatoes) when we had that tremendous heat wave. She researched it (and I verified) and found that tomato blossoms can drop without setting fruit if temps reach 90 degrees for an extended period. Sound familiar? So it would make sense if we hit a lull in the tomatoes, before they start picking back up.
Drought theory #3: We’re in a severe drought…’nuff said!
The shining star is our lower field filled with cantaloupe, winter squash, and watermelons. Yes, we have enough of our incredible watermelon for you to order!! You should see the size of some of those butternut and spaghetti squashes too. The acorn squash will be the first to hit the figurative shelves – maybe even at the market next week. I roasted one up yesterday and it was very good, but not quite ready just yet. I’m not sure where the water came from to make such large and delicious fruits…but it wasn’t from the skies!
Pickup Procedures:
Put your orders in online before 8am Monday morning. We’ll pick all orders fresh Monday morning and have it available for you to pick-up from 4-7pm Monday afternoon right on the farm at 64 Potter Hill Rd in Grafton. Take advantage of this short window of time when the best produce around is grown in Grafton’s backyard!
*Get your cheese orders in by 11am Sunday this week