Week 19, Can you believe it?

We're at week 19 of the season. I can't believe I've been coming to the farm every week for the entire summer. Now it's moving quickly into Fall, as the cool weather today reminded me. Nevertheless, there were still many wonderful things to eat. I've got some great pictures at the bottom of the blog of the sweet potatoes being harvested, so be sure to check them out.

I saw bins of broccoli raab, beets, arugula, lettuce, garlic, scallions, spinach, kale, radishes, romano beans, carrots, eggplants, poblano peppers, acorn squash, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes, potatoes, apples, and even watermelons. Of course, the available items may be more or fewer depending on what's exactly available when you arrive at the farm stand. 

I got a chance to ask Pete about the pumpkins. He told me that they had less than one large bin of sugar pumpkins because the deer devastated them. Apparently the deer thought the pumpkin field was their personal fast food restaurant. Alas, it seems we won't have pumpkins this year.

Some wonderful mushrooms arrived when I was there and I also noticed a new offering of Apple Butter from much Mor bread for purchase.

~Sights on the Farm~

One of Pete's dogs.

A gaggle of geese heading north, flying low and loud.

A greenhouse ready for a winter crop.

 ~Herbs and Flowers~

There are still plenty of herbs and flowers for your pleasure. There is still a ton of cilantro and the sage looked lovely too.

The sunflowers are a bit droopy and many have been cut by people taking advantage of their beauty. However, the zinnias and even the snapdragons look good.

This bee looked very cold and was warming itself on this flower.

A new crop of some kind of flower is ready. I don't know the name of these flowers. Feel free to suggest the name in the comments.

Look carefully for the little bug camouflaging itself.

~People~

Now to one of the most important parts of the farm -- the people. I had an opportunity to get a close look at the harvesting of the sweet potatoes. Claudette and Neville were proud to show me how easy it was to harvest the potatoes. Well, they thought it was easy...I think it looks like hard dirty work, especially in this cool weather. I mentioned last week about Claudette being featured in Edible Hudson Valley's Fall 2013 magazine. If you didn't see it last week, check out her spread.

Neville and Claudette harvesting sweet potatoes

Neville shows his technique

I saw Paul today and he told me his experience harvesting sweet potatoes. He said that when the vines come away from the potatoes they leak a milky white fluid. This fluid is notoriously difficult to remove from your hands. Apparently it is almost pure sugar! He said his hands were sticky for days afterwards.

Ian was working with the forklift to carefully move apple crates around. He put one crate on top of another with wild precision.

Ian stacks with precision

Susan and her friend Lynnette were shopping today. My apologies for this poor picture! They were much better looking in person.

Susan and her friend Lynnette

Now you know I can't end a blog without a photo of Ana. She worked so hard today. When I arrived there was a technical problem with the card reader. She was on the phone for 31:29 minutes getting it fixed. Meanwhile, an extremely patient member, Lenny, calmly waited for Ana to resolve the issue so he could pay. Ana really needed Delaney to help her today. Between the technical difficulties and the many empty bins, she was running ragged to keep things running smooth. Through it all she kept her winning smile.