Fall Schedule:

CLOSED FRIDAYS,

with reduced hours on the remaining open days:

FALL PYO & Farmstand Hours:

Tuesday & Thursday: 2 - 5:30 PM

Saturday: 9 am - 12:30 pm

Last Farmstand Day: Nov. 25

Online ordering begins: Nov. 29

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We made it to the finals in the Best of Litchfield County – Reader’s Choice issue! Please consider voting for us in the "Best Farm Stand" category and for the New Milford Farmers' market in the "Best Farmers Market" category. Voting is open Nov 5–16. Every vote counts… thank you!

You can cast your ballot HERE:

We are most of the way down the page, under Things to Do, in the Farm Stand category and Farmers Market category. To finish, you must scroll to the end, enter your email (you can opt out of emails) and click “finish survey” or the vote doesn’t count. It’s a great chance to support your other favorite Litchfield County businesses too.

Once voting closes, the top three in each category will be highlighted in our annual Readers’ Choice issue coming out in late January 2026.

We appreciate your support!

FARM NEWS ~ November 11, 2025

Last week’s big project was to get the garlic planted.  It’s a crop that does well on our farm but also demands a lot of time and resources to be successful.  We start by popping the bulbs to separate the cloves.  Of the 15 steps we need to harvest garlic, this is the most fun.  We generally save garlic popping, an indoor, social task, for days when it too cold or wet to work comfortably outside.  It’s a fun, low energy activity which is a welcome change from the hustle of the growing season.

Dana caught the Brussels sprouts in an artful splay during harvest last week.

Once we’ve got some boxes filled with plump cloves, we push them into planting beds which have been amended with compost and organic fertilizer.  It generally takes us a few days to plant the 24,000 cloves we need to make next year’s crop, dodging morning freezes and afternoon rainstorms over the course of a week.  Once we get the cloves planted, we’ll wait for a couple low wind days to mulch the beds with leaves and rye straw, tucking the cloves in for the winter.  

James, Nick, and CJ tackled the immense task of washing the winter carrots. I wish I could convey the diving fragrance of freshly washed carrots in the cooler through the newsletter for you!

The rest of the week is harvest, harvest, harvest!  It’s amazing how cold tolerant some of our brassica, lettuce, and greens crops are, giving us a surprisingly wide variety of crops this time of year.  Last night for dinner my brother and I cruised in and out of the 4 coolers we have, gathering pinto gold potatoes, sweet potatoes, green and red peppers, leeks, garlic, and sausage from Howling Flats Farm to make a roasted casserole like my paternal Grandma used to make, along with a side of very tasty Brussels sprouts.  

It’s very satisfying to come up with delicious dinners based only on ingredients from the farm.  We hope you’ll throw on an extra layer this week and visit us at the farm stand or farmers market and make your own farm-based creation.

We hope you enjoy the farm,

Rebecca, Paul, and the Fort Hill Farm crew



Featured this week:

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 deep, rich, caramelly 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!

Kale: either the frilly green, or deep green Lacinato (aka Dinosaur Kale). Kale is one of those work horses on a vegetable farm, and yet we haven’t even mentioned it until November! When planted in succession, barely a week goes by in which one can't dine on kale if one chooses. It's the meat and potatoes of the cooking greens world, if that makes any sense. This week, we’ve harvested the tender tops of the curly kale, which makes it even easier to use in the kitchen. Sauté with garlic and oil, or try the great, all raw Kale Salad recipe at www.forthillfarm.com. Both varieties can be used interchangeably in recipes. Store in a loosely closed plastic bag in your fridge for up to a week.

Also available:

Head lettuce; spinach; salad mix; arugula; pea shoots; curly and lacinato kale; rainbow chard; red, purple, and French Breakfast radish; salad turnips (limited); cilantro, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage; red beets; chioggia beets; gold beets; baby bok choy; carrots; leeks; celeriac; radicchio; dandelion greens; escarole; fennel; sprouting broccoli (limited); Beefsteak and heirloom slicing tomatoes (limited); green and red cabbage; German Extra Hardy garlic; jalapeño, shishito, cayenne, and poblano hot peppers; green bell peppers, sweet red and yellow Italian peppers (as available), sweet orange snacking peppers; eggplant: classic Italian Graffiti, Rosa Bianca, and a bit of two Asian types (as available); red and yellow storage onions; Satina Gold, Dark Red Norland, LaRatte and Pinto Gold fingerling, Blackberry and Kennebec potatoes; zucchini; Jester delicata squash; Honeynut squash; Butternut squash; Koginut squash; Sugar pie pumpkins; collard greens; traditional and Murasaki Japanese sweet potatoes; Brussels sprouts; plus choice apple varieties from Hidden Gem Orchard, Maple Bank Farm, and Averill Farm!

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 Cottage Cheese and Chili Crisp

BY EMMA LAPERRUQUE from Bon Appetit

YIELD 4 servings

Ingredients

⅓ cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

1 large shallot, thinly sliced into rings

¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegar or white wine vinegar

1 tsp. sugar

1½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¾ tsp. Morton kosher salt, divided, plus more

4 Honeynut squash (2½–4 lb.), trimmed, halved lengthwise, seeds removed

¼ cup vegetable oil

Freshly ground pepper

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1½ cups whole-milk cottage cheese

Chili crisp and

coarsely chopped mixed tender herbs (such as cilantro, dill, basil, and/or mint; for serving)

Preparation

Step 1

Place racks in upper and lower third of oven and set a large-rimmed baking sheet on lower rack; preheat oven to 425°. Toast ⅓ cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas) on a small-rimmed baking sheet on upper rack until slightly darkened and fragrant, 6–8 minutes. Let cool.

Step 2

Stir 1 large shallot, thinly sliced into rings, ¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegar or white wine vinegar, 1 tsp. sugar, and ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt in a small bowl until sugar and salt are dissolved. Let sit to lightly pickle while the squash roasts.

Step 3

Toss 4 Honeynut squash (2½–4 lb.), trimmed, halved lengthwise, seeds removed in a large bowl with ¼ cup vegetable oil, remaining 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt, and a generous pinch of freshly ground pepper until well coated. Carefully remove hot baking sheet from oven and arrange squash, cut side down, on baking sheet in a single layer. Roast squash until tender (a fork or chopstick inserted in the center of one should meet with little resistance), 25–35 minutes.

Step 4

Meanwhile, stir 1 garlic clove, finely chopped, and 1½ cups whole-milk cottage cheese in a small bowl to combine; season with salt.

Step 5

Just before serving, arrange squash, cut side up, on a platter. Spoon cottage cheese mixture into divots where seeds used to be, dividing evenly. Top with drained pickled shallots and spoon some pickling liquid over. Drizzle with chili crisp and scatter roasted pumpkin seeds and coarsely chopped mixed tender herbs (such as cilantro, dill, basil, and/or mint) over.

Do Ahead: Shallots can be pickled 1 day ahead; cover and chill. Squash can be roasted 2 hours ahead; store, loosely covered, at room temperature.

FARMSTAND & PYO FALL SCHEDULE:

Tuesday & Thursday: 2 - 5:30 PM

Saturday: 9am - 12:30 pm

Last Farmstand Day: Nov. 25

Online ordering begins: Nov. 29

FARMERS' MARKETS

Come see us on Thursdays from 10-2 at the Westport Farmers' Market

50 Imperial Ave, Westport

~Goes inside at Gilbertie' Greenhouses

November 20

and on the Green at the

New Milford Market,

Saturdays from 9 - Noon

~Last market November 22