From the farmers….
Three inches of rain. That’s the unofficial total we’ve determined from the amount in all of our harvest tubs and buckets which remained outside after the harvest gathering rain. And while we are glad of the rain to replenish the water table, at this time of year, we could sure do without three inches. After two frosts, this much rain is more of a problem than a help for most of our crops. It has pretty much done in the tomatoes – splitting many of them and causing rotten spots on many more. There are still a lot of good tomatoes on the plants, but picking them is not much fun what with sorting around all the damage.
The pig pen also turned into a huge mud pond with all the rain. Even the pigs who usually like a mud bath seemed a bit unhappy with almost no dry areas to lie down in. Perhaps this was why they decided to take matters into their own hooves. When Gigi and I went out to feed the pigs and cows on Saturday morning, we noticed some large oddly dug up areas in the large now empty sheep pasture. I wondered out loud if our neighbor Chick’s cows had possibly gotten out of their own pasture and into ours and had dug it up. When we got out to the pig pen – Oh no! There were no pigs in the pig pen. And the back panel of the pig fence was open. Those clever little piggies had untied the fence panel and let themselves out into a larger pen. We decided to let them have it. They seem quite delighted with the huge pen where they can range and run and roam as much as they like. We still feed and water them in the smaller area so that when we need to catch them we can simply close them off from the larger pen.
The turkey pens too are a mess from all the rain! And stinky! Just this morning we opened up another larger pen area for the Bronzes to move into to get them out of the worst of the wet area of their pen. They quite willingly moved into the grassy area that was formerly part of the lamb pen. The turkeys – especially as they get older are quite entertaining as they respond to any loud or unusual noise – like the tractor, the Canada geese flying overhead, or the big trucks going by on County Road 9. Whenever they hear a loud noise, they all gobble together in response. They even answer back to the cows mooing or someone coughing if it is loud enough.
The last few nights, the coyotes have been yipping and howling in the middle of the night. They sound like they are right outside our house. We like them around to keep down small critters and they don’t seem to have any interest in coming too close to any of our domestic livestock. We’ve also had several eagles and a lot of vultures and crows circling overhead lately. There must be something dead that they all have been checking out. The sand hill cranes have also begun flying and making a lot of noise especially this last week as they are getting ready to migrate. In the last few years, the one original first pair has turned into a whole flock of cranes that nest and live in and around the old gravel pit just behind our farm.
Until next week….
Fall Harvest Festival
Three inches of rain. That’s the unofficial total we’ve determined from the amount in all of our harvest tubs and buckets which remained outside after the harvest gathering rain. And while we are glad of the rain to replenish the water table, at this time of year, we could sure do without three inches. After two frosts, this much rain is more of a problem than a help for most of our crops. It has pretty much done in the tomatoes – splitting many of them and causing rotten spots on many more. There are still a lot of good tomatoes on the plants, but picking them is not much fun what with sorting around all the damage.
The pig pen also turned into a huge mud pond with all the rain. Even the pigs who usually like a mud bath seemed a bit unhappy with almost no dry areas to lie down in. Perhaps this was why they decided to take matters into their own hooves. When Gigi and I went out to feed the pigs and cows on Saturday morning, we noticed some large oddly dug up areas in the large now empty sheep pasture. I wondered out loud if our neighbor Chick’s cows had possibly gotten out of their own pasture and into ours and had dug it up. When we got out to the pig pen – Oh no! There were no pigs in the pig pen. And the back panel of the pig fence was open. Those clever little piggies had untied the fence panel and let themselves out into a larger pen. We decided to let them have it. They seem quite delighted with the huge pen where they can range and run and roam as much as they like. We still feed and water them in the smaller area so that when we need to catch them we can simply close them off from the larger pen.
The turkey pens too are a mess from all the rain! And stinky! Just this morning we opened up another larger pen area for the Bronzes to move into to get them out of the worst of the wet area of their pen. They quite willingly moved into the grassy area that was formerly part of the lamb pen. The turkeys – especially as they get older are quite entertaining as they respond to any loud or unusual noise – like the tractor, the Canada geese flying overhead, or the big trucks going by on County Road 9. Whenever they hear a loud noise, they all gobble together in response. They even answer back to the cows mooing or someone coughing if it is loud enough.
The last few nights, the coyotes have been yipping and howling in the middle of the night. They sound like they are right outside our house. We like them around to keep down small critters and they don’t seem to have any interest in coming too close to any of our domestic livestock. We’ve also had several eagles and a lot of vultures and crows circling overhead lately. There must be something dead that they all have been checking out. The sand hill cranes have also begun flying and making a lot of noise especially this last week as they are getting ready to migrate. In the last few years, the one original first pair has turned into a whole flock of cranes that nest and live in and around the old gravel pit just behind our farm.
Until next week….
Fall Harvest Festival
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm Fall Harvest Festival is October 5th, the first Sunday in October starting at 2:30. There will be farm games, hay rides, and good food. Bring warm clothes just in case it gets cool. Please RSVP so we know how much food to prepare.
The Bread Box
Your bread this week is Tassajara Wheat yeast bread. Perfect with peanut butter and honey for breakfast on a cool fall morning, wrap around a huge tomato slice for sandwiches for lunch, or cut thick slices to have alongside squash soup for dinner. Enjoy.
What’s in your Share
Onions – Walla Walla – yellow
Eggplant – Galine (large purple) Dancer (med pink) Orient Express (small thin purple) Orient Charm (small thin pink), Thai green
Potatoes – Norkotah Russet
Peppers – Sweet –Lipstick and Apple (red to green 2” x 3”)
Watermelons: Sunshine (round striped – yellow) New Queen (round striped – orange), Starlight (round striped red flesh); Picnic (med to large dark green – red); Sorbet Swirl (small dark green – yellow and pink swirled)
Cantaloupe – Pulsar, Superstar, Burpee Hybrid – all heavy netting with deep sutures; Eclipse – smooth netting with no sutures
Tomatoes – Paragon, (large red); Orange Blossom, Moonglow (large orange); Taxi (med yellow); Pink Beauty (large deep pink); Green Zebra (small green striped)
Beets – Red Ace
Swiss Chard – Northern Lights
Basil – Ararat
Parsley – Italian flat leaf
The Bread Box
Your bread this week is Tassajara Wheat yeast bread. Perfect with peanut butter and honey for breakfast on a cool fall morning, wrap around a huge tomato slice for sandwiches for lunch, or cut thick slices to have alongside squash soup for dinner. Enjoy.
What’s in your Share
Onions – Walla Walla – yellow
Eggplant – Galine (large purple) Dancer (med pink) Orient Express (small thin purple) Orient Charm (small thin pink), Thai green
Potatoes – Norkotah Russet
Peppers – Sweet –Lipstick and Apple (red to green 2” x 3”)
Watermelons: Sunshine (round striped – yellow) New Queen (round striped – orange), Starlight (round striped red flesh); Picnic (med to large dark green – red); Sorbet Swirl (small dark green – yellow and pink swirled)
Cantaloupe – Pulsar, Superstar, Burpee Hybrid – all heavy netting with deep sutures; Eclipse – smooth netting with no sutures
Tomatoes – Paragon, (large red); Orange Blossom, Moonglow (large orange); Taxi (med yellow); Pink Beauty (large deep pink); Green Zebra (small green striped)
Beets – Red Ace
Swiss Chard – Northern Lights
Basil – Ararat
Parsley – Italian flat leaf
Cookbook Recommendations
Two treasures for cooking within season. Both follow a format of recipes from early greens through squash and pumpkins and all things inbetween. Local Flavors by Deborah Madison
and From Asparagus to Zucchini by the local area farms near Madison Wisconsin.
