Gleaning Gore Place

This summer and fall, crews from the Boston Area Gleaners came to Gore Place several times to harvest the crops and deliver them to area food pantries, meal programs, and homeless shelters.

From the field grown produce, crews picked approximately 10 boxes of green beans, 12 boxes of cabbage, 6 boxes of turnips, 12 boxes of sugar pumpkins, and 54 boxes of butternut squash. The squash boxes weighed 50 to 60 pounds, totaling well over two tons of produce for those in need! And from the garden, crews picked 6 boxes of beans, 15 boxes of collard greens, and 5 boxes of mustard greens.

All this produce from Gore Place was delivered to Rosie's Place in Boston, the Salvation Army food pantry and meal program in Waltham, the Red Cross Food Pantry and the Sandra's Lodge shelter in Waltham, and also to food pantries in Cambridge.

Picking butternut squash in early October

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!

Update on the farm

The weather has been getting cooler, but did you know you could still be growing and planting vegetables?
The fall crop of chard and radishes that were planted just over two weeks ago are thriving. Scott is removing the tomato plants from the garden bed, and replanting the bed with a fall lettuce mix. And the Waltham Butternut squash will be harvested for the next few weeks.

Red Meat Radish and Daikon Radish

The first Waltham Butternut Squash harvest of the year

And now for some fun garden photos:

Eggplant flower

Ring of Fire peppers

Purple Top Turnip in the ground

Purple Top Turnips for sale

Orange veggies

This Boston Marrow squash, weighing 14 pounds, was picked from the back field. Scott is going to cure it for a few days, then cook it.

The Dragon carrots, being grown in the raised beds, are ready for harvest and taste delicious! They don't taste as sweet as most carrots you might be used to, but still delicious.

Sliced Dragon carrot

More on the Back Field

The field of Boston Marrow Squash has been doing well and should be ready for harvest later this week.

A couple of Boston Marrow squash vegetables.

This summer cover crop of buckwheat has been cultivated, and the field recently reseeded with oats. These cover crops, which are a method of sustainable agriculture, improve the quality of the soil and keep weeds from overtaking the field.

The Back Field

The "back field" is the area of land behind the animal enclosures, behind the trees. In the fall it had been planted with winter rye, which suppresses spring weed growth and adds organic matter to the soil.

In May, while Scott was building the raised garden beds, he also was preparing the back field for planting. He applied a layer of compost and cultivated an 8,000 square foot area of soil. On May 25, he planted 4 rows of Boston Marrow Winter squash, a variety that was obtained from Native Americans in New York state and brought to Salem, MA in 1831. He also planted 4 rows of Waltham Butternut Squash, a variety developed at Waltham Field station in 1972.

In June, Scott planted 2 rows of bush beans (Provider variety), plowed the section of the field that was previously planted with winter rye, and seeded it with a summer cover crop of buckwheat. He mechanically and hand cultivated for weed control.

Scott began the month of July by cultivating a new area of the field to be used during next year's growing season. He planted it with a summer cover crop of buckwheat. As of this week, the Waltham Butternut squash and Boston Marrow Winter squash are doing well, with the winter squash in flower. The first planting of beans should be ready for harvest next week, though the second and third plantings of beans are not doing as well. The first planting of buckwheat cover crop is in full bloom! (Photos to come when the weather clears up.)