CSA: Weekly Share

As we sail through our last days here at the stand, we are reminded of what a great season it has been. We still have Doc Martin lima beans, green and red peppers, lots of different hot and warm peppers, a bit of eggplant left, plenty of our Fabulous tomatoes, and believe or not, a bit of corn. Plenty of delicious apples are abound, as are late season concord grapes and brussel sprouts. And of course, tons of gorgeous pumpkins, squash, mini pumpkins, striped pumpkins, gourds, indian corn, mums and all the rest!
We certainly can't think about the season without mentioning our amazing and loyal customer base. Rain or shine, blistering hot or blustery chilly, ya'll come out to support our efforts. As cliche as it sounds, we certainly couldn't do it without all of YOU! THANK YOU SO MUCH for making the effort to get out to see us, support us and for helping to make it our best season ever!

The Last Weekly List:
1 lb. tomatoes
1 lb. Doc Martin limas
3 green or red peppers
5 "hot" peppers
2 carnival or sweet dumpling squash
1 spaghetti squash
1 bag gourds
2 jack-be-littles OR
2 pumpkemons
3 bunches indian corn
2 Spotted swans (gooseneck gourds)

The Great Pumpkin Carve—After

Amazing what these talented folks do to our giants!

The Great Pumpkin Carve

 

Prizewinners waiting to be delivered to The Great Pumpkin Event

Some of our largest

Smaller giants sprawled on the lawn

If you have never made it, I suggest that you try to get there and enjoy the amazing creativity. It is an amazing sight to see!

Chadds Fords Great Pumpkin Event

We supply all the giant pumpkins for The Chadds Ford Historical Societies Annual fundraiser.

Hayride to the Pumpkin Patch

We will be running our Hayride to the Pumpkin Patch both Saturday and Sunday afternoons this weekend.

Saturday at 3:00pm

Sunday at 2:00pm

$20 for one child and one adult

(extra kids $15)

Includes: Hayride to pumpkin field

1 large jack-o-lantern and

1 small cannonball pumpkin

 The $20 cost covers the hayride and the pumpkin picking. Kids get to pick 2 pumpkins each. Stop by the stand, or call (610-388-7491) to reserve your place. (We need 25 people to sign up for the hayride to run.)

CSA: Weekly Share

Quite the year for Doc Martins lovers

As we head into our 2nd to last week of the season, we remarkably still have many items that in previous years would have been finished at this time. Doc Martins are still available, green beans, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and a bit of corn is left. This will be the last week for the corn, only because we've made it through all our patches. This is the first year ever that we were able to pick all our sweet corn patches before the frost got some! So enjoy one last meal of corn on the cob.

This weeks list:
1 lb. Doc Martins
1 lb. green beans
1/2 lb. eggplant
5 "hot"peppers
2 small green peppers (ours)
1 lb. tomatoes
your choice 3 winter squash
1 lb. sweet potatoes
1 jack-o-lantern

Pumpkins of all sizes abound!

Honey Crisp apples are still the star of the show

Fall at SIW

Local broccoli and cauliflower

Blue moon, blue triad and Queensland blue winter squash 

All the fall favorites are in full form right now.

The local broccoli and cauliflower is perfect and pumpkemons are cute with the longest stems. Our selection of the blue edible squash is bountiful. You can decorate with them and then cook up a delicious pie!

Bee Hill on a glorious fall day

Recipe of the Day: Roasted Red Pepper and Squash Soup

Sweet dumpling squash and ghost pumpkins

I like using sweet dumpling squash for this soup, but delicata or carnival (festival) also works well. The denser squashes don't work as well, as they are a bit too, well, pumpkin-y. 

Roasted Red Pepper and Squash Soup

ingredients:

4 Carnival, Sweet Dumpling or Delicata Squash

2 large red peppers

2 medium yellow onions

2 medium-large tomatoes

6-8 garlic cloves

olive oil

1-1/2 to 2 Quarts chicken broth (or veggie)

1/4 t. each dried basil & oregano (to taste)

1/8-1/4 t. red pepper flakes (or more for greater heat!)

1 t. salt

15 grinds black pepper

method:

Cut squash in quarters, scoop out seeds and steam for 20-30 minutes until soft. Remove and let cool 10 minutes, then peel off skin. While squash is cooking, cut seeded red peppers into flat sections, lay on cookie sheet with skin up and roast under broiler until charred. Cover with a towel and let cool, then remove skin and rough chop. 

Heat a large heavy soup pot and saute yellow onion cut into chunks (cut in half and then cut that into eighths) until soft, about 8-10 minutes. Add rough chopped garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add in the cooked squash, skinned peppers and chopped tomatoes (peel if desired). Add spices, salt and pepper. If you want a curry soup, instead of basil and oregano, use cumin and a curry mix. Then cover with broth slightly above level of veggies in pot. More liquid will make a thinner soup, less will make it thicker. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30-40 minutes. Remove from heat and blend mixture with a stick blender. (Or carefully blend in blender in small batches. Cover blender top with towel to prevent hot liquid spraying out.) Serve with warm bread or grilled cheese sandwiches. Serves 5-6. 

Hayride to the Pumpkin Patch

It's a giant pumpkin partee!

Saturday, October 16th

3:00 pm

$20 for one child and one adult

(extra kids $15)

Includes: Hayride to pumpkin field

1 large jack-o-lantern and

1 small cannonball pumpkin

Once again, this weekend we are running a hayride that goes to the pumpkin patch. The $20 cost covers the hayride and the pumpkin picking. Kids get to pick 2 pumpkins each. Stop by the stand, or call (610-388-7491) to sign up. (We need 25 people to sign up for the Hayride to run it.)

CSA: Weekly Share

The prize-winners are all picked!

Carnival and Sweet Potato squash

As the days are getting shorter and the temps lower, our crops are slowing down, too. We still have an amazing variety for mid-October, but none-the-less, our harvests are waning. They just picked a bunch of Doc martins and green beans, and the squash continues to be plentiful. The sweet potatoes are certainly in abundance this week, but onions, garlic and yellow potatoes are all over. Carnival squash is on the list, and you also get to pick one of the gorgeous large heirloom gourds (or squashes). Tomatoes are still pumping out big red, juicy fruits. And the corn is still as sweet as it gets!

If you haven't gotten any pumpkins yet, now is the time. We are knee deep in an amazing selection of all sizes, shapes and colors of pumpkins, squash, gourds, giant pumpkins and just about anything you'd like to decorate with!

This weeks list:
3 sweet corn
1 lb. tomatoes
1 lb. squash
1 lb. green beans
1lb. Doc Martin Limas
5 ea hot peppers
2 carnival squash
1 lb. sweet potatoes
1 large gourd (or squash)
2 indian corn (mini or regular)

Enjoy this Indian Summer weather!

Heirloom Gourds (some call it squash)

Mums in full form!

Tomato Sauce for the Hungry

Last year I started selling Tomato sauce at my cost to customers to donate to the hungry. It was a huge success and we are doing it again this year. We’ve donated over 5000 pounds of assorted produce throughout the summer and this is a way to keep giving in the winter. If you pay for the jars here we will donate the jars for you—just as we donate hundreds of jars ourselves. Last year we donated to the Kennett Food cupboard, the Chester County Food Bank and the Emmanuel Dining Room (two locations in Wilmington).

The costs are as follows:

Gallons-------$30 40 approx. servings 

Quarts---------$7.50 10 approx. servings 

Pints-----------$4.25 5  approx. servings

• The gallons go to the soup kitchens 

• The pints and quarts to the food cupboards

If you would like to specify where they are to be donated or deliver them yourselves, that is fine.

Thank you,

H. G. Haskell

Pumpkin Picking Hayride!

Saturday, October 9th

4:00 pm

$20 for one child and one adult

Includes: Hayride to pumpkin field

1 large jack-o-lantern and

1 small cannonball pumpkin

Come join HG and crew this Saturday afternoon for a Hayride to our pumpkin patch. The $20 cost covers the hayride and the pumpkin picking. Kids get to pick 2 pumpkins each. Stop by the stand, or call (610-388-7491) to sign up. (We need 25 people to sign up for the Hayride to run it.)

CSA: Weekly Share

Giant and the jacks

After many days of rain and dreary, cold weather, this mornings sunshine is a welcome sight! Looks like the weekend will be quite Autumnally-gorgeous. The shift to fall, even with all the rain we've gotten, hasn't translated to dwindling harvests, at this point. The tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes are still plentiful! And we've got a full cooler of Doc Martins. Our squash, cukes and peppers have continued to pump out their fruits. And the pumpkins—oh the pumpkins—are having a stellar year. Brent's lettuce is back in full fashion and he expects to pick beets later this week or early next. Plenty of corn and we picked a good bit of beans this week, too. The flowers do appear to be over, as is the basil, I believe. But they've been picking the sweet potatoes again, some are still small but they are delicious. 

Here's whats on our CSA list for the week:

3 white corn

1 lb. doc martin lima beans
1 lb. green beans

2 lbs. regular tomatoes

1 bag lettuce

1 lb. squash
3 cuke
3 garlic
3 hot peppers

1 lb. sweet potatoes 

1 Jack-o-lantern

Local concord grapes and delicious fall strawbs from Canada

A river runs through it!

Lake SIW in the background

We may be spared the worst of this flooding. Reports are that the Brandywine River has crested in Chadds Ford, so it looks like our parking lot might be the worst casualty today. We will know by noon where we stand.

At this point we plan to be open by early afternoon. Creek road at Cossart toward Wilmington is  now covered with about a foot of water and all roads that the Brandywine goes under are all closed right now.

Take care if you are out and about!

Drive safe and stay dry.