Oh, those crickets and those spiders and the way the light is just all the time glowing over it all. Other times of year, the light only looks that way at 4 PM, or 8Pm, or sunrise or sunset. It must be fall. It slips so slowly quickly all at the same time between the seasons this way. My two boys will go “back to school” soon. Four of my employees will go back to school about a month after that. I hate school. There is plenty to learn right here on the farm, gol darn it! Just kidding. I love school, and I love autumn, and it makes me feel a tiny bit sad, nostalgic, always. This is just truth, you can feel more than one way at the same time. The heat of summer simmers off and the chill of fall comes in to relieve the tension of it all. Thank goodness.

Our summer squash and Cucumbers finally produced enough to go around for everyone all the time, no more taking turns! Hooray! Now we begin the rotations of eggplant, tomato, and basil. I will keep track of which batch of shares gets each treat each week, and be sure to give everyone a turn.


The fresh shell bean that we grew this year is named Vermont Cranberry, likely due to it’s sweet cranberry red colorings, and east coast provenance, or prevalence. A fresh shell bean ought to be shelled out, get the little beans out of the pods, then bring to a boil with two or three times the amount of water, then simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Once you have these tender beauties cooked, you can go any direction you like with them. My imagination instantly goes Italian, i.e., serve with pasta, olive oil, garlic, parmesan, maybe parsley, maybe sautéed chard, or any other green you have around. The flavor is sweet, rich, nutty, bean-y, and wonderful!! We are hoping for no more rain for a while so that we can dry the rest of the crop and then feed them into the combine to thresh them out. Last year, the rain came early, and we brought the plants into greenhouses to dry off, then pounded with bat inside of sack, then pushed over screens, much handwork. We love and enjoy handwork, but it’s just not real practical on a farm scale. We are hoping for the rain to wait just a little bit.

Chet’s Early Italian Roses is the full name of this week’s garlic. We have several varieties of garlic here and we love each of them for different reasons, one reason being a generic love of variety, of having choices, of insurance, as in, if one of these varieties doesn’t work out, some other one will! Usually, all of the garlic “works out”, but one year (2005) we did lose one type, our beloved Spanish Roja. But the pleasant result of that was the introduction to the farm of Korean, Kilarney, and German Garlic. We likely would not have sought out three new types of garlic, if our mainstay had not succumbed to some sort of terrible rot. Chet’s Early Italian Roses, is an early maturing variety, with true garlic flavor and a hint of heat, a little spice there. It is a soft neck type, with potential for long term storage as well as early maturity.

We did host one stop of the Food Summit Farm Tour on Saturday morning, and what a delight that was! We always feel nervous prior to a tour event, and then during and after we feel great! What a wonderful farm we have, and we are so happy to share it with you! It is one of our aims,not just to feed you from this farm , but also, to inspire you, if you have farming ambitions of your own, to go for it! Surely, if we can do this, anyone can do this! There is more demand for high quality local food than there is supply. So there is always opportunity for new farmers to set up shop, and make a go of it! Hooray!

Kirsop Farm Calendar of Events

Outstanding in Their Fields
September 17th, Saturday
Fifteen courses with matching wines, featuring Kirsop Farm produce and protein! The menu is still being finalized as we speak, we are so excited to be planning such a special occasion for everyone!
Tickets available through Acqua Via Restaurant 357-3677 or their website. Ten more tickets available! Call now to get yours!

September 19, 5-7pm Chicken pick up!! Call to reserve your chicken today! Many fine fat delicious broilers available for you!

Kirsop Farm CSA potluck dinner and farm tour, October 8. Saturday, 4 pm-8pm. Rumor has it that some friends of ours will be playing bluegrass favorites on mandolin and guitar for this event! If you have an instrument and would like to join in, plan on it!

November 21, 5-7pm Turkey pick up!! Call to reserve.