Field notes  Winter squash is curing in the greenhouses for storage! We now have storage onions, potatoes, and carrots in large quantities, so stock up for your family, or purchase a Fall Share and we’ll store it for you! Our pick-your-own pumpkin patch is up and running, complete with a corn teepee. We’ll be welcoming lots of school groups for field trips to pick pumpkins and even more for educational activities with Cat. Some activities include cider pressing, bean threshing, seed safaris, & insect searches. There are just a few spaces left for the weeks of Oct 11 and 18. Email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to register your group.

Rooting for Vermont  It’s all about roots here on the farm. We have loads of carrots and a variety of potatoes, as well as a good supply of beets, daikon radish, turnips, & rutabaga. A bin of mixed roots will be one of the prizes for our special fundraiser raffle held at our Pumpkin Festival, to raise money for our friends at Evening Song Farm who irreparably lost the whole farm in the wake of Irene’s flood.

Your farm share this week

A view from the farm

Butternut mountain.

New at the farmstand  The farmstand is a rainbow with peppers in every color ranging from the hottest to sweetest, a full selection of roots and tubers, and fall greens galore. Delight your taste buds with Trukenbrod bread, made with our own wheat, paired with Alison’s delicious apple butter made with local apples in our farm kitchen. John Mellquist has combined Cedar Circle’s own wheat with cracked oats from La Meunerie Milanaise, Quebec, and cracked rye and corn from Butterworks Farm in Westfield into a hot cereal mix, so good on these cool mornings.

Roots from old sod  Cat just spent two weeks in Ireland visiting her family, and we’re inspired to share this yummy Potato & Spinach Colcannon, a twist on the traditional Irish recipe. Mix in any greens you like, it’s still colcannon.

Thetford Elementary School  Last Wednesday, Cat and the students from Thetford Elementary School harvested more than ever before from the school gardens. Students were so excited to deliver their ’home grown’ food to the cafeteria and eager to eat it up!

FREE wagon rides to the Pumpkin Patch  As is the tradition on the farm, free horse-drawn wagon rides to the Pumpkin Patch and back are available from 11 to 4 on the last two weekends of the month. Bring the family, grab a coffee and a muffin, ride to the patch in a wagon, and pick your pumpkin!

Pumpkin Festival is next Sunday, October 9!  Local puppetry from Ria Blaas, three shows at 10:30, noon, & 1:30. Two great bands: Jeannie & The Hi-Tops and Rev. Stovepipe! Farm-made fall soups and bread, apple butternut crisp, pumpkin cookies, cider donuts and more. $5 a car. Free for walkers and bicyclers! Find out more! and download a full schedule.

Volunteers rock  Thanks to all you who have offered to volunteer! Our festivals are a really fun time but to experience them as a volunteer is the way to enjoy their full flavor. We can’t wait to see you on Sunday joining in on the festivities, dancing to the music, and filling your bellies with the freshest organic food. If you’d like to be on our volunteer list for the future, just let us know.

Demystifying compost  It’s time to start putting all these leaves to good use for next year’s garden! Cat loves talking about building soil and that makes this class her favorite. It’s popular in the valley too, so we organized a second round of This Rots! De-mystifying Compost! Sign up here for our October 15th class. We’ll begin with a tour of our farm compost with Nic Cook, and then apply the information to Cat’s demonstration backyard compost system.

Extend the harvest  Our Fall CSA Share members come to the farmstand on certain Saturdays—starting October 22 through December—to pick up a share of storage veggies, fall greens, & more. A few spaces left: Sign up now!

NOFA Farmer Emergency Fund Starting on October 1 the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA Vermont) will be auctioning off a number of fun and unique items (including two seats to our 2012 Dinner in the Field series) to bid on to raise money for the Farmer Emergency Fund to support farmers affected by the recent disaster. The goal is to raise $30,000 to provide grants and zero-interest loans to farmers affected by disasters like tropical storm Irene. The auction ends October 15, 8:00 pm. Bid on something!

See you at the farm!

Cedar Circle Farm & Education Center Crew