creamy kale & italian sausage pasta

It’s been a minute since I’ve given a proper garden update / shared some fall gardening pointers… so let’s dig in!

As I’ve written about before, I’m taking this fall season “off” from our CSA program (where our CSA members get a box of fresh veggies every week), so I can focus most of my time and energy on being a present mom to my two toddlers.

Despite the farm being more sparse than usual, there are still plenty of fall veggies in the ground so we can feed ourselves and to sell occasional boxes when I have surplus. I’m already looking forward to being back in the full swing of things next year once both my kids are preschool, but honestly I’m so, so grateful for this time to take a step back to focus on our family, and not being constantly stressed about having enough veggies to fill our weekly CSA boxes.

With all that in mind, here’s the latest from our farm (and helpful links for your fall garden)….

• PLANTING: Here in zone 8a, our first frost is usually around mid/end of October. So right now, we’re planting one last succession of quick-growing fall crops (like arugula, radishes, lettuces, Japanese turnips, etc) in our outdoor beds, and in the next few weeks we will start planting winter greens inside our caterpillar tunnels, where it stays much warmer. To dig deeper into fall veggie gardening, check out my super comprehensive fall gardening guide here.

• HARVESTING NOW: Asian greens (like bok choy), lettuces (looseleaf and head lettuce), turnips, radishes, swiss chard, kale. We’re also enjoying all the winter squash (butternut, delicata, acorn, etc) that we harvested back in August, now that they have cured for a few weeks. And we still have a few summer crops like peppers, eggplant, okra and the occasional tomato still hanging on. For a full tutorial on how to properly harvest fall greens (and to maximize your crops’ production), watch my video here.

• COMING SOON: Carrots, broccoli, cabbage, collard greens. These veggies can all handle light frosts without a problem, and if anything, they get sweeter as the weather turns colder.

• PESTS ISSUES: Right now, the biggest pest issue we’re seeing is cabbage worms on our brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, collards). These bright green worms can cause a