Sunflowers dance at the edge of our yard in the family garden. Oh, how I love these huge golden blooms!
This week marked the beginning of our fall rhythms here on the farm. We dropped our Friday restaurant delivery (down to from two to one per week!), which is a big sign that things are changing — that we want to slowly but surely turn our focus back to the farm and its improvements. We enjoy having more time to be on the farm to tackle the projects that got set aside amidst summer busy-ness.
The kids and I attended our first homeschooling co-op gathering of the year — delighting in the company of other families as we played card games inside and then ran outside to search for snakes and play hide-and-seek in tall grass. And, I got to rejoin with my fellow McMinnville Women’s Choir members for a pre-season potluck. Our rehearsals start next week and we have a “New Member Night” on Tuesday, September 29 (interested in joining? Feel free to ask me all about it at pick-up!).
And, so, the seasons turn again! Around these parts, that turning feeling is constant really. Certainly, we very much celebrate the equinox and solstice markings (in fact, those are the dates that we give our kids gifts, leaving the traditional birthday and Christmas opportunities to our wider families). But, little milestones mark our year, almost week-by-week. Summer is broken up by seasonal and noteworthy events: our first swimming trip to the river, the garlic harvest, Casey’s birthday, our annual camping trip to South Beach, Dottie’s birthday, and so on. We can count from exciting date to exciting date on our calendar, always with joyful anticipation for each one. Fall will progress much the same, perhaps with even more such dates as this next season brings to North America quite an overload of holidays and family gatherings (it feels like a giant season-like in breath after the long out breath of summer).
Mounds of squash! This is just SOME of it all!
Another big milestone that marks the turning from summer to fall is the bringing in of the winter squash harvest. I showed a photo last week of squash cut in the field. Since then, we’ve brought all those squash inside and have been working on carefully piling them up in our “squash room” — a 12×16 interior space that is [mostly] rodent-proof and insulated. The squash themselves keep the room warm-ish, which is the preferred temperature for long-term squash storage. This will be our sixth year using this space, and it’s been pretty awesome for us. Before building it, we tried to store squash in space that was very much open to rodents and the outdoor temperature vagaries. We lost a lot of squash to mice and to cold temperatures. Hoorah for the squash room!
In addition to harvesting, September is also a big time for us to begin strategic planning for next year. Long ago, we decided where we are going to plant next year’s vegetables and Casey worked up the ground. Today we sowed a cover crop for the winter (oats and peas). Next year is already in the works!
And, September on the farm is also survey time! As we all approach the happy, bountiful end of our tenth growing season, we want to hear from you about your experience this year! I’ve made it easy with a very short survey online. You can click here to take it and let us know how we’ve done this year! (Please take the survey even if you haven’t been in the CSA for the entire season — just note that at the bottom so we know!) Thank you!
Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
P.S. I started an Instagram account for the farm this week: @oakhillorganics (Did I even do that right? I’m still new to this!) Anyhow, there should be some fun pics on there — photos of the farm and our family’s activities. I’m posting them on our Facebook page too, so you can follow them there as well!
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Final CSA payments due by October 1! I had to laugh at the timing of my survey. I really should have done it last week, because it always feels awkward to simultaneously ask folks for their input and their money. But alas, we are here, and the final CSA payment approaches! I emailed statements to everyone this week with your current account information. We ask that you pay off any open balances by October 1. Please let me know if you have any questions about your account or our records! You can bring final payments to pick-up or mail them to us at: Oakhill Organics, P.O. Box 1698, McMinnville OR 97128. Thank you!
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Asian pears
- Chehalis apples
- Salad mix
- Acorn squash — Today I learned that acorn squash are really hard to “stack,” because they’re round! But, anyhow! I just want to point out that some percentage of our acorn squash have small white sun scald spots on them. You may want to cut these out when you cook them (or cut off after cooking, whichever is easier for you).
- Spaghetti squash — This is only the second year we’ve grown spaghetti squash, and we are loving it! We had some with dinner tonight. I cut the squash lengthwise and scooped out the seeds and pulp. Then I put them cut side down on a baking pan and roasted at 375° until the skin was browning a bit and the interior flesh was soft when I tested it with a knife. To serve the “spaghetti,” carefully turn the cooked squash over and use a fork to scrape out the cooked meat. It should come away in strands that look much like noodles! For tonight’s dinner, I piled Casey and my plates with spaghetti squash and then poured over the top a very butter-y and soupy dish of tomatoes, kale, garlic, and lamb.
- Sweet peppers
- Czech Black peppers — These are our favorite hot pepper to grow. They have heat much like a Jalapeño, which means that they’re hot without being too hot for most of us. One or two thrown into a dish adds delicious spice.
- Sauce tomatoes — We have a lot of sauce tomatoes for tomorrow’s share, so you can plan to make a small batch of sauce for eating this week or freezing for later!
- Cabbage — Cabbage is one of those foods I would bring with me to a desert island. I love it and its versatility. Cabbage chopped and fried in butter until soft is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods. It’s perfect for these darkening gray days.
- Kale
- Chard
- Basil
- Cucumbers
- Beets
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Garlic
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And this week’s extra goodies from the farm:
- Eggs — $6/dozen
- Bratwurst — Get them while they last! $12/package (1 lb)
- Pork chops — $12/lb
- Whole chickens — $5.50/lb
- Lamb — Lots of cuts, prices vary
- Ground beef — $7/lb
- Tote bags — Show your local eating pride! $10 each
