I have an abundance of hot peppers this year, more than the csa members want (members can take more if you want to). I’ll sell them by the pound for non-members who want to make hot sauce or pickled hot peppers or whatever you do! I have mostly Hungarian Hot Wax (aka banana peppers), jalepenos, serranos, and some chilis. Send me a message at saugeenrivercsa@gmail.com to arrange to get them, or if you have any questions.

Once again I will try to host this workshop that got cancelled because of rain last year. The workshop is by donation, cash or Saubucks. We will explore plant forms and walk like planetary movement to see their connection. We’ll start at 2pm. If you have any questions, let me know.

I have a lot right now and they are rapidly coming to a close. If you are interested in a bushel or half bushel let me know by email saugeenrivercsa@gmail.com to get prices and arrange to get them.

NEW CLASS TIME: Friday evenings 7-8pm at Golden Tiger in Hanover. There’s a group of enthusiastic practitioners Sunday mornings at Melanie and Anthony Subject’s yoga/aikido studio near Elmwood and a few of us at Golden Tiger Monday and Wednesday afternoons exploring Tai Chi empty hand and sword practices, deepened by Qi Gong exercises. If you are interested in beginning this practice, now is a good time! Send me a message at saugeenrivercsa@gmail.com or 519 369 8116 for more info. It’s a practice that has allowed me to stay fit and continue farming which I’m happy to share with others!

Thank you Lynn and Simon J. for your short notice help yesterday getting all the squash and pumpkins harvested. It had a bit of the feeling “Damned if we do and damned if we don’t.” Ideally the butternut, spaghetti, and some of the acorn squashes would have been left on the vine to mature a bit longer, but the amount of rodent damage was seeming exponential! I wasn’t sure how many would survive another night. This means those squash may not keep as well as if they had vine ripened, so I’ll be keeping a close eye on them and will likely give them out sooner than later. The Delicata (which is what there were the most of and the most damaged) and pie pumpkins seemed ready so I’m glad we got them in.

I did a post similar to this a few years ago but thought it was worth repeating.
When I say everyone loves broccoli I’m not just referring to people. The list of creatures that go for broccoli include: groundhogs, deer, flea beetles, cabbage worms, and the main one I wanted to talk about, Swede Midge.

The first few years of the CSA we had beautiful large headed broccoli, and was as consistent a crop as kale. The Swede Midge made it’s debut in North America in Ontario in 2000. It found us, and there were a couple years where we would have a whole row of beautiful looking broccoli plants with large lush leaves, but not a single head of broccoli. The Midge goes for the growth point of brassica plants where the head develops.

I started experimenting with sprouting broccoli finally finding a variety that was productive enough to yield a good crop. The sprouting broccoli makes a small main head but puts most of its energy into sending out side shoots for broccoli spears. These side shoots usually out grow the Midge’s efforts, until this year. The first planting had damage on many of the side shoots as well as the main head. The second planting has been better, but is still effected.

I’ve been giving out more leaf with the heads since the leaves have a nice broccoli flavour. I know if you are used to broccoli heads, this is not the same. And you’re right, it’s not the same. I’ve mainly been just chopping up the whole thing, leaves, head, and the tender part of the stem, and adding it to stir fries. I really enjoy it that way. But agreed it’s not the same as a nice big broccoli head.

Row cover is the best defense when we have wild mustard always around as a host plant, so I will keep trying my best to protect it, since everyone loves broccoli.