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| | | Hutten Family Farm Newsletter for Sunday Nov 27, 2011 |
Well I can't believe that I am still awake. It is after 10 pm on Sunday night and I am making vegetable soup and french pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing. Debra is still working at the hospital and she is on call this weekend so I've been in the house most of the day hanging out with the kids. One of the cats was in my way today and I said "stupid cat". My daughter Aleida told me "Don't say stupid daddy; its a square word." Funny kid.
My mother tells me that the snowfall last Wednesday totalled about 19 inches. We still have a lot of snow on the ground but with mild temperatures coming it should be gone in a day or two. We will be pulling leeks this week for winter storage. Some parsnips and carrots are also on the agenda if the weather cooperates. Pulling muddy leeks out of muddy soil in late November is less than enjoyable. After a few hours we often look less than attractive as well.
As winter approaches the CSA boxes will have less greens and more roots and storage vegetables. The three greens that are fairly common throughout much of the winter are spinach, micromix greens, and the different kales. The kale is still in the field and will stay there for a while. We can harvest this even after significant snowfall as long as we can find it. The spinach is in coldframes which are unheated greenhouse structures. We do not use heat to produce spinach although I have wood stoves in two of the spinach coldframes. Sometimes we light a wood fire to make picking a bit more tolerable, especially in the coldest part of winter. The micromix greens are grown in a greenhouse that is heated with wood. We mostly heat it with old apple tree wood from trees that I cut down. I keep this stove going continually for about 5 months of the year. I blame this labour intensive greenhouse heating system for my occasionally cranky disposition. Genetics likely also play a role.
My prediction based on the forecast is that the CSA boxes will have spinach as well as a couple other greens this week. There should be several root vegetables included as well as some pears. I'll figure it out tomorrow.
Good night ted
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