Hello Everyone!
I hope you're having a wonderful week and enjoying the change in weather. It suddenly looks a feels a bit more seasonal around here. We had an early morning snow storm last Thursday... and then the temps dropped down to 14 degrees the following morning. Brrr!
It was pretty warm and sunny all weekend and another storm blew in on Sunday evening. We received tons of rain, and a lightening and thunderstorm rolled through on Monday afternoon as I was bunching collards and chard in the barn. With rain hitting the roof, and thunder rumbling outside it sounded like August... and then 30 minutes later the raindrops switched to snowflakes.
Our neighbor plowed field number 2 for us on Wednesday afternoon while I was at CSA pickup. I got home right before dark and squealed when I pulled into the property to seed the new field had been plowed... it looks bigger now that it's open. The grass and weeds should die back this winter and the plan is to plant half of this field with veggies and half with cover crops next season. Woohoo! Oh the possibilities.
We are done harvesting from the field for 2017. Happy dance! We'll move into the hoophouse to harvest greens for the last couple CSA shares in December...
We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! And we want to say how thankful we are for all of YOU. Thank you for supporting our farm, for committing to eat locally grown produce and for showing up to CSA pickup each week with enthusiasm, recipe ideas, hugs, and even muffins and tea. We are so lucky to grow food for this community, Happy Holidays!
Fall CSA Harvests - Weeks 7 & 8:
Spinach
2 Kale Bunches
Chard
Collards
Baby Bok Choy
Carrots
Beets
Parsnips
Rutabaga
Potaotes
Garlic
Leeks
Onions
Delicata Squash
Hubbard Squash
Hello Everyone,
It's mid-November and looks like we may get our first winter blast of the year starting tonight. Seems a little bit overdue if you ask me... but that doesn't mean we are ready for it. Sure, a cold, windy, snowy day will give me the opportunity to spend a cozy day inside, build a fire, catch up on emails, and whip up some deliciousness in the kitchen... but it's also making me realize how many things are still unfinished! So that last few days have been pretty busy trying to wrap up loose ends around here.
We finally planted garlic on Monday and Tuesday afternoon, better late than never ;). The beds were a little tough for planting and needed a quick run though with the S-tines to make planting easier on our hands. But we came to find out the tractor battery was dead... so after a quick charging the sweet Farmall was up and running and had the beds ready in no time and planting was a breeze. I love planting garlic. It's the moment in the Fall when you officially commit to growing again next season and now, the first crop for 2017 is planted.
I weeded all the greens and removed the last of the T-posts and trellis from the hoophouse over the weekend, it feels so open and big now! We're going to cover crop the last couple beds and mulch heavy with leaves from our neighbors to feed the soil.
The mild Fall weather has made the greens in the field grow like crazy. This week's share is loaded with some of the tender greens that I think we'll lose in the winter storm headed our way. They're calling for temps to drop down to 15 degrees on Thursday night, and I'm pretty sure we'll lose the arugula and salad mix at the minimum. So, savor those tender greens! I'm planning to double cover the kale and some other things with row cover in the hopes that they'll pull through.
Here are the details for Fall CSA Harvest - Week #6:
Salad Greens
Arugula
Spicy Mustard Mix
Kale
Tokoyo Bekana
4 Baby Bok Choy
Carrots
Beets
Purple Top Turnips
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
I look forward to seeing you all this afternoon!
Hello Everyone,
Mother Nature showered the farm with beauty this week. So many incredible sunrises and sunsets... and the constant rain on Friday and Saturday has your farmers and the soil feeling pretty good. We should be able to finish putting the farm to rest in the coming week or so. Then bring on the snow and cold temps.
Taking a deep breathe here this morning. Lets focus on putting kindness and love into the world on a daily basis.
Fall CSA Harvest - Week #5:
Salad Greens
Arugula
Kale
Collard Greens
2 Baby Bok Choy
Carrots
Turnips
Rutabaga
Delicata Squash
Garlic
Onions
Leeks?
Hello hello,
It's November already and today marks the 4th Fall CSA pickup of the season. Wahoo!
I have exciting news, we finished harvesting the roots this week! The last of the carrots, parsnip and rutabaga are now out of the ground in storage and once we get a little moisture we'll finish cover cropping the field. Things around here are incredibly dry at the moment. Come on rain, and snow in those mountains!
Fall harvests are my favorite. Spring harvests are exciting... Summer is nonstop but Fall harvests are just satisfying. Most of the fall crops are planted early in the Spring or sometime mid Summer, and tended to all season. So once it's time to harvest, its very gratifying. Not to mention the incredible colors and flavors the we're pulling out of the ground this time of the year... and their endless possibilities in the kitchen.
It looks like a storm is headed our way later this week, keep your fingers crossed! I think we could all use some moisture... and a rainy day would give me a chance to finally weed the greenhouse. I'll be honest, for the last few weeks I've been worried that I seeded the greenhouse greens too late and with how slow things were growing I was getting worried they wouldn't size up before Thanksgiving. I seeded these beds on September 25th... now I know a few weeks earlier would have been more ideal and had your farmer less concerned. BUT, I'm happy to report that over the last few days they have really sized up and should be ready to harvest in a few weeks.
Harvest details for Fall Week #4:
Salad Greens
Arugula
Kale
Napa Cabbage
Baby Bok Choy
Purple Carrots
Forono Beets
Hakurei Turnips
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Parsley
Spinach
