The last share of this year’s summer season is on the first week of fall and it’s a very fall like share. We still have lettuce, tomatoes and sweet peppers in there. Parsley, spinach and salad turnips make their return with the cooler weather, and leeks show up for the first time this year! I wasn’t sure if we’d still have tomatoes this week, but they’re hanging on so we put them in the shares. The spinach wasn’t on the plan for another week but it looked so good we had to harvest it, and with a little luck we’ll get at least one more harvest off of it this fall. The salad turnips were on schedule, but we got to covering them a little late so you might see some minor damage from cabbage root maggots which like to tunnel in the roots. When the damage is minor it doesn’t tend to impact the flavor and you can simply trim away the damage. We’ve mostly sorted out the damaged ones, but the greens and undamaged parts of the roots are so good we didn’t want to just compost them.
The first rain of the fall was just enough to settle the dust. It split the overripe cherry tomatoes and may germinate a new flush of winter weeds, but for the most part it was nice to get some moisture from the sky and it looks like we’ll still get a dry window next week for picking the dry beans and popcorn. Harvest took a lot of our day today but we did get to a little weeding and tractor work to prepare some beds for fall plantings of fava beans, garlic and shallots which will all overwinter.
Thanks to folks who have been signing up for the fall shares that start next week! We still have quite a few available and I’m considering offering a delivery or pick-up option in the corridor between Cully and St. Johns – basically along the cycling route that runs along Holman/Rosa Parks/Willamette. If you’re interested in that option let us know.
Cully Neighborhood Farm 