• Important: Pick-up day changes because of Labor Day, and Intersession schedule change at SUNY Albany.
• Farm News. Weather, climate change, farming & resilience
• Recipe: Tomato and corn soup
• Now taking orders for 2018 Fox Creek Farm garlic
• SUNY Albany site: Fall semester CSA shares available
• U-pick, and this week's share 
• Mark your calendar: Garlic work party set for September 1st

Please note - important CSA pick-up date changes

The Labor Day holiday is upcoming on Monday, September 3. Only during the Labor Day week, we are changing our Monday pick-up days to Tuesday, September 4 (same times). The produce drop-off at 625 Broadway will be on Wednesday, September 5. All Thursday pick-ups remain unchanged.

For our SUNY site: the Science Library is in intersession. That means that the latest share pick-up on Monday, 8/20 will be at 5:45 PM. Next week the pick-up times will again be from 4:00 to 6:00 PM.

Farm News

The changed weather pattern is finally getting to us … from a very dry and hot July to an overly wet August. We’re still not sure what we like best – having control over the moisture levels in the soil by running the irrigation system or having to jump on any opportunity when the fields are just dry enough to plant, plow, and cultivate. Maybe it’s the progression of the slowly but steadily changing weather patterns – not a lot of snow, or almost a blizzard, not very warm, or pushing heat warnings, and very dry, or very wet. Logically, you would think your farmers would be happier with some more steady weather. Instead, we adjust. Control as well as you can what you can control, buckle up, and enjoy the ride!

So, we try to keep our equipment well maintained. Running an efficient farm doesn’t benefit from the stress of untimely machinery repairs … we do our best to improve our soils – increasing the organic matter through cover crops and compost helps the water holding capacity, so we can easier sail through dry periods, and can deal better with flash-flood like rainfall. The effects of climate change are creeping up on us. With anticipation, and smart choices, we’re however able to keep a steady flow of beautiful crops coming to our CSA membership. As we wrote in earlier newsletters, we find vegetable farming a very rewarding and satisfying occupation. The unpredictable weather just adds another level of complexity ...

Cover crops: We are getting ready to seed for soil health and soil fertility later this week (yes, weather permitting, of course). We’ll be planting oats, peas, hairy vetch and rye just to create opportunities for good growing next season, and by the time the end of the season comes along, the whole farm will be covered – not only to grow the organic matter to feed the soil microbes (who create, in change, nitrogen to feed the vegetable crops). It also helps prevent erosion – which is good for the watershed, and good for the farm. Did you know that every 1% organic matter in the soil is expected to create 20 to 40 pounds of nitrogen per acre per year?

To another wonderful summer harvest,

Raymond and Sara

Recipe: Tomato and Sweet Corn Soup

Inspired by a list of NYT recipes shared by Marjorie Geiger, we took to the kitchen with the produce of the season: onions, tomatoes, garlic, and sweet corn. And the result shows that outstanding produce doesn't need a lot of extra to make a delicious soup!

3 - 4 tomatoes (heirlooms, red slicers, or a mix), cored and chopped
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
3 ears of corn, kernels removed

1 Tsp olive oil
vegetable bullion to taste
salt and pepper to taste

In large sauce pan, bake onions in olive oil. Add diced tomatoes, garlic, and some of the bulion (you can always add more later to taste). Bring to a boil, and puree with immersion blender. Add corn kernels and continue to boil until corn is tender. Adjust thickness of soup with water. Adjust flavor with salt and pepper. Serves 2 (or 4, depending on the size of the tomatoes).