Above: Jeff loves chives so much he wants to marry them.
See more photos from this week.

This post has been delayed almost a week due to both busyness and laziness. But late or not, here it is. Are you ready? Because it's about to come down hard. Any moment now. It will swarm down on you like a big swarming blog thing. Ready? Are you sure? The last thing I would want is to startle you. Okay then.

Last Sunday, a little more than a week ago now, myself, Jen, my sister Stacy, and Darby drove out to the farm with the hopes of picking the most delicious strawberries ever. And I knew that we were going to get quarts and quarts of them. So needless to say I was excited. But when we got there we discovered that they weren't quite ripe yet. A large majority were edible but not really ready to be picked. Most were either white at the base of the berry or still green at the tip. So instead of picking a bunch of so-so strawberries we only took three pretty nice ones, which we promptly ate.

We did, however, get some wonderful sugar snap peas. While the plants were really young, they were already delivering plump, crisp peas just begging to be bitten into. After picking the peas, Jen and I joined my sister and Darby and walked from the field back to the farm stand to pick up our membership card and our eight—yes, eight—heads of green leaf lettuce.

Then Stacy was kind enough to hang out with Darby while we went to pick some herbs. And that's were I learned something new: chives have gorgeous purple flowers. I guess I never noticed them before, because I don't think they're new to the farm this year. But damn. They look amazing. So I must admit that I am in awe of the humble chive.

When we got home later on I actually tried a chive. I didn't think I liked them, but since I am trying to expand the panoply of vegetables and vegetable type things (I am aware that herbs are not vegetables) I eat, I figured I would try it. And again the lowly chive taught me another lesson: that it's delicious. So beware, chive, 'cause I'm going to eat the shit out of you.

So to sum it all up: too early for strawberries, great for sugar snap peas, an overwhelming amount of lettuce, nice selection of herbs and a learning experience about the wonders of chives.

PS, here's the official tally:

• eight heads of green leaf lettuce
• one pint sugar snap peas
• lemon balm
• sage
• thyme
• chives
• and three strawberries!

PPS, if you're wondering, we managed to give away seven heads of lettuce to our lucky co-workers and pseudo-co-workers (aka the people in the office below our apartment).

Above: pumpkins! See more photos from September 29 (week nineteen).

The past couple of weeks have been full of variety and interesting new crops, but I haven't been in much of a writing mood. Blah. Actually, for a while I wasn't even in much of a farm mood despite the fact that we are getting all this great food. It has really taken up a lot of our time lately and, with about six or seven weeks left in the season, I was ready for a break. Luckily I had Monday off this past weekend, which allowed for a change of scenery. And Lorraine visited, too. Romping around the farm with someone new really helped. (No offense, Jeff!)

The past couple of weeks have seen a mix of summer crops ending and fall crops coming in. It's rare that we get raspberries and pumpkins in the same week, but that very thing has happened for two weeks in a row now. And the brassicas in the fields look amazing: full heads of cabbage, the outer leaves gaping, and rows of stately broccoli plants.

From September 29, 2007: Week nineteen list

• Four heads of lettuce (we gave away three heads)
• Four frying peppers
• Two bunches of turnips
• Two bunches of cilantro
• One bunch kale
• One bunch dandelion
• Two eggplant
• One half pound arugula
• Four pounds tomatoes
• Two pounds chard
• One half pound spinach
• Two winter squash (one butternut, and one something else)
• One half pound shallots
• Two bulbs garlic
• One pumpkin

And from the pick-your-own fields:

• Winter savory
• Marjoram
• Lemongrass
• Stevia
• Catnip
• Sage
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Anise hyssop
• One quart tomatillos
• Six quarts Amish Paste and Plum Dandy sauce tomatoes
• Forty hot peppers
• Three-quarters pint raspberries
• Two small eggplant

From October 6, 2007: Week twenty list

• Four heads of broccoli!
• Four frying peppers
• One bulb fennel
• Two bunches beets
• One bunch radishes
• One bunch dandelion
• Two bunches cilantro
• One bunch kale
• Two eggplant
• One pound arugula
• One pound baby bok choy
• One pound spinach
• One half pound Swiss chard
• Two acorn squash
• One more pumpkin
• Two hot peppers
• Four pounds tomatoes

And from the pick-your-own fields:

• One half pint raspberries
• Two quarts Plum Dandy tomatoes (we picked most of them green)
• Two eggplant
• One quart tomatillos
• Twenty hot peppers
• One pint okra
• One quart golden cherry tomatoes
• Thyme
• Winter savory
• Oregano
• Marjoram
• Catnip
• Sage

Quote of the month:
Jeff seems to have befriended a little girl who saw him tying up a bunch of lemongrass with one of the lemongrass leaves. She beamed, "I like to tie things with grass, too!"

Notes on catnip:
In the absence of feline pets, catnip can also be prepared as a tea. Though I have to admit that my secret fantasy is to cut large quantities of catnip, strew it around the sidewalks and porches of West Philadelphia, and watch all the neighborhood cats stumble and writhe around, high off their asses. (Sorry, I know this is implicitly a family-friendly blog because it's just about our CSA share. But there are just so many cats here, and who doesn't love a little bioterrorism now and then?)