{"id":924,"date":"2011-08-27T00:41:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-27T04:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orchardhillfarm.ca\/?p=924"},"modified":"2011-11-11T10:49:41","modified_gmt":"2011-11-11T14:49:41","slug":"end-of-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.orchardhillfarm.ca\/?p=924","title":{"rendered":"Joys of Late Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"
Martha gave me, Lisa the apprentice, the honor of writing the CSA newsletter and blog this month. \u00a0Yesterday afternoon I discovered a wasp nest in the woodpile when I was stung by an unhappily disturbed wasp; the swelling of my hand and wrist makes hard outdoor work a little difficult, so I am instead\u00a0exercising\u00a0my brain by reflecting back on the joys of late summer while the rest of the Orchard Hill Farm staff continue on the work to prepare for the new greenhouse building.<\/div>\n
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Green Thumbs and Fingers Too - After Suckering Tomatoes!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The cool nights and the end of melons and sweetcorn–produce which particularly earmarks the\u00a0height\u00a0of summer–has reminded me that the advent of autumn is nearly upon us. \u00a0In many ways this is my favorite time of year, when the mornings are cold enough to keep a hoodie on, and the heat of the day feels pleasant rather than overwhelming. \u00a0The bounty of crops continues. \u00a0Our melon season ends, and we are grateful for all of those stifling hot summer days which allowed for the abundance of ripe and sweet melons. \u00a0After our last sweet corn harvest on Tuesday morning, we took down the\u00a0raccoon\u00a0fence which had so carefully protected our crop, and Ken bushhogged the tall and empty stalks. \u00a0We now have fall bearing raspberries to enjoy, which are producing enough to be open for pick-your-own on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 11-7, during CSA pick-up hours only, please. \u00a0The bright red and green zebra tomatoes in the hoophouse continue to grow and ripen, and the paste,\u00a0heirloom, and\u00a0sun-gold\u00a0cherry tomatoes of the field\u00a0each have a unique sweetness and flavor–as long as we can harvest them before the multifarious pests who also want their share. \u00a0We hope you are enjoying making up your own boxes of tomatoes so that you can sample the many varieties our fields have to offer. \u00a0Other delicacies of fall–winter squash, leeks, and potatoes–will soon be coming.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Last week we harvested all of the onions which were then transported to the\u00a0hoop houses\u00a0where they will dry out and cure in the hot, dry air, to allow them to be stored into the fall and winter. \u00a0We also plowed up the land where we will plant garlic in a few weeks. \u00a0Each year Ken and Martha save their own garlic seed, which is then planted in the fall, overwinters in the ground, and harvested the following summer.<\/div>\n
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Washing Rocks for Greenhouse Heat Sink<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A few days of warm and dry weather allowed for us to bring in the last of the second-cut hay early this week. \u00a0The barn is full almost to the ceiling, and we feel confident that the horses will have enough feed to last through the winter. \u00a0Getting in the last of the hay and catching up on work in the garden now allows us enough extra time to begin construction on the new greenhouse. \u00a0Today is the third day in a row where the OHF crew has been faithfully and mostly-joyfully sifting through the pile of dirty rocks to wash off pebbles and mud. \u00a0We need enough rocks to fill in the space below the floor of the greenhouse 3-feet high. \u00a0The rocks will provide mass to store heat, however we need them to be clean to allow for air to circulate between and around rocks. \u00a0Dance music and stimulating conversation has helped us to keep our energy high during this somewhat arduous task. \u00a0Plus, we are all thrilled to be able to be a part of this building project–both to learn about greenhouse design and to help Ken and Martha complete construction before the cold of winter hits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Please mark your calendars for the 2011 CSA Potluck which will be here at Orchard Hill on Sunday, September 25th from 2-4 p.m. \u00a0Please bring a dish to share, lawn chairs, and plates, cups, and cutlery for you and your family. \u00a0We will have horse-drawn wagon rides. \u00a0We look forward to socializing and sharing a meal with you in celebration of all of this wonderful produce and the OHF community.<\/div>\n
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Working Shares Making Up Tomato Boxes for CSA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Please note that the last CSA pick-up days for the season are Tuesday October 4th, and Saturday, October 8th. \u00a0If you are a working share and have not yet participated in your 5-hours of work for the season, please sign-up on the calendar in the pick-up room. \u00a0We have many slots open and always look forward to your help harvesting and washing vegetables.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Thanks again for your continued support,<\/div>\n
Lisa and the Orchard Hill Farmers<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Martha gave me, Lisa the apprentice, the honor of writing the CSA newsletter and blog this month. \u00a0Yesterday afternoon I discovered a wasp nest in the woodpile when I was stung by an unhappily disturbed wasp; the swelling of my hand and wrist makes hard outdoor work a little difficult, so I am instead\u00a0exercising\u00a0my brain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[62,73,1],"tags":[63,64,100,56,83,58,93,57,59,94,70,65,69,66,61],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.orchardhillfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.orchardhillfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.orchardhillfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.orchardhillfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.orchardhillfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=924"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.orchardhillfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1007,"href":"http:\/\/www.orchardhillfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions\/1007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.orchardhillfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.orchardhillfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.orchardhillfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}