foxlinecityfarm

It was a week of transition in the gardens.  Long rows of late season mini cabbages were transplanted, autumn spinach seeded in, and Scott pulled down the cucumber vines after a final harvest.  A new crop was quickly transplanted in it’s place for a late season treat.

Cucumber trellis after the last harvest.

Cucumber trellis with new transplants a few hours later.

The zucchini patch was also cleared and we will wait a few weeks for the 2nd planting to produce.  We had huge harvests from the peppers this week and a bounty from the tomato patch.  It is a strong season for us and we are so happy to be able to say this.  Abundant shares, delicious produce to donate to the Baraboo Food pantry, farmers market and restaurant sales too.  A great summer.

Scott was able to get some heavy weeding done and space cleared in the fields while I harvested my days away and seeded in crops in the greenhouse and hoop house.  A bit of a hustle with the late season plantings as we are running out of time if we want them to produce before the 1st frost.

Scott prepping the hoop house for replanting.  Making way for Fall Crops.

We picked our 2nd “almost ripe” watermelon this week and did a walk about through the whole melon patch and we are almost there.  Tons! and TONS!!!! of melons are out there under the vines.  It was exciting to peek and we look forward to starting the harvest next week.

Anticipation….

Darn! Almost ripe.

Maeve’s favorite summer drink.

SUMMER SHARE #11

It’s a pepper/tomato bonanza week and oh so beautiful.  Another HUGE! eggplant harvest again this week.  The bounty will appear on the “extras” table as it has in past weeks for any member to take and enjoy.  AND! our experimental tomatillo crop is doing well 4 varieties are also in the “extra” area this week to enjoy along with many other “extra” goodies to choose from.

825 pounds of great produce is going out the door today!  Enjoy…..

Tomatillo harvesting in our test plot.

SNACK PACK

Romaine head lettuce, sweet corn, Slice tomatoes, pint cherry tomatoes, cabbage, kohlrabi, sweet peppers, HOT! jalapeno peppers, sweet summer onions, cucumber medley, zucchini

Head Lettuce-We had a huge romaine harvest this week.  Beautiful sweet heads and a true wonder in this heat. We are grateful.

Romaine at early morning harvest.

Corn-Small very sweet corn from Uncle Jim.  Delicious.

Slice Tomatoes-A HUGE! harvest from the patch and many to choose from.

Cherry Tomatoes-A mixed pint for all snack pack shares.

Your cherry tomato washer and “quality control” inspector.

Cabbage -A medium sized snappy head perfect for slaw, stir fry or fresh eating.

Beautiful! And ready for the shares….

Kohlrabi-2 in each share. Peel thick outer skin and eat the crunchy interior.

Sweet Peppers-Beautiful Sweet peppers were harvest this week.

The 1st pass down the pepper rows. A bounty!

Jalapeno HOT! peppers-2 in each share.

Sweet Summer Onion-Must be stored in refrigerator.

Cucumber Medley-This is the end of the cucumbers for a few weeks.

Zucchini-Also, the end of this crop for a few weeks.

FULL SHARE

Romaine head lettuce, sweet corn, slice tomatoes, quart cherry tomatoes, cabbage, kohlrabi, Sweet peppers, jimmy nardello peppers, HOT! jalapeno peppers, sweet summer onions, cucumber medley, beets, garlic, zucchini

Head Lettuce-A delicious Summer romaine from the hoop house.

Romaine ready to harvest.

Corn-Another great harvest from Uncle Jim!  Small SWEET ears.

Slice Tomatoes-Tons! to choose from….pick your favorite.

Cherry Tomatoes-Another quart of these beauties for all Full Shares this week.

Tomato Cleaning before they are put in containers.

Beautiful Cherry Tomatoes.

Cabbage-Perfect size for fresh eating or added to stir Fry.  Grilled is delicious too.

Kohlrabi-4 in each share.  Peel the tough outer light green skin and enjoy the crunchy interior.

Sweet Peppers-It is a great pepper week.  An assortment of sweet bells and bull horn in Full Share.  Beautiful!

Carmen Peppers in the hot summer haze.

More Carmen up close. The plants are loaded!

So Pretty.

Jimmy Nardello SWEET Pepper-A fantastic sweet pepper with great flavor.

Jimmy was of the first Nardello generation born in America. The fourth of 11 kids, he was the only one to inherit his mother’s love of peppers.  In Naugatuck, he built terraces like they did in the hillsides of Southern Italy.  He nourished his peppers and dried them so they could be enjoyed in winter.

Before Jimmy died in 1983, he donated his pepper seeds to Seed Savers Exchange, where they’ve been stewards of the pepper for nearly thirty years.  The Jimmy Nardello Sweet Italian Frying Pepper, now its official name, is listed in the US Ark of Taste at Slow Food, the vegetable version of the endangered species list.

Jalapeno-HOT! 4 in each share.

Sweet Summer Onions-Must be stored in the refrigerator.

Cucumber Medley-A final mix from our early plantings.

Zucchini-The last harvest from the 1st patch.

Beets-A nice big bag of one of our favorite crops….more to come.

Garlic-2 heads in each Full Share this week.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-watermelon, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, carrots!, garlic, celery and more…..

Read Full Post »

Another HOT! week behind us and we are planting Fall crops.  An odd feeling to be transitioning to Autumn in sweltering heat.  Long rows of broccoli were transplanted out into the garden and more seeds planted in the greenhouse for late season crops.  Several lettuce rotations were added to the hoop house and we are thrilled our final rotation of late carrots germinated well in the heat.  Always a bit tricky at this time of year.

Weekly lettuce transplanting in the hoop house. Next week’s harvest behind me….

Scott’s grandson Keith helped harvest and process our entire onion crop this week and we are grateful.  All the sweet summer onions are out of the garden and cleaned in the cooler and the storage onions are curing on an empty bench in the greenhouse. When that job was done Scott and Keith moved on to potato digging and had fun together.  We enjoyed our time with Keith and grateful for the help with some big jobs that had to get done.

Our crops are thriving in this near perfect summer and huge harvests are coming from the gardens. 1st rotations of summer squash and cucumbers are still producing and we must pick daily to stay on top of the harvest.   An amazing pepper crop is just starting to mature and high yield came from the tomato patch this week.  2 bean rotations are producing at the same time even though they were planted 2 weeks apart.  Long days of harvesting but we are happy.  We peeked at the melon patch and found an “almost” ripe one that we ate at supper.  Next week more to come.

1st melon from the patch….

Our days are full with late season transplanting and harvesting and we fret that the weeds  are loving this weather and thriving in our walkways and around the edges.  It looks a bit shaggy out there but we feel good the crops are well tended.  Hopefully next week there will be time for maintenance to be top priority.  Hopefully…….

SUMMER SHARE #10

Another HUGE! share this week.  Crazy!  Chuckle along with us….share with your neighbors, friends and family.   It is an amazing summer for us and we are rolling in goodness.  It may not last but while it’s here we are going to love every minute of it.  Enjoy it all….All 855 pounds of it.

Scott double checking the list before we start the packing…..

SNACK PACK

head lettuce, sweet corn, leeks, carola potatoes, sweet summer onions, cucumber medley, summer squash, beans,  sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes and slice tomatoes

Head Lettuce-We are still harvesting fantastic lettuce from the hoop house even in this extreme heat and humidity.  The variety is called 2 Star.  Sweet, delicious and perfect.

Lettuce ready to harvest in the early morning.

Sweet Corn-Another harvest from Uncle Jim.  A BIG! thank you to Uncle Jim.

Summer Leeks-We love leeks.  We plant 3 different varieties and this is the 1st harvest.  Keith helped with this huge harvest too!

1st Leek harvest of seeds started in February.

Potatoes-1st harvest from the carola row.  We had to include them with the leeks.  Carola is Scott’s favorite potato.  Great all around potato.  Mashed, fried, baked or steamed.

Sweet Onions-A great harvest after last year’s “so-so” crop. Enjoy.

Beans-A huge bag!  2 rotations of beans ready to harvest at the same time.  A bounty.

Cucumber Medley-Another great assortment.  We were going to pull the vines last week as we thought they were about done.  I am glad we held off.  A great harvest this week.

A full tub of beauties from 1 side of the trellis.

Summer Squash-The patch keeps chugging away.  We were going to clear this crop last week too but CSA members said to keep it around a bit longer.

Sweet Peppers-2 jewels in every share.  An assorted harvest of beautiful bells and long italian bull horn styles.

Gorgeous peppers!

Cherry Tomatoes-A huge harvest this week! Maeve helped wash and process this crop.

Washing and sorting the cherry tomatoes. 

Maeve noticed that the Indigo variety of cherry tomatoes have a perfect star on top.

Every single one….

Slice Tomatoes-A jumbo harvest this week.  Choose your favorites!

Beautiful Slice tomatoes.

FULL SHARE

head lettuce , sweet corn, leeks, potatoes, sweet onions, beans, cucumbers, english cucumber, summer squash, sweet peppers, mini sweet peppers assorted, jalapenos, cherry tomatoes, slice tomatoes

Head lettuce-A small miracle to be harvesting delicious and perfect lettuce from the hoop house in this prolonged muggy weather.  Enjoy a great head of 2 star.

Sweet Corn-Another pick from Uncle Jim.  “Thank you” Uncle Jim for this tasty summer treat.

Leeks-A huge harvest of early leeks.

Washed and ready to be bundled in this week’s shares.

Potatoes-Scott’s favorite carola is this week’s dig.  Steamed, mashed, fried or baked,  Delicious.

Always fun to find this sweet surprise.

Sweet Summer Onions-A few in every share. Store in the refrigerator.

Beans-A huge bag from a huge harvest this week.

Scott weighing out the beans.

Cucumber Medley-A big bag of a delicious assortment.

Cucumbers on the vine.

Sorting out this week’s harvest of cucumbers for the shares.

Summer Squash-Another great harvest even though I thought we were going to pull the plants last week as the plants are trailing all over the place.

Sweet Peppers-A beautiful harvest of assorted sweet peppers.

Sweet Carmen ready to be picked.

Mini Sweet Peppers-We love these beauties.  Enjoy!

Mini sweet peppers sorted and ready to be bagged for Full share.

Jalapeno-A few again this week to spice things up.

Cherry Tomatoes-A HUGE! container this week.

Cherry tomatoes all washed and ready to package.

Slice Tomatoes-Here they come….choose a few of your favorites.

Pretty Heirlooms.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-kohlrabi, watermelon, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, celery, summer squash, cabbage, purple potatoes and more…..

Read Full Post »