9/21/09 Newsletter

Dear Friends of the Farm,

We really couldn’t have picked a better day to have a party, especially when a rainy Monday follows such a terrific day! There was a total of 440 people (126 membership households) enjoyed the warm day at the farm. There was wonderful food shared at the picnic this year. Approximately five years ago we had a ton of potato dishes shared. This year, coleslaw was the dish of choice. To tell you the truth, I’m surprised we don’t have more years where the same dish is duplicated! I also didn’t realize there were so many ways to prepare coleslaw!!

The hayride to the pumpkin patch was a big hit for everyone. I didn’t realize there were so many huge pumpkins out there this year. It was amazing to watch wagon after wagon being unloaded with such big pumpkins!

Most of the members took advantage of picking extra produce such as basil, dill, carrots, beets, hot peppers and Banana peppers. The two most exciting things were the strawberries and watching the old fashioned potato digger dig up Banana Fingerling potatoes. I think most people haven’t seen this before. Picking up potatoes is really fun. As Adults, how many times do you get to play in the dirt! Sifting through the soft, warm, sandy dirt to find treasure is sure to please anyone! And the strawberry picking was a nice surprise. The new strawberry plants planted this spring are producing a few berries. This is unusual. Normally we will not see strawberries until next spring!

The kids were adorable in the Stick Horse Race. We saw many creative animals. Even though there were some special awards given for their creativity, everyone went home with a ribbon. The popcorn sheller and the apples press was kept busy most of the day. Fresh apple cider just can’t be beat! Thank you Schwarzeweller family for sharing your old fashioned apple press with everyone! We would like to also send out a special thank you to everyone who helped out and kept the Festival running smoothly.

Don’t forget! This Sunday at 1 p.m. we are getting together to harvest the sweet potatoes. We would like to see a large group of members participate in this function. “Many hands make light work,” my grandmother would say!

Winter Share sign-ups are due Oct 1st. Your Distribution Centers will have forms if you need them! Single Shareholders will need to split the share because they are based on a Half Share. Full Share members may need to purchase two shares to fill their needs. A discount of $150 will be applied if two shares are purchased.

This week you are getting French Fingerling potatoes, yellow cooking onions, carrots, golden beets, lemon cucumbers, Globe eggplant, orange, yellow & green or red peppers, Anaheim peppers, sweet corn, the regular tomatoes & an heirloom tomato, spaghetti squash and orange honeydew.

Thank you for the gifts Sunday. We appreciate your thoughtfulness. And thank you for participating in the Harvest Festival. It was nice seeing you all!

Jacquie, Jerry, Alaina and Kyle