There will be no pickup this Monday as I am enjoying a brief and much-needed weekend away from the farm. Jenni’s friend is getting married in NYC – we’re on the train with a (currently) very happy baby. Hopefully she stays that way! It’s unfortunate that it’s this weekend, only because the garden has exploded all of a sudden. We’re still getting tons of summer goodies like watermelon, tomatoes, watermelon, tomatoes, and more watermelon and tomatoes. Today before I left, we delivered 120 pounds of heirloom tomatoes to Anzio’s. I’m not sure what they’re doing with all that flavor, but I’m excited to find out! We also picked a 16 pound watermelon for Tower Hill’s cafe this morning. Gotta love restaurants that actually practice what they preach – a few “seasonal” restaurants wouldn’t even accept the sample produce I tried to bring over!
In addition to the end of summer abundance, our fall crops have started coming in. I’ve enjoyed sampling the butternut and acorn squashes to see if they’ve reached peak flavor. Expect to see plenty of those at the market on Wednesday. Meanwhile, our greens haven’t looked this good all season, and some late-seeded carrots and beets are sizing up nicely. Now all you need is some meat for a complete Potter Hill meal…
Despite my recent optimism, “challenging” is the one word I’d choose to describe this season. Turns out it’s not easy to take over a farm and have a baby mid-season! I realized early on that I bit off more than I could chew and sold the beef animals that I had just purchased and (mostly) uneventfully transported to the farm. It was a tough decision to make financially, but looking back it was the right one – veggies and Miss Paddy Rose have kept me on my toes this year. Plus, the buyer was a local guy with plenty of farming experience. Many of you know Ken Dion from Community Harvest Project, a former co-worker of mine when I was there. Ken has been taking care of the cattle at Potter Hill the last few months and has finalized beef share details. Shares are available for pickup in October, November and December, and deposits will be accepted until all shares are sold. Inquiries should be sent to him directly at kdionfly@nullverizon.net.