October 26, 2009 Share 23
Whats Happening At the Farm
Well, this is our last pickup for the 2010 season! Its been a real roller coaster of a year for us, but we’ve enjoyed it, and hopefully you all have too! We’ll be in touch every month to let you know about what happens at a farm in the winter! Applications for next season are at the pickups-send it in with a $100 deposit to reserve your spot for next season! They are also available on our website: www.hamletorganicgarden.org For the next month or so, we are only accepting memberships from current members, and then we will contact our waiting list and allow them to apply. We are not increasing our membership at all next season, so be sure to secure your spot with a deposit! As many of you know, we sell out of shares before winter is over! Our last installment of our newsletter is written by Brian, our medicinal herb expert:
One week left. The last of the crops are waiting to be harvested. The fields are just about ready for winter. As the plants drop their leaves, fruit and flowers (the excesses of the growing season) direct all their energy into the insulated security of their roots, so too do we relegate the bounties of the summer to memories, and return to the less lighthearted, other half of our existence. We will have to wait through another long, cold winter for the spontaneous pleasures of strawberry abundance, and instead embrace the wisdom of canning, drying, and freezing. Or return entirely to the world of food as a commodity, rather than as an impetus to party or a foundation to create. For those who have been with the farm for enough of these annual cycles to see, an interesting dichotomy arises, one which heralds back to an all-but-forgotten tradition we all have within our ancestry.
The old-life way of transhumance seems to have been both enjoyable and pragmatic. Twice a year, you pack up and move, change scenery, diet, social life and state of mind. You whole-heartedly relinquish one season for the other, one place for the other. One is more a confined and ordered- civilization, the city. The other, wilder…or at least more pastoral. Tir Nan Og, the land of summer! Transhumance gave people a taste of true nomadic freedom, and a chance to remain in connection with nature in its “merrie” aspect, as a source of pleasure, a means for festival, a realm where, unlike the civilized other half, not everything can be so well predicted, computed, understood. And then, suddenly, the great harvest is over. The first frost hits, fires are lit, and woodsmoke descends on Brookhaven. Carefree, ephemeral leaves give their last efforts back to the central roots of forethought and practicality from which they arose. The energy created by this farm is switched off until Spring. Everything slows. And we, to our respective villages.
In Season Now
kale/chard
saladmix/arugula
broccoli/cauliflower
brussels sprouts-these are a little small this year, but delicious!
carrots
daikon
celeriac-tastes just like celery, but a hairy root! This keeps in the fridge for at least a month in a plastic bag in the fridge. Great chopped up in soup, or steam and mash into potatoes
shallots/garlic
sweet potatoes
Pick Your Own
Pick your own items are available for you to harvest at any time, as long as it’s not raining. Look for the signs marking the beds!
Parsley
Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Chives, Mint
Flowers- 10 stem limit please Dahlias are in rare form!