Looks like we may be solidly into our typical PNW gray, damp, cool fall days next week. That signals a transition out of the last of the summer crops. Here’s my best guess for next week: lettuce, bunch greens, fennel, celery, beets, sweet peppers, and popcorn. The popcorn will be on the cob and will not be ready for popping, but can be used decoratively until it drys a bit more in your house. It usually takes until about December in my house to start popping well. When we give it out I’ll try to repost the directions for shelling and popping, which are pretty simple.
Sweet peppers should hang on for one more week and there’s a small chance we’ll have a few more tomatoes. Both are ripening very slowly this time of year in the field, but will ripen better on your kitchen counters. We’re also planning to open up the field tomatoes for gleaning and if you want green tomatoes it’ll be a good time to get them. This will probably be the final week for those two crops.
The fennel is looking good and I haven’t looked closely at the celery, but I’m hoping it’s held up with the cold wet weather we’ve already had. Another possible addition are more daikon radishes. The tops on the radishes aren’t looking great, but I can’t tell about the roots until we pull them up.
Lettuce will continue to be small and I’m hoping we’ll have it for a couple more weeks. The radicchio is starting to get close so we should have that by the time the lettuce finishes. We’ll have a little on the farm stand from some of the experimental varieties we planted this year. I had a salad with the earliest variety this evening and it was excellent! We’ll also continue to offer a choice on the bunch greens of some combination of chard, kale and collards. Right now the chard is doing best, but with the cool weather I’m hoping the kale and collards will start to catch up.
Cully Neighborhood Farm 