Hi all, I wanted to start with that reminder that this is the next to last week of the CSA season.  Next week's share will be quite large assuming the frost holds off for a bit longer.  It's already much later than last year.
Also, I wanted to share my jubilation at having found enough cherry tomatoes to put them in the share today.  Apparently the variety in your bags today is resistant to the blight.  It was still infecting the plants but they held it off longer than any other tomato on the farm.  This is the beauty of the CSA model.  When the farmer loses, so does everyone supporting him/her.  But the opposite is also true.  When the farmer wins, so do the CSA members.  I hope everyone enjoys the small amount of tomatoes in there today.  I don't want to take away from this positive development but below is the comparison photo from last year (one day worth of harvest) and then this entire season.  There's always next year!  This is a good example of what is usually the case in our CSA.  Most things people normally expect in the summer are abundant.  But this summer has been amazingly rainy and cold.  I think Mother Nature is holding back the frost to give us a break. 

Also this week is some very nice looking Kale.  The variety is Red Russian and it has done very well this season.  Emily and I had some last night for dinner and it was great.  We tried a new recipe which I hope to get on the Kale link on the recipe page before tonight.  We're going to pick some apples though so I may not get to it until tomorrow.
There are also some turnips in the share.  These are called purple top, white globe turnips.  You can see why of course.  I hope everyone enjoys them.
Apologies to the Bangor folks.  I left an entire crate at the farm in my rush to get out the door today.  Your zucchini and cucumbers will be there next week.  They'll keep fine in the refrigerator at the farm until this.  Sorry again.
Don't forget this weekend is the open farm tour.  Hope to see you all there.  Directions are on the link at the top of this page.  Take care and let me know if you have any questions.

This is the Kale (though not as mature as what you received today).
Next to it is the spaghetti squash.

Hi everyone:
I just wanted to post a short bit about this week's share.  I hope everyone noticed the new system I'm trying out.  In Bangor and Newport there will be chalk boards with a list of everything that is in the share and any special instructions, such as the fact that potatoes are in a separate place, etc.  Winterport has the same system except it is a dry erase board because it's outside (possibly in the rain).
Anyway, the special items of interest this week are the blue potatoes and the corn.  The corn was really a surprise for me.  I was walking by it on my way to harvest something else and noticed a couple of good sized husks.  Upon further inspection I noticed that there were quite a few with plump kernels (even the small ears).  I had pretty much given up on the corn since the tallest plants are only up to my chin.  They should be taller than I am.  At any rate I'm pleased to at least have had a little.  You may want to eat it right off the cob but we're going to freeze ours.  The best way we've found is to cut it off the cob and saute it in a small about of alive oil for a few minutes.  Then let it cool and throw it in a freezer bag and in the freezer.  Enjoy.
The blue potatoes are one of my favorite things to harvest because they are so interesting and so delicious.  They have a more earth bound flavor than any I've ever tasted.  Plus, they're beautiful.  I just learned that Will Bonsal (the curator of potatoes for the Seed Saver's Exchange and a Maine farmer) grows over 700 varieties of potatoes each  year.  I didn't know that many existed and I can't wait to investigate to see what else we can come up with.  Cook the blue potatoes just as you would any other type.  Be sure not to mix them with the red or russets though if you boil them for mashing.  The color will bleed and when it is all mixed together it doesn't look very appetizing. 
Another note on the size of the potatoes.  When they are very small as those you received, you don't necessarily need to remove the eyes like you would with larger potatoes from storage.  Simply wash them and cut them (if necessary) to the desired size and cook.  The eyes are tender enough so they aren't a problem. 
Hope everyone enjoys and please let me know if you have any questions.

Hi all:
I know it's been a long time since there has been a post but I felt it was necessary this week for several reasons, one of which being the variety in the bags during this, the best time of the year for harvest and another being the things you won't find in the share today or at all this season most likely.
First to the things in the share today.  You'll find Romaine Lettuce both green (Paris Island COS) and red (Outredgeous).  The red is particularly nice and it looks great in the garden.  I don't have a photo but I wish I did because it's coming in beautifully this year.  We'd like feedback on the romaine lettuce because we've recently had some negative comments about it.  Do people enjoy it? 
There is a bag of Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans in the share this week.  The pole beans are a great example of what I'll talk about at the end of the blog.  You'll also find cukes, cukes and more cukes in the bottom of the bag, as well as zucchini.  Some of the cukes are getting quite large.  Those are the last remnants from our first planting before the plants die off.  The second planting is coming in nicely now and those are the smaller cukes.  I think the large ones would make a nice cucumber soup.  If anyone has a gazpacho recipe they like please share and I'll post it on the recipe page.  Otherwise people can just google it for a good use for the larger cukes if you don't care to eat them raw at that size. 
Also this week is another round of beet greens.  We actually had them last week too but didn't have time to bag them.  Bummer!  Half shares received a bag of mesclun mix which contains baby chard, red lettuce and arugula.  Full shares didn't receive this because there wasn't room in the bag!  Instead full shares received an half pound of mature chard to be used as a braising mix.  For an excellent informational article on braising please see http://www.seasonalchef.com/braise.htm.  I particularly like the idea of the 'hot dressing' as cooking greens must be done so delicately that it's hard to get the timing correct.  You will also find a bag of parsley (which we had once when the blog was on vacation).  It's perfect as an addition to nearly any meal.  Some people eat it raw as a snack.  I've tried it in the garden and think it should be reserved for additions to meals but to each his/her own.  Either way it is extremely good for you and very high in vitamin C if you're into that sort of thing.  Also in the bags this week are carrots and the full shares received what I hope are the last of the radishes from our experimental planting.  More on that after the photos:

I suppose that the fact that we are able to fill the bags beyond capacity is 'the good'.  The 'bad' are the facts which we had to highlight with a CSA member today.  The weather this season has been beyond awful.  In fact, on some scales it's the worst year in nearly two centuries.  We had nearly two straight months of rain during the summer.  The night time temperatures didn't reach the 60's until just at the end of July and now they are already low again.  Tuesday morning at the farm I took our dog for a walk through the foggy fields at 5am and the temperature was 38 degrees!  The bottom line when things like this happen is that there are going to be some things that just don't grow.  For instance, corn.  There is an old adage my father-in-law told me about corn:  "Knee high by the 4th of July".  Hahahahahahahahahahaha.  The corn is near the end of it's life span and it isn't even chest high right now.  The two pitiful ears each of you received last week were all we could muster.  There are no full sized ears out there.  This is extremely disappointing to us too.  We were able to get corn into the ground very early using some new methods.  We were able to keep the crows from stealing the seed using a new trick.  All for nothing...  The same is true of squash.  Winter squash is a long season crop.  Usually that's not a problem in Maine but this year summer only lasted three weeks.  We will have winter squash but not nearly the variety we need, nor the quantity.  There are other things in the garden that have suffered this way as well.  Our summer squash (which our CSA members should be knee deep in and begging us to stop including it each week) was flooded...literally under water for 3 weeks in June.  The plants are no bigger than my hand but they have flowers and fruit on them.  The fruit gets to a certain size and instantly rots.  Plants that small can't support fruit and they just decided to stagnate at a small size. 
The weather was the main reason we decided to try some spring crops.  It is usually a ridiculous idea to plant radishes in July.  The same with Turnips, Arugula and some other cold-hardy crops.  But we figured, heck if it's going to be spring forever we may as well plant spring crops again.  And it worked!  If the frost holds off for a couple of weeks we may actually get another crop of sugar snap peas in but we'll have to see if Mother Nature wishes it so.
Now to 'the ugly'.  Late Blight.  We have it.  So does everyone in the state of Maine and throughout New England.  Here is a link where you can learn about the fungus:  http://www.mofga.org/Publications/PestReports/PestReports2009/tabid/1183/Default.aspx?PageContentID=403and another where you can see pictures:  http://www.hort.cornell.edu/department/Facilities/lihrec/vegpath/photos/lateblight_tomato.htm  If, like one member I spoke to this afternoon, you are wondering why some farmers and farmstands still have tomatoes when I don't the answer is simple.  Fungicides.  Spraying chemicals on the plants is the only way to kill (and at this point it doesn't even kill it but just slows it down) the fungus.  We don't do that, no matter what.  Thus, no tomatoes this year.  Yes, that's right we will not have any tomatoes this year.  We are very sorry to report this but we've been pulling plants all season trying to leave the ones that looked the best but we now have late blight on all remaining tomatoes.  It's disgusting and infuriating but there isn't anything we can do at this point even if we wanted to douse our plants and soil with copper sulfide (which we refuse to do).  I can't begin to count the hours I've wasted planting, trellising, weeding, mulching...all to pull the plants and leave them in a heap on the ground to be killed by the frost. 
The bottom line is that this has been a remarkably horrible summer weather-wise.  But we're still in there plugging and we have gone into survival mode at this point.  The blight hasn't yet infected all of our potatoes so we've been able to give some to you in the share.  We'll have some squash but not as much or as many varieties as we like.  We don't have corn but there are lots of other things to sustain life besides corn.  We will break down and buy hybrid seed next year if I can bring myself to do it (argggg).  You take the good with the bad, roll with the punches and repeat the following mantra:  "There's always next year...and it can't be as bad as this".  Until next time, thank you very much for supporting local food and Parker Produce.  If anyone has any questions, comments, feedback or you just want to chat about this post, your produce or anything relating to agriculture, please don't hesitate to contact me.  Talk to you soon.