Dear Folks,

   This week's shares will include:


Pumpkin (Decorative and it is edible)

Yellow Bartlett pears     

Nectarines

Broccoli

Potatoes

Bell pepper

Cider (natural)        


Personal Shares


Pumpkin (Decorative and edible)

Cider (natural)

Yellow Bartlett Pears

potatoes

bell pepper   



     Enjoy the pumpkin since this is the fall season.  Then when you are finished looking at it, you can use it for soup or a pie.  I always think that the round pumpkins tend to be more watery then the long neck ones.  So I use them in soups.

  Our cider is unpasteurized and natural.  it is very flavorful, but it will turn!  So keep it in the refrigerator.  It should be good for a week at least.  Here is my annual lesson on turned cider.  If the cider does turn and you do not like it with a little zip to it.  Just boil it on the stove. Let it boil for a few minutes, then either drink it warm or put it in the refrigerator until use.  Turned cider is good (if it is not too snappy).  I do know one man up here that waits until the jugs are so rounded that they will not sit up anymore  (meaning - they are so fermented)  before he will drink the cider and he claims that it is good for you!  If you are afraid to drink unpasteurized cider - you can just use my boiling technique as soon as you get the jug - then you would be pasteurizing it yourself!



Enjoy the fresh fruit, especially apples and pears during this season.  We have a lot of apples on the online store.  If you were planning to buy them are the store anyway, check out the items on our store.  You can order anytime throughout the week and we will deliver your items with your share.  We will keep a running total of the amount due and send you an email at the end of the seven weeks.  if you pick up at a stand, you can pay when you pick up.  www.orchardcountryproduce.com


Have a great week!


Gregg, Louise, Sarah, Virginia, and Oliver Keckler

Orchard Country Produce and Fruit Farm

Dear Folks,


     It is hard to believe that we are on the last days of September!  I should have sent this email out 3 weeks ago!  When Virginia leaves for college at the end of August we are always scrambling to get the jobs done.  Truthfully we NEED that one extra, very versatile, young and energetic person to keep this place working properly.  So without her, some jobs just don't get done. 

   One job that Ivolunteered to do when she left was care for the chickens and gather the eggs.  I hadn't really had much to do with the chickens for many years.  Usually one or another of my children always took care of them.  I am really getting to know these hens.  They talk, they love company, they are comical as well!  I decided to reread Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens and at the same time I am reading parts of Joel Salatin's Pastured Poultry Profits.  Both books and of course the feathered ladies have inspired me to make some changes in our housing and care of them. 

In more recent years I have become much more concerned about the earth and the soil.  We LOVE chicken manure!  It does wonders for the soil.  But with the way our chicken project is set up most of the chicken manure does not go on the gardens and fields where it is needed the most.   So I have devised a better plan for housing the chickens.  Now we will be able to get good chicken manure with the chickens doing the composting of greens and fruits and veggies as well as getting an addition to their regular meal and grass.  Besides the chickens are enjoying scratching and burrowing into the greens. Then in the spring or fall we will just scoop up their hard labor and put in the right places! 


We are planning to add quite a bit of lime to the one field this year after the tomatoes and the tomato stakes are out of the ground.  We will also be planting Dikon radishes in that field again to help to revitalize it.  We purchased it only two years ago and it was very depleted from having had corn planted in it for the last twenty years straight.                  



We are nearing the end of this year's CSA.  We are planning the winter deliveries for November, December and January.  If you would be interested in participating in the winter delivery, please send us a return email stating so.  Then I will put you on the right email list.


Unfortunately we lost all of our turkeys earlier this year to predators.  So we do not have any turkeys of our own.  However, a Mennonite farmer near us does have his own free range, fresh turkeys. We intend to partner with him to provide turkeys for those who would like them. If you are interested in a turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  Let us know.  I will let you know the price as soon as I know it.  I believe he is charging the same price as we were last year. 


We have had a very good year.  Evey thing is looking great and doing well.  We did have a bit of late frost around Memorial Day which hurt some of the early apples, but otherwise everything looks good.

We are picking arugala, fall snap peas, and we should soon have spinach.  We just started to make apple cider.  The winter squash is delicious, as are the sweet potatoes and Lima beans. 


Enjoy the change in the season and the weather.  Fall is a good time to revisit those places that you last saw in the spring and enjoy the CHANGES!



Have a great Month!

Gregg, Louise, Sarah, Virginia, Oliver Keckler

Orchard Country Produce and Fruit Farm

www.orchardcountryproduce.com             

Dear Folks,
 

       This week's shares will include:

Cauliflower

Nectarines

Concord Grapes

Radishes

Tomatoes

Buttercup/Kiri  Winter Squash

Mystery item 



Personal Shares:


Cauliflower

Nectarines

Concord Grapes

Radishes

Buttercup/Kiri Winter Squash

Tomatoes


The Concord grapes are great just to eat.  They do have seeds.  I like to make a very simple grape juice with them.  Take a quart jar put one cup of grapes, cleaned and stemmed in the jar with 1/2 cup of sugar.  Add boiling water to fill the jar.  Put a lid on the jar and let it sit until the jar cools down.  Put it in the refrigerator for a couple of days.  Drain the grapes off and discard them.  The juice is great.  The longer you let the juice sit with the grapes in it, the better it will taste. 


The winter squash will keep very well.  Enjoy the unique flavors of different winter squash.  Most folks are familiar with butternut, spaghetti squash, and acorn.  Try these different ones - You may also find that once you see these winter squash you might already know them by a different name.  I noticed at market that people have many names for the same squash.


Enjoy this changing week - summer into fall. 


I will be sending out an email later this week about upcoming things:


1. Winter Delivery - scheduled for November, December and January.


2. Thanksgiving at the Farm - If you are available we would love to have you dome to the farm for the day.



3. Turkey Orders for Thanksgiving and Christmas    



Gregg, Louise, Sarah, Virginia, and Oliver Keckler - Orchard Country Produce and Fruit Farm

www.orchardcountryproduce.com

Dear Folks,

  This week's shares will include:

Peach/Apple combo

Hot peppers

Broccoli

Arugala

Sweet Potatoes

Mystery melon

Tomatoes


Personal shares:

peach/ Apple combo

Tomatoes

hot peppers

broccoli

Arugala

Mystery melon


The Peaches are all picked!  So this is the last of them.  They have been very good and very plentiful this year.  We are doing a combo because we do not have enough peaches to give a whole box to every one, but we thought you might like ONE LAST TASTE! (sigh!) 

We still have some very nice red tomatoes - enjoy because their time is soon coming! 

This is a season for hot peppers.  We have many varieties!  These keep very well in the refrigerator. 

The broccoli is looking good with the cooler weather, as is the arugala.  We are now into the fall greens. 

The mystery melon could be any kind.  Be surprised!  

The sweet potatoes also will keep very well in a garage area.  We do not keep them in the cooler, because they do not like ANY humidity - the drier the better.  So if you keep them with fruit or greens they will break down quickly.  


If you would like order any items from our online store, just go to the website www.orchardcountryproduce.com and order items, we will deliver them with your share.  If you order any bakery goods, after we are done baking for the day, they will be delivered the nest week. 

So check it out.  If you were planning to purchase these items anyway, give us a try!    


Gregg, Louise, Sarah, Virginia, and Oliver Keckler

Orchard Country Produce and Fruit Farm

www.orchardcountryproduce.com

If you are getting this email, we assume that you are signed up for the fall session of our CSA.  If this is not correct, please send us an email.  


Please remember to return ALL boxes, cartons, containers, EVERYTHING from the boxes except the fruits and vegetables.  We will reuse things and if they aren't reusable, we use all cardboard as mulch and animal bedding.


Remember that if you would like to order from our online store, you may do so.  Just go to the website and shop.  www.orchardcountryproduce.com  We include the items that you order with your share for that week.  If you do not order in time, we include the items in the next week's delivery.  if you pick up at a market stand, you can pay when you pick up.  If you are a Wednesday or Friday delivery, we will keep a running total of the amount due until the end of the 7-week session, then we will send you a bill.  You can then send us a check for the amount due.  


If you have any questions, please email us.


This week's shares will include:


Clapp's Favorite pears

Sugar Cube cantaloupe

Canary melon

Green/yellow beans

red slicing tomatoes

spaghetti squash

mystery item



Personal shares:

Sugar Cube cantaloupe

Clapp's Favorite pears

Yellow/green beans

red slicing tomatoes

spaghetti squash


The Clapp's pear is an old heirloom variety.  Nice yellow color-  Their skins bruise easily - that is why will you not find them are the grocery store -, but they are a nice soft, sweet pear.


The Canary melon is a smooth skinned melon - similar to a Honeydew - white to green color inside.

The Sugar Cube cantaloupe is very sweet, small size - delicious!


You may get green beans or yellow wax beans, depending which one is being picked when you are getting your share.  The red tomatoes are great for sandwiches and salads. 


Spaghetti Squash is great.  I usually boil it with the skin on until I can put a fork through the skin.  Then I cut it in half and scoop out the seeds.  Then flake the squash up with a fork like spaghetti.  You can use it like spaghetti or as my family does - with butter salt and garlic!  Delicious!


We are giving a mystery item.  I am sure that you will recognize the item when you get it.  We have a little of this and a little of that right now and we need to move some things.  So be SURPRISED!  If you truly do not know what the item is, let me know.


Have a great week.  It is hard to believe that we are on the last 7 weeks of the CSA.  Time flies!


Gregg, Louise, Sarah, Virginia, and Oliver Keckler - Orchard Country Produce and Fruit Farm

www.orchardcountryproduce.com