September 30, 2024
Into the Misty Morning
by Farmer Derek

September 30, 2024
Stir Fries and Roasting - Yum
by Linda Dansbury

This is a fun time of the year to cook - still some of the summer staples, but also lots of fall deliciousness. Here are a few things I have recently prepared:

Peppers, onions, beets, eggplant, potatoes, garlic, herbs - roasted a pile of veggies. Cut to about the same size and toss in a little olive oil with salt and pepper and herbs. Roast at around 375 until everything is tender and starting to brown. Leftovers are great added to a frittata or tossed with pasta.

Peppers and tomatoes - don't stress if you can't use all of these up. Both freeze really well. Chop peppers up into bite sized pieces and freeze on a cookie sheet. When frozen, place in freezer bag. Perfect for stews, chili, stir fries all winter long. Tomatoes can just be placed in freezer bags in freezer and used later to make sauce, juice, puree. Skins will slip right off when defrosted.

Onions, peppers, garlic, kale, chard, and cabbage - have made several saute/stir fries with mixes of these ingredients. Depending on what else we are eating, I change up the herbs and other seasonings. Sometimes I add soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger for an Asian flair; or oregano, basil, olive oil and a sprinkling of parm cheese at the end for Italian.

Winter squash - roasted up a couple of these at same time. Ate some with dinner, the rest I pureed and placed in freezer to make soup later.

September 30, 2024
Workshifts for Week of 9/30/24
by Farmer Derek

This week's workshift schedule (probably harvesting sweet potatoes!):

Bring gloves, water, a hat, sturdy shoes, and a pad for kneeling (if necessary for you).

We meet under the large red maple at the end of the barn by the pick up room.

Please be here by the scheduled start time (it might be hard to find us in the fields otherwise).

September 30, 2024
Quantifiable Drizzle
by Farmer Derek

Moisture has finally condensed enough to descend as droplets of water at the farm. I believe most of the measurable rain fell with a boost from Helene on Friday. Now we're starved for some sunshine.

The farm's crop habitat is steadily shrinking. Now that we're about to enter October we'll begin a slow march away from the summer staples of tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, and eggplant. There's still a lot of fruit out there so we'll enjoy them in our harvests for a few more weeks at least. Most of the peppers and tomatoes will be harvested green but left at room temperature can slowly ripen.

We'll also continue our transition to traditional big fall brassicas. Last week we introduced napa/chinese cabbage and soon regular cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower will grace the pick up room. A mix of traditional fall roots like radishes, daikons, turnips, kohlrabi, beets, potatoes, and eventually sweet potatoes should be in shares through the end of the season. Cooking greens, like kale, chard, and bok choy, as well as salad greens, like radicchio, head lettuce, romaine, lettuce mix, and arugula, will be here until the end as well.

With our dwindling footprint comes field clean up and establishment of cover crops to protect and enrich the soil over the offseason. This rainfall was very much needed to encourage germination and continued growth of the oat, clover, and buckwheat mix. We probably have one more opportunity to sow this mix then will transition to winter rye and hairy vetch in the latter half of October.

In case you're keeping track, this was our driest September in 16 seasons with .75" received, 4" below our average.

September 30, 2024
Fall Veggies are Here
by Linda Dansbury

Fall is fully with us now - colors are changing and leaves are beginning to fall. Here is some info on the recent additions to the pick up room. Enjoy the changing bounty.

Napa Cabbage - so pretty, and my favorite cabbage. It can be used interchangeably with the round or garden cabbage, but Napa does tend to have a more mild taste and the texture is so nice. Store in fridge for weeks. If not using the entire head at once, I like to take a few leaves off at a time rather than cut it in half or quarter, avoiding the cut side turning brown. Use in stir fries, stews, soups, slaws or even saute in a little oil and butter in a pan. Salt, pepper and herb(s) of your choice is all that is needed. I personally like a bit of thyme and parsley.

Watermelon radish and Daikon radish - these are staples for long term storage. Watermelon radish is so pretty sliced horizontally and added to salads. It also hold its color fairly well when roasted with other veggies. Daikon is in the same family as salad radishes, but tends to be a bit more mild in flavor - it is high in potassium and Vitamin C. It can be shredded and added to slaws, stir fried or added to stews. It is also delicious pickled. BTW, you might be more familiar with white daikon - Anchor Run grows the much prettier purple variety.

September 30, 2024
Wild for Salmon Buying Club
by Wild for Salmon

Wild For Salmon is owned and operated by Steve and Jenn Kurian of Bloomsburg, PA.

Editors Note:

Anchor Run CSA hosts two buying club events each year, in the spring and fall. When you order through the buying club you automatically save. Follow This Link for instructions on how to order. Your order will be delivered to Anchor Run on Tuesday October 15th and can be picked up 1-8pm. Orders are due by October 10th. Please note that we do not have any spare freezer space to store orders beyond this day.

We understand and appreciate that not everyone eats fish.

September 23, 2024
Grow Green
by Farmer Derek

September 23, 2024
Workshifts for Week of 9/23/24
by Farmer Derek

This week's workshift schedule:

Bring gloves, water, a hat, sturdy shoes, and a pad for kneeling (if necessary for you).

We meet under the large red maple at the end of the barn by the pick up room.

Please be here by the scheduled start time (it might be hard to find us in the fields otherwise).

There should be work opportunities through early November.

September 23, 2024
Officially Fall, Officially Dry
by Farmer Derek

We've now officially entered many farmers' favorite season, autumn. Temperatures are cooler, days are shorter, the sun is lower in the sky, planting is just about over, harvests are rolling in, and fields are being put to sleep. The appearance of fall seems to have begun early this year, most likely due to the shortage of rain. The pattern continues: rain is forecast, then a day or two prior to arrival, probability and amount shrink, then disappear altogether. If anyone knows of an article explaining this overall weather conundrum, please share. In the past six weeks we've enjoyed a total of a 1/2-inch of rain. All the crops are doing well, though, but the newly seeded cover crops could sure use a drink. Sweet potatoes are the one crop that isn't irrigated and I haven't dug any up yet to check their status. It's almost time to harvest them so we'll find out soon how they've faired during the driest of seasons. Often they blow my mind with what they can accomplish without much water so there is hope, especially considering the bumper crop of regular potatoes that apparently flourished in the absence of moisture.

Preparation is now underway for the very last planting of the season, garlic. This will actually be planted where winter squash grew this season. Since that is now out of the field we can apply compost and then chisel plow that in. Crop residue and the compost will have 5-6 weeks to break down before we plant the garlic. We'll make several passes with our bed shapers, depositing minerals and fertilizers as we create the ideal planting space. We're just about finished trimming and sorting the bulbs and in mid-October we'll begin separating bulbs into cloves for planting. Look for an e-mail announcing this workshift task. After planting approximately 21,000 cloves (422lbs), we'll smother them with a thick layer of straw to insulate the ground over the winter, suppress weeds next season, and maintain even moisture.

September 23, 2024
Registration Now Open For 2025 Season!
by Farmer Dana

Registration is now open for the 2025 growing season, the 22nd year of Anchor Run CSA! Pricing, schedule, harvest season length, etcetera to remain the same. Again there will be a small discount on share cost when paid in full by December 31, 2024. To join, follow this link to your member page, sign in, and click the 'Register' button on your member page.

September 16, 2024
Summer/Fall Mix
by Farmer Derek

September 16, 2024
Workshifts for Week of 9/16/24
by Farmer Derek

This week's workshift schedule:

Bring gloves, water, a hat, sturdy shoes, and a pad for kneeling (if necessary for you).

We meet under the large red maple at the end of the barn by the pick up room.

Please be here by the scheduled start time (it might be hard to find us in the fields otherwise).

September 16, 2024
Summer's Final Week
by Farmer Derek

All of a sudden it's the middle of September and the autumnal equinox is less than a week away. We're hustling and bustling to clean up spent outdoor summer crops, spread compost, and sow cover crops before this coming week's forecast rain event(s). We're also in the process of removing indoor tomatoes and preparing those spaces for late fall greens, all of which have a strict plant by date (too early and they grow too fast and are more susceptible to cold, too late and they'll grow too slowly and may not mature in time). We're also busy running and installing needed irrigation (obviously) but are hoping for a reprieve this week. Some cloud water for the crops would be much appreciated, though they sure seem to enjoy the stuff that comes from 300' down.

The fields where our fall crops are planted do much better in dry conditions where we can regulate water and so far all those crops are thriving (higher clay content in soil, water drains more slowly, fields on the south side of the driveway). One interesting setback that seems to be worse than I can ever remember is cutworm damage to young crops planted over the past few weeks. Cutworms are basically just caterpillars from certain moth species that unfortunately wrap around the stems of plants and feed horizontally, severing the stem. They feed at night and bury in the soil during the day so they're hard to find to squash. It's hard to process another setback/challenge at the moment but we typically have an abundance of crops in the fall so hopefully the losses won't even be noticed a month or more from now.

September 16, 2024
Registration for 2025 Season Opening Soon
by Farmer Dana

Very soon we plan to open registration for the 2025 growing season, the 22nd year of Anchor Run CSA! Pricing, schedule, harvest season length, etcetera to remain the same. Again there will be a small discount on share cost when paid in full by December 31, 2024. Look for an announcement via e-mail when live.

September 16, 2024
The Roots Are In
by Linda Dansbury

I made a very "chefy" dish this past weekend. When I did it, I wasn't sure it was going to be that good, but it turned out great. I used onions, peppers, turnips from the farm, plus a couple of other things from my garden. Place water in a small pot with a nice sprig of thyme and tarragon and salt. One at a time, boil the cut up veggies until desired tenderness. Place in a casserole and keep warm. When all veggies are cooked, boil the liquid down to about a cup. Then add butter 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking it in. when it is a nice sauce, pour over veggies, sprinkle with a lot of chopped fresh herbs - I used parsley and chives - and enjoy. This was really delicious.

Turnip tops and roots, onion, herbs - did a riff on the Asian Turnip Green and White Saute. Added some soy sauce at the end and served them alongside dumplings for a delicious light meal.

Eggplant, peppers, onion, potatoes, squash, tomatoes, Swiss chard and more - prepared and froze a minestrone soup. The great thing about this type of soup is that you can add just about any veggie you have in your fridge. I make it late in every summer season to help use up veggies. I don't add the pasta/rice now, because I freeze it for winter enjoyment and the quality of the grain is better if it is cooked right when you eat it. I also use a parm cheese rind in the soup as it is simmering, which adds a really nice flavor to it.

Arugula, tomato - arugula is delicious as a component of a salad, but also is great when the main ingredient - simply squeeze a bit of lemon juice and olive oil and salt and pepper and enjoy.

September 9, 2024
Turnip the Beet
by Farmer Derek

September 9, 2024
Workshifts for Week of 9/9/24
by Farmer Derek

This week's workshift schedule:

Bring gloves, water, a hat, sturdy shoes, and a pad for kneeling (if necessary for you).

We meet under the large red maple at the end of the barn by the pick up room.

Please be here by the scheduled start time (it might be hard to find us in the fields otherwise).

September 9, 2024
Silver Lining
by Farmer Derek

I think I write about the lack of rain in every newsletter. It sure feels that way! I just need to get used to these conditions; it's been going on for over three months now so it's nothing new. In the back of my mind I expect a pivot to wetter weather again, probably because we've endured plenty of that over the years. But my irrigation list/schedule is the longest it's ever been and, based on the forecast, will continue to grow. Luckily this time of year our footprint slowly shrinks and irrigating thirsty crops can now be accomplished over a 2-3 day stretch.

The very dry weather is also beneficial in some ways. For example, it's most likely suppressing disease organisms that favor moisture, such as the brassica pathogen that causes black rot. As of now, the big fall brassicas including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and kale are looking their best. Hopefully that translates to a good harvest. Last season we lost almost all of our broccoli and cauliflower and I was beginning to contemplate skipping it entirely in future seasons if they didn't perform well this year. Healthy foliage is one thing; we need the florets/heads to stay healthy when they form a month from now.

Beets are another crop that is benefitting from dry weather. They can suffer from a foliar disease called cercospora that typically renders their leaves unharvestable which is why we mostly distribute only the roots. As of now their leaves look free of illness so we plan to give beets out in bunches with their leaves. Exciting!

September 9, 2024
Root Veggies are Back - with Leaves!
by Linda Dansbury

I was very excited when Derek sent the weekly harvest list to me and it included beets and turnips - with greens! I am excited because the leaves on both of these are delicious and nutritious. If you are not going to use them right away, cut the leaves off the root veggies and store them separately. You can of course enjoy the roots on their own; there are recipes on this site that incorporate both the leaves and roots, including Roasted Beets and Beet Greens, Roasted Beet and Beet Green Risotto and Asian Turnip Green and White Saute. The greens are also great sliced thin and added to cole slaws and/or sauteed with other greens. Small leaves add a nice addition to salads.

September 9, 2024
Cooler Weather Cooking
by Linda Dansbury

Cooler evenings spur the desire to cook more warming meals and get things in the freezer for enjoyment during the winter. A couple of ways I used my veggies are below.

Peppers, garlic, herbs - made roasted peppers. Grilled the peppers, when cool, removed some of the skin and cut into slices. Sliced garlic and chopped some herbs. Mixed with good olive oil and a couple drops of balsamic vinegar. These will keep in fridge for up to a month.

Tomatoes, onion, hot pepper, herbs - made a large batch of salsa, and canned it so can enjoy all year long.

Winter squash, onion, garlic - made a pumpkin soup - this time I made it in a Thai theme so added ginger, red curry paste and coconut milk. So yummy.

September 9, 2024
Registration for 2025 Season Opening Soon
by Farmer Derek

Later this month we plan to open registration for the 2025 growing season, the 22nd year of Anchor Run CSA! Pricing, schedule, harvest season length, etcetera to remain the same. Again there will be a small discount on share cost when paid in full by December 31, 2024. Look for an announcement via e-mail when live.

September 2, 2024
Late Summer Veggie Mash up
by Linda Dansbury

One of the things I don't emphasize enough is how versatile many of the veggies are, both in cooking method and in how well they mix together. One of the things I did was participate in a cooking demo at the Wrightstown Farmers Market yesterday. Our goal was to showcase the veggies available at the market right now and how to simply cook them. We walked around the market and selected a large variety, changing up the veggies and mixing the seasoning up. Here is an example of what can be done:

Peppers (sweet and hot as desired), onions, garlic, eggplant, tomatoes, Swiss chard (both stems and leaves), basil, parsley, mint - start out with onions and peppers sauteing in olive oil until a little caramelized. Add a bit of salt and pepper. Add garlic, eggplant and Swiss chard stems and continue to saute until everything is nearing desired tenderness. Add tomatoes and chard leaves and additional salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning - if you want, drizzle in some balsamic vinegar. Remove from heat - finish off with a sprinkling of fresh herbs. Enjoy as a side dish as is or serve over a grain such as brown rice, farro, wheat berries, etc.

September 2, 2024
Sweet September
by Farmer Derek

September 2, 2024
Workshifts for Week of 9/2/24
by Farmer Derek

This week's workshift schedule:

Bring gloves, water, a hat, sturdy shoes, and a pad for kneeling (if necessary for you).

We meet under the large red maple at the end of the barn by the pick up room.

Please be here by the scheduled start time (it might be hard to find us in the fields otherwise).

September 2, 2024
Giving Back
by Farmer Derek

August has come to a quiet close. Wonderful weather is forecast to begin September. Where's all the rain though? The drought continues. We did receive 4.8" of rain in August, which sounds quite unbelievable. An extremely disproportionate amount fell in the span of a week, 4.3" in fact. So the total does feel misleading. Perhaps that moisture was slurped up and enjoyed at the time, but we could definitely use a bit more rain soon. Speaking of that week's wallop, whatever cover crops were growing at the time sure did take that water and make the most of it, quintupling in size, profusely flowering, now abuzz with pollinators. The magic below ground is probably even more impressive.

Now that our footprint is shrinking as land is being transferred from crops to fallow, it's a bit easier to manage the flow of water to irrigate the crops. One challenge, however, is a timely pushing of the pause button on that schedule to get in there with cultivating equipment to take out any germinated weeds while they're very small. Also, it being summer still, any weeds nestled right next to the crops that the hoes miss will enjoy the scheduled drinks of water as well and grow fast. They'll try to outcompete the wanted plants and it's our job to not let them become too much of a problem. Airflow and access to nutrients and sunlight would be the main issues. It's not really possible for us to completely remove the pressures of weeds but to instead find the maximum threshold our plants will tolerate. Ideally hoeing is all we'll need to do, but hand-weeding is obviously still used a lot on a small organic farm.