Community prevails

Our apple variety tasting all ready for folks to arrive -- if they can brave the rain!

Our apple variety tasting all ready for folks to arrive — if they can brave the rain!

Casey and I awoke early Sunday morning to one roll of thunder — BOOM! — followed a few seconds later by the rushing sound of rain hitting our house’s metal roof. The rain continued falling all night, and it was still pouring in the morning. As we puttered around the house preparing for our open house, we watched the rain fall. And fall. And fall. Not just little drizzly rain like we Northwesterners are used to — this was dark drenching rainfall. Would people still come to our farm event?

The kids and I waited to pick our carving pumpkins until this morning.

The kids and I waited to pick our carving pumpkins until late this morning when it was not quite as wet out there.

But, of course, in our tenth season, we’ve got some past experience to fall back on in this regard. In the many years we’ve hosted this event — always on the Sunday before Halloween — we’ve seen all kinds of weather. We’ve had at least two other such events that were rained on in a major way. And people still come. In fact, for those brave enough to venture out, the rainy open houses can be even more exciting. So, we prepared, and we waited. (We even correctly guessed which long-time CSA customers would be sure to show.)

And people came! Not as many would surely have come on a sunny day but enough people to feel like we were having a party — a party in the rain (well, a party on our porch as the rain rained all around us). Apples were tasted. We cut up samples of nine of our varieties (we grow even more than that, but at some point too many tastes can be overwhelming): Honeycrisp, Goldrush, Chehalis, Granny Smith, Braeburn, Liberty, Cortland, Newton Pippin, and Northern Spy. We asked everyone who sampled to vote for their favorite apple, and the winner was Goldrush! We were so pleased to hear that report, since we have more Goldrush trees in our orchards than any other kind (we like this variety too, plus it is very well suited for growing organically in our region). Braeburn and Northern Spy tied for second runner up.

As planned, Casey took folks on a walk about the farm starting at 3 pm. And, that’s when the day’s miracle occurred — the rain slowed to a drizzle … and then stopped. And, then, the sun even came out, warming everyone enough that kids (who were very well suited up in rain gear) began shedding layers and jumping in fresh mud puddles. Everyone left with smiles as big as their pumpkins.

(And, we also did a raffle drawing for a free tote bag — Scott and Melanie Miller won! Congrats!)

The kids needed help with their "volcano" pumpkins (I guess our pumpkins are sturdy and thick-fleshed!). I'm quite the traditionalist when it comes to pumpkin carving. Same face every year. I like him.

The kids needed help with their “volcano” pumpkins (I guess our pumpkins are sturdy and thick-fleshed, making them challenging for kids to carve!). I’m quite the traditionalist when it comes to pumpkin carving. Same face every year. I like him.

We’re done now with on-farm events for the year. It feels good to have met that moment in the year — we love hosting our community here, and we also welcome the break. With all this dark, wet and misty weather, we can definitely feel the Big Slowdown happening for us farmers. The rest is coming in a real way — almost forced upon us by these shortening days. We’ve learned over the years that the deepest part of this rest comes for us in late November and December — truly the darkest, quietest feeling months of the year. Also the busiest in terms of family and social gatherings. It’s a very different kind of season for us from the rest, and we look forward to it.

In the meantime, we are also excited about finishing the 2015 CSA season with four more awesome weeks of seasonal vegetables (counting this one) — our last pick-up will be on November 19. Expect to see a lot more fall food in these shares as we journey deeper into this season.

And, as we’ve noted before, we are already looking ahead to 2016 as well. We’ve begun taking sign ups for our 2016 CSA season — you can sign up easily at pick up on one of the forms we have there, or you can do it right now online by filling out this quick form. Please let us know if you have any questions about next year. We hope you will join us again for another fabulous year of local eating!

Have a safe and fun Halloween this weekend! And, enjoy this week’s vegetables!

Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla

P.S. I have a farmer friend who writes a haiku every market day. She sometimes shares them with us, and I love this practice of hers. I doubt I’m ready to commit to such regular haiku writing, but I wrote one today in the fields, and I thought I’d share it with you all now:

After rain comes a
chorus of blackbirds and crows.
So ends October.

~ ~ ~

Dates for your calendar: Another reminder of important upcoming dates!

  • November 19 — Our final 2015 CSA pick-up
  • Wednesday, November 25 — Thanksgiving Holiday Harvest More details to come. (Folks who have ordered turkeys can pick them up this Wednesday or at the farm on Monday, Nov. 23 after they are slaughtered.)
  • Tuesday, December 22 — Christmas Holiday Harvest We will email you about this event. You’ll be able to buy vegetables, fruits, and meat (we’ll have another batch of stewing hens available as well as our other usual offerings).
  • January 1, 2016 — We will mail out our 2016 CSA confirmation materials and start taking payments for 2016 (hopefully returning members will have committed much earlier in 2015 so that we can be planning!).
  • Thursday, January 14, 2016Our first 2016 CSA pick-up! Same time, same great location!

~ ~ ~

Meet this week’s vegetables:

  • Cortland apples
  • Quince — If you’ve never tried quince before, you’re in for a treat. These yellow fruit are related to apples and pears, but unlike those fruits these need to be cooked to be enjoyed. When we tell our kids this, they ask us “WHY?” and I say to them: “Just try and take a bite.” The answer is that they are very dense and tart when raw. However, when cooked, they soften and sweeten and taste like fall. We generally do a very simple preparation — we peel and slice the quince and then cook it in a saucepan until soft through (you can decide for yourself how cooked you want them by tasting periodically — they will hold their shape much longer than apples). We like to add a bit of honey and cinnamon and then serve our quince warm on top of vanilla ice cream (or plain yogurt if we don’t have ice cream in the house — it’s really quite exquisite!). You can also use them in tarts and baked goods, but do allow more cooking time than you would an apple in the same context. Read more about quince here.
  • Popcorn — Another special fall treat! This is a mix of two different kinds of popcorn we grew this year. You should be able to pop them together in the same pan (or other popcorn popper). We thought you might enjoy locally grown popcorn as part of your Halloween celebrations.
  • Arugula — One of our favorite salad greens! Arugula has a peppery flavor when raw, but it magically mellows when tossed with dressing. This arugula is from our greenhouse and is very, very tender.
  • Hot peppers
  • Green peppers
  • Tomatillos
  • Rutabaga
  • Delicata winter squash
  • Pie pumpkins
  • Cabbage
  • Kale
  • Chard
  • Carrots
  • Beets
  • Red/red potatoes — This week’s red potatoes have a fun surprise — they are red inside as well!!!!! The kids will love these!
  • Leeks

And this week’s extra goodies from the farm:

  • Eggs — $6/dozen
  • Ground beef — $7 for 1 lb packages
  • Lamb — So much! We have a wide range of cuts available! Roasts, shanks, and ground lamb are all $8/lb. Lamb chops are $12/lb.
  • Stewing hens — $3.50/lb ~ A few left for this round!

 

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