New in the shares this week is butternut squash! A 
popular method of preparation is to cut it in half and bake it. I prefer to peel and chop my butternut squash, toss it with olive oil and roast it with pepper, onions, and a little chili powder. Earlier this week I added a chopped butternut squash to a beef curry for the last half hour of cooking (just for the record, I put okra and onion in as well. Super yum!). It is a very versatile squash! Your squash should keep at room temperature for a couple months, but please do not refrigerate.
Long beans are easy to freeze. There have been a lot of beans. I know, because I have picked most of them. They are easy to put up and make a summery addition to winter soups and stews. Simply boil a pot of water, cut the beans into bite size pieces and blanch for two minutes. Allow to dry and lay on a cookie sheet to freeze. Once frozen, transfer beans to a freezer bag. The bumper crop of pepper keeps bumpin’. Peppers don’t even need to be blanched, they can just be chopped and frozen raw.
The days are already noticeably shorter, nighttime is chipping away at the evenings. It is dark around eight, whereas a month ago we could work until 8:30. Morning rolls around a little bit later, too. Proof that fall will come eventually. Without hundreds of pounds of tomatoes to pick daily, we have a little space to get some things done. Last week Patrick and Randy replaced the front bearings on the disk harrow. We also moved all three groups of goats to fresh pasture. The goats are rotationally grazed, meaning we are constantly putting up and taking down portable electric netting. Once they have been on a certain spot, we make sure that land isn’t grazed for another three months. It is a constant shuffle. This week we are doing a lot of preparation and planting for fall. There is broccoli and cabbage in the greenhouse that is ready to be transplanted, as well as a lot more seeding to do in the field.