SO LONG SUMMER - HELLO FALL
Hello Chimacum Corner Community!
In his effortless, silky baritone, Orville Peck closed his first record, Pony, with the wistful observation: “And I know everything must die, but nothing fades like the light.” There’s a romance and a beauty to the shortening days of autumn. Light wrote the manual on how to disappear with an elegant ease. As stonefruits, summer squash, and berries take their curtain calls, winter squash, alliums, and roots declare their right to rule the darker seasons. Follow along for all the ways you can lean in to fall at CCF! CARPE DIEM - CARPE NOCTEM!!!
Cozy Core
As the dawns rise later, coffee and cozy clothes become all the more paramount. Perhaps you’ve run your CCF sweatshirt ragged and need fresh threads, or perhaps you want to bring a newbie into the fold with some Corner Merch. We have a great selection available right in-store in our merch corner, but we also have a whole dedicated online Merch Shop for sending CCF gear further afield. Nothing delights a friend or family member quite like fresh Corner gear. Word on the street is that we’ll be getting in a fresh batch of the flagship CCF sweatshirt on a heavy duty cotton as well!
Whilst huddled in your CCF sweatshirt or beanie, you will need a vessel to sip your hot drip coffee or tea from our coffee corner while you chat with your friends out front in the Nursery. As far as we are concerned, a unique mug from Mudwood Gnomes is the perfect vehicle for that morning pick-me-up. Prodigies from the Laughin’ Gnome pottery business have continued on in the name of “naked pottery” to supply our local community with high quality ceramicware of all stripes. Time to get to slurpin’!
Fruit Cocktail—Equal Parts Summer & Fall
It was almost too perfect, the arrival of winter squash in earnest the literal day after the equinox. Red Dog Farm rolled out their battalion of gourds, chief among them the Red (Dog) Kuri, with Pie Pumpkins, Hubbards, Buttercups, Sweet Dumplings, Spaghetti, and Acorns backing them up. Not to be outdone, Midori returned fire, launching a yachtload of Honeyboat Delicata (this author’s fave) along with some Sunshine Kabocha into the fray. The storage crop harvest season is off to a roaring start.
At the same time, we are awash in the late September bounty of nightshades! Tonnemaker Hill has a whole compendium of peppers, ranging from the sweet Italian roaster, all the way up to the face-melting scotch bonnet! Midori Farm has been holding it down all summer with gorgeous globe Eggplant, and we still have those legendary Spring Rain Farm Heirloom tomatoes.
No assortment of winter squash and nightshades is complete without a bevy of local alliums as well! The storage alliums are out in full force now, with cured Walla Walla Onions from Chimacum Workhorse Project, garlic of various ilks from Edible Acres, Solstice, and Midori, and big bulky shallots from Midori Farm as well. The gang is all here! Time for soups, stews, and sauces!
CASE DEALS!
APPLE CASES:
$30 / 20#- Jonagold, Red Rubens, Ruby Jonathan
$35 / 20# - Snow Sweet, Akane, McIntosh, Ida Red
$40 / 20# - Honeycrisp
TOP SHELF CASES (inquire for pricing) - Sweetie, Sweet Maia, Mountain Rose
PEACH CASES:
5# / $15
10# / $25
ITALIAN PLUM CASES:
5# / $12
14# / $32
Tea Times Are Here
Just in time for fall, the entire line of Choice Organics tea bags are on screamin’ deal! The Japanese Green is exceptional, but you really can’t miss here. Save close to two bucks on Earl Grey (regular and decaf), English Breakfast, Jasmine Green, and White Elderflower, as well as the aforementioned Japanese Green. Tastes best in a Mudwood Gnome vessel! ;)
Porch Pets
We assume that by this point in the season, your hanging baskets purchased back in May or June have ran their course, and perhaps the early summer plantings don’t have the same shine they did a month and a half ago. Fortunately, we have some great selections to aid in your Fall clean-up out in the Corner Nursery. We have a great selection of mums, echinacea, and more! For repotting your favorite porch pots with some fall color. We also have some fun decorative kales and cabbages that will add some flair and hold well into frost season. Also, the first of the decorative pumpkins have landed! We have classic orange wee-b-lil mini pumpkins and goth-friendly “black bear” pumpkins from Space Twins Provisions, as well as an initial wave of large Jack-o-Lanterns from their charming little patch. Our giant pumpkin will be landing in the front of the Nursery very soon, as it is time for another season of “Guess-that-Pumpkin’s-weight”! There’s always a little something to get excited about in the Corner Nursery.
Check Out the Local Patches Too!
Nothing kicks off the fall quite like sauntering out to one of our local farm’s pumpkin patches! Wilderbee Farm has been running a month long U-pick patch for many years, and are the first to kick things off this season, with their patch already under way. Paired with a trip to the Meadery tasting room, there’s no better way to enjoy a Port Townsend autumn day (Wed-Sun, 12-5). Now in their second season in Chimacum, Dharma Ridge Farm offers a similarly scheduled pumpkin patch (weekends in October, 10-5) with a more rustic vibe at Glendale Farm. For a cute, festival-like, single day pumpkin patch affair, check out the 3rd annual Space Twins Pumpkin Patch at White Lotus Farm (Oct. 5th, 10-4), where the Twins will have their pumpkins available for purchase, as well as other vendor-friends offering food, beverages, art, and crafts! Will the “alien pumpkin” land again?
