Seconds

Greetings everyone:
First, I want to remind everyone that this is the second to last share day for the summer CSA. What a season!!! Next week, October 7th, marks the final delivery day for the 2011 CSA Season. Please remember to bring back all of your harvest bags. Your share will be available in a brown paper bag next week.

This also gives us a good opportunity to tell you that, as a special thank you for supporting your local, beyond organic, family farm, we've enrolled all of our summer CSA members in our Winter Club for free!!! You can click on the 'Winter Club' link at the right to learn more if you've not participated before. Please email me with any questions (or call).

Now, onto the share for this week. I titled this week's post 'Seconds' because of all the references you'll find to that concept. The fact that this is the second to last harvest is just one example. You all found a note in your harvest bag asking you to visit the blog to learn about the motley appearance your butternut squash. Please be assured that it is edible and not harmful...it just looks awful!

Below is an explanation in photos and prose. Our Butternut squash got something called Arterial Wilt. It is related to high moisture around the plants. This is not harmful to humans but very annoying to the farmer! It starts out subtly as in the photo below. A small series of concentric, brown circles.

It then begins to take over the whole outside of the squash. Just below my thumb in this photo is the next stage. That white patch is a mold that begins to damage the inside of the squash.

What you could do, if you want, is cut off the bad portion completely, see below.

However, as you can see below, if I cut off just the very top (just below the stem) the wilt doesn't penetrate deeply into the flesh of the squash, even at the advanced stage that this one is at.

So...I recommend you proceed as you normally would for a butternut. Cut lengthwise (after removing the stem as above).

As you can see, this squash is 99% fine. So why is it so annoying to the farmer? For one, this isn't a 'marketable' squash. We're considering applying to sell at farmer's markets next year and this sort of thing is a wrench in the works of a good market display. Even though the squash is perfectly fine for fresh eating, who would look at it and give the farmer time to explain that there is nothing really wrong with the edible part? I certainly wouldn't, and couldn't blame anyone for doing the same!

Second, and more importantly, it affects the storage quality of the squash. Winter squash is meant to be stored and eaten from the cellar all winter. But this Wilt will keep spreading and eventually rot out the entire squash. Thus, you need to eat it this week.


Now, onto the next 'Second' reference. The garlic in your share is what I would call 'seconds' garlic. There is absolutely nothing wrong with most of it except that it isn't as pretty as what you would find at a farmer's market. The reason being that I didn't get it out of the field quickly enough this season. Having a three year old, a new baby and no apprentice really added up in certain areas. Garlic was one of them. The garlic in your share is perfectly edible and most of it will store quite some time. It will not store as long as a pristine, well-cured bulb though. I suggest you use the garlic in the next 1-3 weeks.

Also, if you find any individual cloves that are really soft please remove them so they don't spread any softness to the other good cloves in the bulb.

Now, onto a 'second' that you won't get. Here is what we put in the share each week for carrots. Relatively large, uniform roots with few, if any, blemishes. This is something we would not mind having at a farmer's market. I've had very good luck with carrots ever since the 2009 season when I took the time to really learn how to grow them well.

Even still, I don't thin as religiously as some farmers. So I get a lot of 'seconds'. Carrots that are too small, to ugly, have a blemish or two, etc. They're perfectly good to eat and that is why we eat them in our home. You all eat the pretty ones, we eat the small ones.

And then there are the ones that nobody eats. One thing that differentiates the Parker Family Farm from other Market Farms, is our interest in self-sufficiency, sustainability and community self reliance. One manifestation of these concepts is our interest in and practice of saving seeds. Carrots are a biennial crop when it comes to seeds. In other words, they won't produce any seeds the first year. They need to be saved through the winter and then replanted in the spring when they go into seed production. Biennial crops are harder to save than annual crops (seed bearing). I've had some luck with certain annuals. Since I have harvested so many monster Danvers carrots this year, I'm going to try to save them and grow them out for see next season. Take a look at these beauties!

Here's Lizzie giving a little perspective! These things are huge, uniform and amazing! Hopefully, I'll be able to save them and replant next spring!

Here is a first that is also a second. This is the first week you received Leeks in your share. But, these are what I would call 'Seconds' too. The only reason being that they aren't as large as market leeks. I saved those for next week. I save the larger ones for later because they tend to handle frost better. The smaller, more tender leeks can do it, but they bruise more easily and loose their attractive leek-ness. No, that's not a word but you get the idea.

We've also included Fernleaf Dill this week. I love the days when we harvest dill. It makes the milk house (and your hands when packing it) smell amazing! One of the best ways to use fresh dill (if you're not pickling, which is another of the best ways) is to sprinkle it on lightly cooked veggies. I like it on carrots and potatoes. When you cook small potatoes until they are just tender and then sprinkle freshly chopped dill on them, you're eating what we call PoDilloes! Yummy.

Assuming we get a frost at some point (I'm beginning to wonder) this might be the last of the dill. Either way though, this is the last week of tomatoes. I'm ripping the plants out so I can move the greenhouses to their winter beds. It's been a great season for these little producers. You have a mixture of Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes and Peacevine Cherry Tomatoes. See you next year Little Tomatoes!!!

We also put another 5 lbs of potatoes in your share this week. I finally finished harvesting potatoes this week on Tuesday morning. Several long days on hands and knees digging through our potato beds has me thinking about other, more efficient ways to harvest. However, this year's work paid off as I harvested a total of 1,293 pounds of potatoes. That's the highest yield I've ever recorded and it will go a long way toward keeping our Winter Club Members fed this winter! Great work tubers!

Now, onto some more seconds...and firsts! This past weekend was the annual Common Ground Country Fair. Hopefully, some of you made it out to this wonderful event. For the first time this year I entered some of our veggies into the Exhibition Hall for judging against standards. I learned a lot about the process and will try more next year. Best of all, we won several 1st and 2nd place ribbons! Below are some of our entries with the ribbons.

We also want to give a big congratulations to Brittany and Joy who just closed on their new farm on Monday! We're certainly going to miss having Brittany around next year but we're very anxious to see all that she'll accomplish in her new place and look forward to having her join the ranks of the small farmers in Maine who are working to change the food system and the world for the better.

Finally, you may notice in the coming months that we have changed the name of our farm. When I started Parker Produce several years ago, I was hoping to provide local produce to area restaurants in an effort to change that aspect of the food system. However, I quickly decided that this didn't provide the avenue for change I was seeking. There simply wasn't enough opportunity to connect the people in our community back to their food. That's why I moved away from that and toward the CSA. It is also why, along with an expanded, improved CSA, we're also looking into selling at farmer's markets next year. Also, with the immense pressure that currently pushes against the family farm, we are joining the ranks of the many small, diversified farms around the country that are pushing back against draconian tactics from the federal and state governments and globalized, corporate agribusiness, which are all working to destroy small farms in favor of centralized, huge 'farms'.

Thus, in order to better reflect the values of our family and farm, we've decided to call ourselves Parker Family Farm. We hope our members will bear with us as we make this transition and we thank each of our members and customers for their ongoing support of our local, beyond organic, diverse farm.