Happy Equinox!

CSA Pick-Up September 22-27

The season’s first frost descended on Thursday night, and while we said goodbye to most of the flowers, the rest of the garden got tucked in under remay and made it through the cold night.  The brassicas–kale, collards, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower–thrive in the cooler weather, and the sugars in root vegetables like carrots and beets condense in the cold, so as we turned into autumn with the fall equinox this weekend, the garden got a bit sweeter.

We are looking forward to our Farm Pizza Night this Friday from 5:00-8:00 pm.  We hope you’ll join us for wood-fired pizza and to support the NOFA-VT Vermont Farm Share Program, which helps us offer subsidized CSA shares to low-income Vermonters.  Bring some friends, tour the farm, enjoy the autumn scenery, and hang out with your farmers this Friday night!

As the summer share winds down and the Winter share gets closer, I’ve been thinking about why we do this.  What keeps us growing food as the frosts settle in and the days get shorter?  Part of it is instinct–the act of storing and stocking up still woven in our genes despite the coops and supermarkets that now act as the community root cellar (one with avocados at that!).  But more than that, it’s for connection.  The farm offers us this on many levels: the connection to the soil as we seed and maintain the garden; the connection to the plants as we water seedlings, transplant, and harvest; and the connection to the community each CSA pick-up day, which makes what we’re doing real.  I can’t tell you how happy it makes us when kids debate what vegetable is better, radish or turnip, or the delight in folks’ eyes when their favorite crop is piled high on the pick-up table.  On those cold harvest days when our fingers become stiff from the wash water and we run down to the Post Office Cafe for hot coffee to give us the boost to keep going, it’s this connection that makes it all worthwhile.

The Winter Share seems to heighten this connection as we celebrate green even as it snows and find a deeper gratitude in the community that keeps us going through the seasons.  And that’s what we offer to you in return–not simply sustenance, but connection and community as well.  We still have a few more weeks left in the summer share (and hope to see you this winter, too), so we’re not saying goodbye, just thanks.  Thanks for letting us be your farmers and for growing this community with us.

This week on the menu: spinach, napa cabbage, pac choi, beets, garlic, leeks, turnip/radish, herbs