Lots of vegetables for sale at the farm stand!

Try some Gore Place vegetables today!! Available for sale this week: squash, eggplant, yellow wax beans, white and purple top turnips, onions, zucchini, purple peppers, frying peppers, hot peppers, and cucumbers.

Lamb meat for sale

In August, 9 lambs and 1 adult ewe from our farm were sent off to Adams Farm Slaughterhouse in Athol, MA, a USDA-inspected facility. You can now buy frozen lamb meat at the Gore Place farm stand. Shoulder roast, whole leg, shanks, riblets, loin chops, rib chops, stew meat, and ground lamb are being sold between $8-12 a pound (depending on the cut).

The lambs were pasture-raised and fed grass and grain.

On sale at the farm stand this week

Harvested this week: Purple top turnips, green beans, cucumbers, leeks, eggplant and yellow wax beans.

Tomatoes are starting to mature, so look out for them as well!

Purple top turnips

What's happening at the farm this week?

In the back field, the cabbage has all been picked. The summer squash, cucumbers, and eggplant are being harvested. And finally, the string beans are in flower and should be ready next week.

In the north of cottage field, it's time for some new plants. Red bunching onion and beet seeds have been planted.

For sale this week at the farm stand: eggplant, summer squash, cucumbers, cabbage, and garlic!

On sale at the farm stand this week

Get your red and green cabbage, summer squash, Japanese and Italian eggplant, parsley, and kale!

On sale at the farm stand this week

Stop by the farm to get some Swiss chard, beets, scallions, kale, eggplant, summer squash and red, green and mini cabbages.

On sale at the farm stand this week

Stop by the farm to get your fresh eggs, kale, pac choi, and bunching onions.

Eggs are in the red cooler

The immature onions are picked early and can be used like scallions

Pac Choi

Garlic scapes

As the garlic bulb grows, the stalk (or stem) of the plant grows and starts to curl. The garlic scape is the stalk of the garlic plant and, if harvested when still curly and tender, can be used in a number of recipes. If the scape is not cut off, the plant's food and energy is divided between it and the garlic bulb. Farmers will harvest the scape in order to direct all the nutrients toward the garlic bulb to help it grow.

Garlic scapes are now on sale at the Gore Place farm stand. Pick some up and try them out in your next meal!

Garlic scape

Three scapes

Lettuce!

The first bed that was planted with the fall lettuce mix in early September produced its first harvest this week. You can buy some at the Gore Place farm stand, yum!

Lettuce 10.2.09

The second lettuce garden bed was planted two weeks later. Since the weather has gotten cooler, Scott built a greenhouse over the lettuce to keep the plants warm. The incoming heat from the sun warms the plants and soil inside the structure faster than heat can escape. We can extend the growing season a bit more this way.

Lettuce garden bed #2 9.25.09

Lettuce greenhouse 10.2.09

Inside the lettuce greenhouse 10.2.09

At the farm stand this week

Ring of Fire hot peppers

Sugar Pumpkins

Kale

Waltham Butternut Squash

Waltham Butternut Squash

At the end of May and early June, Scott planted Waltham Butternut Squash in the back field. During the first week of September, he began to harvest the squash, and is still harvesting the vegetables. The Boston Area Gleaners also come to Gore Place to pick and collect the butternut squash, delivering them to food pantries and shelters. Scott has estimated that about 2400 pounds of produce will have been harvested by the end of the season.

The Waltham Butternut squash field on August 6, 2009

Waltham Butternut Squash was developed at the Waltham Field Station in 1972. It is a popular winter squash, with pale yellow skin and a slightly sweet-tasting orange flesh. It is called a winter squash because of its thick skin and long shelf life. In the past, people would store this squash, knowing that they could eat it well into the winter months.

Waltham Butternut squash growing on September 1, 2009

Come visit the Gore Place farmstand for some Waltham Butternut squash!

North of Cottage Field update

The north of cottage field began producing vegetables last week. The mustard greens and late-season green beans that were planted six weeks ago have been nicely growing. The first harvest was sold last week at Scott's new farm stand, with more produce available this week.

Delicious green beans

Mustard greens

The unplanted area of the north of cottage field has been cultivated and covered with compost. Cultivating means an inch or so of the topsoil is loosened up and turned over in order to prepare the land to grow crops.

Now you can eat veggies grown at Gore Place!

Many types of vegetables have been growing in the raised garden beds. Whenever the vegetables are ripe, Scott brings them into the office and we all take them home to enjoy (after I take some photos of them). It's been a delicious experience and now our visitors can get a taste of the freshly-picked produce!

Scott has created a self-serve honor-pay vegetable stand near the farm cottage. Presently, the selection is limited and the hours are not set. As produce is available, he'll place it at the stand for sale and put up a sign on Waltham Street at the South Gate. Drop by on your next visit and see what's available!

The new vegetable stand is located to the right of the farm cottage drive