Webmaster: Sometime Farmer Sue

 

Catalpa Ridge Farm

PO Box 257

Newfoundland

07435

 

Catalpa Ridge Farm and our deliveries to CSF members:

Catalpa Ridge Farm started many years ago when Susan & Richard Sisti purchased the land in 1984 and over a period of 10 years developed this land it into a small farm. Over the most recent years the farm has been developing along with the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) movement. We are a Community Supported Farm (CSF) and our harvests go directly to the CSF members. The development of the farm is seen by the building of four greenhouses for season extension and spring transplant sales. These greenhouses all were built with member support during the off-season and without that support, probably would not have been built without amounting a sizeable debt. Four main fields for planting have also been established over the last six years. Some of these fields were also built with member support with “work-days” at the farm where members participated in clearing of the land.

 

Our first CSA started with a small group of nine people in 1996 at Sixth Street Community Center in the lower east side of Manhattan. Since that time our Community Supported Farm groups have grown with delivery sites in Vernon Valley/Great Gorge New Jersey, Hoboken, and we offer on-farm pick-up in Wantage New Jersey. We also grow heirloom transplants for sales to local supermarkets and by contract with other farmers.

 

 

Each week during the harvest season, Catalpa Ridge Farm harvests fresh, quality organically grown produce to its member shareholders. The harvest season starts in May and continues for 22 to 23 weeks, ending the end of October or the first week of November, depending on how cooperative the weather is. The CSF members meet at established locations to pick-up their delivery of fresh produce. A newsletter is distributed to the members on a weekly basis that includes the picks of the week, recipes that relate to the picks and what has been happening at the farm over the last week. We use the newsletter as our main communication tool with our members. It has been critical to maintain recipes that coordinate with our picks-of-the-week. Members love knowing what they can make with their weekly harvests. We also have a website that members can access to see what’s new, current photos, happenings, planting schedules, etc. The website address is www.jerseygrown.com.

 

Because of our way of CSF marketing, we have great leeway in trying new and interesting varieties of vegetables. Sometimes the members like them and sometimes they don’t. One of the keys to trying new varieties is the recipe page in our weekly newsletter.

By having this leeway the CSF members get to try new and exciting veggies that they would normally not buy at the market.

Varieties Offered:

For transplant sales we offer approximately 50-60 varieties of tomatoes in pots, though these are not available all at one time at the sales in in Whole Foods in Montclair. We try to bring at least 40-50 varieties at our spring transplant sales with probably over 3000 plants in one location at a time. We also offer flowers, heirloom peppers, eggplant and herbs.  For the CSFs we grow about 150 different varieties of vegetables over a 22-23 week season. Some of the more popular varieties of tomatoes for our CSF members have been, Red Peach, German Johnson, Black Krim, Aunt Ruby’s Green, but each member develops their own favorite tomatoes, as we deliver mixed varieties every week. Also popular are oriental vegetables, some of which include:

           

Chinese Cabbage

There are many different kinds of Chinese cabbages, which can be grouped based on size, shape, healing and non-healing. Most Chinese cabbage mature much faster than common cabbages. Some loose-leafed Chinese cabbages can be ready for harvest in 3-4 weeks. Almost every Chinese cabbage is excellent for stir-fry and pickling.¹

Edible Rape (Yu Choy)

Edible Yu Choy is different to the oil seed rape widely grown in the West. Edible rape is grown mainly for the young leaves and flowering stalks. Plants are harvested when bolting and are used in many Chinese stir-fry foods. The plant grows very fast and vigorously in temperate climates. Seeds are sown in the spring, late summer and fall. Plants may bolt prematurely in hot summer.²

Oriental Mustard

Oriental mustard is very popular in Chinese and Vietnamese cooking and pickling. Mustard are resistant to low temperature and grow best in temperate climates. Seeds are sown in early spring and fall. Plants are thinned to 4-8 inches apart depending on the varieties during growth. Thinnings are excellent vegetable for cooking and pickling. There are many varieties and some varieties form heads or semi-heads in cold climates. Mustard has a mild flavor that will increase in pungency as the plant matures.³

 

Our biggest disappointments were Jamaican cucumbers and the members were not particularly partial to red eggplants. In general, the CSF members like the variety of their weekly harvest and at times never know what will be offered. The surprise element is exciting to them and this along with the basics keeps them active in the CSF community.

 

Approach to plantings:

For our early deliveries we will plant the oriental greens, turnips, radishes, arugula and broccoli raab in the cold greenhouse the first week of April. Our first delivery is usually made the first week of June. We will also plant some tomatoes a little later for delivery after frost.

 

We always attempt to have early tomatoes and last year we transplanted on May 11^th on the south-side (outside) of the greenhouse, Orange King, Native Sun, PSR-37, Clear Pink, Silver Fir Tree, Cold Set, SubArtic, and just had to try the hybrid 4^th of July. We had a very cold, cloudy, wet spring and these early varieties were ready by the second week of July. The hybrid 4^th of July, and heirloom Sub Artic both ready to harvest the same week. Most of these early tomatoes don’t have the taste of the later varieties but those first to ripen are just a hint of things to come. Heirlooms to follow were Black Krim, Dr. Wychie’s Yellow, German Johnson and Brandywine.

 

We usually have a frost around May 30^th and we begin planting most of our tomatoes around that time, depending on the year. Also our warmer weather crops go into the field in the beginning of June. We begin planting our fall crops the beginning of July to be transplanted and direct seed as areas become available into August. Our deliveries to the CSF members go through to the last week of October or the first week of November.

 

All in all, we have found that the CSF concept of marketing vegetables is very rewarding and mostly a win-win for both the members and the farmer. The members get variety, freshness and get to know where their food comes from and the farmer gets guaranteed support each year from these members.