Saturday, October 29, 2011

Winter Squash and Pumpkin Harvest

Delicata, Acorn, Butternut, and Spaghetti Squash and Sugar Pumpkins
It's really starting to feel like fall around here, and fall means time to harvest winter squash. We have several kinds, and our CSA members will be seeing this lovely cornucopia in their weekly bags starting soon. First, though, we leave them to cure in the sun for about a week. Curing helps preserve them longer, and it makes for a nice fall decoration.

Winter squashes are so called because they keep for so well throughout the winter. They grow during the summer, but are allowed to mature until their skin gets hard, whereas a summer squash (e.g., zucchini) is harvested immature when its skin is still soft, and the seeds have not been fully formed.


The boy next door worked very hard around the farm to earn his pumpkin of choice. He happily harvested this beauty this week.

Friday, October 7, 2011

We Have Chickens!

Soon we'll be offering fresh pasture-raised eggs through our CSA. Please let us know if you're interested.
Turkins grazing in the sun. They are chickens that look like half-turkeys.
The rolling chicken coop made of scrap lumber and parts.
We have a new flock of chickens on One Acre Farm. They are 11 hens and a rooster, all about five months old. They haven't started laying yet, but we expect them to start very soon. These lucky chickens are truly pasture-raised and free-range, meaning they have a large area of space in which to roam outdoors. They are gladly helping us clear the weeds, old plants, and insects out of their area of the field. Once this area has been cleared, we will move them to a new section, along with their rolling coop.

Blue Andalusian hen in a forest of kale.