We have no idea when we will get our first hard frost–it could be as early and October 15 or perhaps October 31 or later. When we hear it is coming, we will rush out and harvest every remaining sweet bell pepper! Some will be small and some will be green instead of colorful, but all will taste good. We intend to have all of the potatoes dug before the hard frost and all of the winter squash under cover. We are ready for a season change on this family farm. Already that is happening as the crops we found necessary to harvest on a daily basis are all gone. There comes a point in time when this makes your farmers very happy indeed.
After all of the fall crops are brought in, there is still plenty to do. It takes as long to tear the gardens down and prepare for winter as it does to set them up in the spring. Some years go more quickly depending on the weather conditions.
Don’t forget to try making some sweet potato chips out of any skinny sweet potatoes you may receive in your box–or fat ones, for that matter. We simply peel then slice the potatoes using the Cusinart. Then we bake at 375 degrees using a convection setting until the tops or bottoms start to brown. We find the bottoms turn first. I have seen recipes calling for oil and seasonings, but we go plain and simple with no oil using a ceramic, non-stick pan. A dash of salt before eating is our preference. I have no idea how they store as we seem to eat all we make at each meal.
Harvest Season 2016 has been good thus far, but it is not over yet! Remember the root crops and winter squash are still coming up from the garden by the truckload. If you wish, you can roast your winter squash and freeze the flesh. The makes preparing a pot of soup a snap because the hard work is done!
We foresee having our CSA Boxes through the entire month of November. We are not willing to make predictions about the month of December yet! The CSA Boxes will continue to contain a variety of winter squash, a variety of potatoes, and colorful sweet bell peppers.
Cane Creek Asparagus & Company CSA 