This Week at the Farm: Pick-your-own, Share the Harvest, Celebrate!
This time of the year is magical.
We’ve had some nice crisp days at the farm this week and our crew is really getting into fall mode—sweaters, hats, and extra hot coffee throughout the day. On Friday we brought in a huge load of pumpkins from the field, so when you come by the farmstand this weekend it’s really going to look like fall. Ornamental pumpkins, gourds, bundles of cornstalks, and all sorts of fall flowers – mums, asters, flowering kale, ornamental peppers – are the best way to make the transition to the colder months.
It may still be September, but it’s already time to sign up for a Thanksgiving turkey! Ray and Liz from Back Beyond Farm will be delivering pre-ordered turkeys to Cedar Circle in time for Thanksgiving, so if you’d like a certified organic, pasture-raised turkey, be sure to sign up in the farmstand.
16th Annual Pumpkin Festival!
In just over a week, from 10-3 on Sunday, October 7th, we’re kicking off pick-your-own pumpkin season with the 16th Annual Pumpkin Festival here at the farm. Volunteer for part of the day or just come join the fun! (We still need more volunteers to help with games, crafts, and parking. Please help spread the word and pass this on!)
Enjoy good food, live music, storytellers, games, and crafts! Here’s what you can look forward to:
- Delicious food from the Cedar Circle Farm Kitchen, Griddle & Groovy, and the NOFA Mobile Pizza Oven
- Music by Rose Hip Jam and the Wyld Nightz Band
- Stories by Jennings & Ponder and Stephen Coronella
- Pumpkin and apple prints, a tasting table, raptors, bubbles, face painting, and more!
See the full schedule of events →
**The farmstand and Hello Cafe will be closed on Monday, October 8th.
Share the Harvest
We’re proud to be participating in Share the Harvest, NOFA Vermont’s annual fundraiser for the Vermont Farm Share Program. The program provides subsidized CSA shares for limited-income Vermont families, helping to make fresh, local food available to all.
Shop at the farmstand or Hello Cafe on Thursday, October 4th – we’re donating 10% of the day’s sales to this great program.
From the field
Although we still have a few more months of the season ahead of us, this is the time of year on the farm for wrapping things up and putting things to bed. The crew cleaned out the hoop houses across the street from the farmstand, where we had been growing peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants over the last few months. Two will be left idle until next year and we’ll plant late season greens in the others.
Our coolers and barn are filling up with storage crops: beets, carrots, turnips, winter squash, onions, and garlic will all keep us going throughout the fall. And we’re so happy to have some of the cool weather greens back! Bok choy, tatsoi, savoy cabbage, spinach are back in the farmstand. We keep saying that peppers are coming to an end soon, but we still have some in the farmstand – they’re bright and tasty as ever. Time to get in a few last summery salads before it freezes!
The rain forced Nic to put his R&D work on hold this week, which gives him some time to get a head start on planning for next year. It’s hard to believe that we’re already working on 2019 when there are nearly 3 months left in the growing season!
From the kitchen
Who doesn’t love fall food? Roasted vegetables, warm soups and stews, pumpkin seeds… anything with pumpkin or apple, really. Our kitchen crew has been loving the transition to all of these tasty things that keep us warm when the days get colder. Keep an eye out in the farmstand as it continues to fill up with fall goodies.
Next weekend, our kitchen staff will be busy preparing for Pumpkin Festival and will not be making laminated dough pastries (croissants and danish).
**Thank you to everyone who has been placing special orders! Remember, you can order food, baked goods, etc. in advance by contacting Theo. We recommend doing this if you are looking to buy larger quantities.
Upcoming Events
- Saturday, Sept. 29 – Little Farmers (10–11am, weekly)
- Sunday, Sept. 30 – Knife Sharpening (10am–2pm, weekly)
- Tuesday, Oct. 2 – Little Farmers (10–11am, weekly)
- Thursday, Oct. 4 – Share the Harvest (ALL DAY), Free Farm Tour (5:15–6pm)
- Sunday, Oct. 7 – Pumpkin Festival (10am–3pm), Knife Sharpening (10am–2pm)
- Monday, Oct. 8 – Farmstand & Hello Cafe CLOSED
- Saturday, Oct. 13 – Backyard Chickens class (2–3:30pm)
