Fall PYO & Farmstand Hours:

CLOSED FRIDAYS

Tuesday & Thursday: 2 - 5:30 PM (closing 1 hr. earlier)

Saturday: 9 am - 12:30 PM (opening 1 hr. later)

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FARM NEWS ~ October 20, 2026

The frosts have been coming fast and furious.  It always amazes me how wrong the weather forecasts can be on frost.  Rebecca must constantly remind me that any forecast below 42F could be a frost, since cold air seems to settle very easily in our valley.  We heeded the warnings last week and our dedicated crew got down to some serious harvesting.  The carrot patch was lifted, and all the sweet fall carrots are now safely in the cooler, along with the fall beets. 

It was a party in the carrots to the tune of an autumnal backdrop: Faye, Madison, Michael, Dana, Megan, and James squirreled them away.

We were late to dig the sweet potatoes but managed a final push to get them into a warm greenhouse and they are safe and sound, sweetening up.  It was a smaller crop than usual, so we are hoping to get them for sale next week and hope they last until Thanksgiving.  After 2 decades of struggling with subpar diggers, we are going to take the plunge on a high quality one and hope to ramp up the crop next year. We picked the pepper patch hard and have enough in the coolers for the next couple weeks.  There’s still potatoes, leeks, cabbage, kale, and spinach to harvest in the field, but those crops can take the frost (and are even improved by it).

One of the greenhouses planted neatly for winter.

The crew has also been busy planting up our high tunnels and greenhouses with lettuce, scallion, salad mix, bok choy, celery, spinach, salad turnips and other greens to keep us going into early winter.  We’re almost done sorting our garlic crop and will begin applying compost and prepping beds for planting this week.  It’s a big job to get the half acre of garlic planted by hand.  For those of you who want to plant garlic at home, ask at the farmstand for planting stock, it’s available now.

Tomato love is still coming in from greenhouse 5, albeit a bit more slowly.

We’ve tried to keep the flower patch going through the frosts and they are still hanging in there, but the patch has lost some its luster from the pre-frost peak.  We know folks love the dahlias so we will try to keep them going for a bit more.  The trees on Guarding Mountain are giving their own color show which makes being on the farm on crisp October days a real treat either way.  

We hope you enjoy the farm and the harvest,

Paul, Rebecca, and the Fort Hill Farm crew

Featured this week:

Fort Hill Farm Heirloom Marinara and Crushed Tomatoes:

We are excited to announce our new line of tomato farm products that bring the flavor of summer to your table all year long. We worked with a new co-packer this year, and we are beyond pleased with the results. The crushed tomatoes are ready to effortlessly transform into a sauce or soup, and the marinara is ready to go: simple yet sublime. Both are made with our flavorful heirloom plums and slicers. The texture of both is spot-on too. We hope you enjoy them both and think that you will. (Trust us! – we're Italian, after all.)

Honeynut Squash: We look forward to early fall when we can bring in these petite squashes – one because they don’t need much curing time to sweeten up, and two, because their creamy saffron flesh with edible skin is delicious – maybe even sweeter than Butternut, with a deep, rich, caramel flavor. Their personal size doesn’t intimidate like bigger squashes, but instead, invites us to get busy roasting, or as we’ve been doing lately, grilling. It turns out that grilling takes winter squash to a whole new level! (Why am I just figuring this out?) We hope you check out the recipe below and enjoy Honeynut!

Also available:

Fresh ginger

leeks

fennel

collard greens

German Extra Hardy garlic

fresh carrots

head lettuce

arugula

salad mix

spinach, Sweet Winter cut leaf

pea shoots

curly and lacinato kale

rainbow chard

red radish

French Breakfast radish

baby bok choy

basil (unless we lose it to the cold temps.)

cilantro

parsley, Italian

oregano, sage & thyme

Red cabbage

Green cabbage

Romanesco (limited)

sprouting broccoli/broccolini (limited)

red beets

chioggia beets

scallions

escarole

radicchio

red and Sungold cherry tomatoes (farmstand only)

heirloom and beefsteak tomatoes (limited)

yellow storage onions

red storage onions

shallots

green bell peppers

sweet Italian red peppers (limited)

orange snacking peppers (limited)

yellow Italian peppers (limited)

shishito peppers

jalapeño peppers

poblano peppers

cayenne peppers

Satina Gold potatoes

Dark Red Norland potatoes

Gold fingerling potatoes

Jester delicata squash

Butternut Squash

Coming soon:

Sweet pototoes!

Pick Your Own:

Flowers: DAHLIAS still blooming, but carpe diem! We will be doing our best to protect them from the freeze at this weekend. There are plenty of other flowers to choose from. Pick your own bouquets; please pick up a bunching ring at the barn for bouquet sizing.

Perennial Herbs: Oregano, Sage, and Thyme. Please use the Herb rings for the bunch size.

Recipes:

Suggested by Rebecca Batchie

– Not into this particular recipe? For more recipes arranged by crop, check out the Fort Hill Farm Recipe Database.

Roasted Honeynut Squash with Parmesan

Karen Tedesco

SERVINGS: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

Parmesan crumbs:

¼ cup Italian-style panko breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus more for serving

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Honeynut squash:

2 ½-3 pounds honeynut squash peeled if desired

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Green herb sauce:

2 cups lightly packed cilantro and/or parsley leaves

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon white or red wine vinegar

1 clove garlic peeled and chopped

1 small jalapeno or serrano chili seeded and chopped

½ teaspoon kosher salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix the Parmesan crumbs: Combine the panko or breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small bowl.

Preheat oven to 425 (220C) degrees.

Prep the honeynut squash: Cut a thin slice off the stem and bottom ends. Halve the squash lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon. If your squash are small (3-4-inches tall) slice each piece in half. If they're larger, slice into wedges that are about 2-inches wide.

Put the squash on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle the olive oil over the squash and sprinkle with the kosher salt and black pepper. Toss the pieces to coat. Cover with foil and roast 25 minutes.

Remove the squash from the oven and spoon the breadcrumb mixture evenly over the pieces. Return to the oven and roast uncovered for an additional 10-12 minutes, until the squash is tender and the crumbs are golden brown.

Make the green sauce: Put all the ingredients in a blender jar or small food processor. Blend or process until almost smooth.

To serve: Spread some of the green sauce (or pesto) on a serving platter. Arrange the squash on top. Drizzle with more sauce and Parmesan cheese to taste.

NOTES

The squash can be pre-roasted up to step 2 and refrigerated 2-3 days. When ready to serve, sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and bake until golden.

The green sauce keeps 1-2 days in the refrigerator. The color will turn darker, but the sauce will still taste good.

If you don't feel like making the sauce, use your favorite prepared pesto instead. Thin it out with a tablespoon or so of warm water to make it saucy.

You can also find us at the

Westport Farmers' Market

 Thursdays* from 10 AM - 2 PM 

50 Imperial Avenue, Westport, CT

FARMSTAND FALL SCHEDULE:

Tuesday, Thursday & Friday: 2 - 5:30 PM

Saturday: 9 am - 12:30 pm

A few notes about coming to the farm:

• Please do not bring pets to the farm, as there is no shade in the parking lot.
• Drive slowly and carefully while at the farm; watch for pedestrians, vehicles, and tractors.

See our Visiting page for details.