The garden is put to bed.
A fantastic Fall for us and and the perfect finish to a great season. Warm sunny days made the garden clean up enjoyable. We made great progress cleaning up the rows, pulling up the mulch and getting the irrigation up and stored away. Nice to have the garden put to bed and ready for a clean start in the Spring.
Our time frees up a bit at this time of year for some fun. We hosted our annual wreath workshops and as usual I was amazed by the variety and uniqueness of the wreaths that were created in a few hours. Everyone created a beauty to take home.
“St. Lucia” Maeve with a wreath she help make.
Seed catalogs are arriving and we have already placed orders for our specialty crops and potatoes for 2017. We are excited for next year and even laughed when we caught ourselves planning out the tomato choices while evergreen decorating.
2017 CSA enrollment information will be posted in January.
Thanks to all who shared this amazing and fun 2016 season with us. We are grateful to all that make this urban farm life possible for us.
FINAL SHARE OF 2016
It’s a bounty of goodness. 600 pounds is going home today. 2 totes, 1 in the cooler and 1 out.
Packing the final share of the season.
WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE
This is how we prep for winter hoop house house harvesting.
Squash-3 sweet dumplings.
Sweet Potatoes-Several pounds of delicious Beauregard.
Potatoes-2 varieties. Carola (a sweeter yellow flesh) and Superior (fluffy white flesh).
Onions-a few assorted storage onions.
Garlic-A ton! We had a great harvest this year and passed it on to you. 2 varieties-Music and German Red. Stocking Stuffers?
Honey-A half pint of our Fall backyard honey.
Turnips-A nice big bag of these sweet beauties from the hoop house. A favorite crop around here.
Pretty Turnips.
Spinach-A 1 pound bag! Sweet, juicy and delicious. Enjoy!
Spinach ready to pick.
Scott making his way down the spinach rows. The row cover hangs behind him and you can see the metal frames over the spinach to keep it suspended.
Scott with the spinach bounty by Maeve’s Christmas Tree.
Carrots-Another bag of this sweet treat. We had a goal this season of MORE CARROTS!…we did it and love our carrot trough. Another trough is going in next Spring to provide even more in 2017.
Carrot harvest from the trough in the Fall.
All washed up and drying before storage.
Radishes-Perfect red gems that store well in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer many months. A snappy addition to fresh salads.
They look like Christmas Candy.
Daikon/Watermelon Radishes-Again, long storage life and the watermelon beauties a colorful surprise. Makes a beautiful fresh salad mixed with carrots cut in thin matchsticks.
Black Radishes-More radishes I know….! These were our experimental crop this year and they made it. The last crop to be harvested from the garden. AND here is something cool I read about last year and why I wanted to give it a try. Black radish and Honey Make a great cough suppressant. Information below….
Black radish (Raphanus sativus varieta niger L.) has a long history of medicinal uses. In ancient Egypt, it was considered sacred and used together with garlic to fight all kinds of infections. In Ayurvedic healing practices, radishes are said to have cleansing effects, helping break down and eliminate toxins and cancer-promoting free radicals in the body. They have been used in Asia to treat bronchitis and coughs for thousands of years.
How to prepare your Magical Cough Remedy?
1 medium size black radish
2 tablespoons organic raw honey
Wash and dry the radish. Trim the bottom a bit and place the radish on top of a small bowl or glass. Cut off the top part, which will serve as a lid. Make a hole in the middle and put two tablespoons of honey, cover with the cut off top. Let it stand overnight and in the morning, there will be honey-sweetened radish juice in the glass.
Drink 1 teaspoon for kids, 1 tablespoon for adults 3 times a day.
You can make yourselves another dose, using the same radish. Change the radish after you have used it three times.
It is advised not to give honey to babies less than 12 months of age due to chance of botulism. Also, some people are allergic to honey so please only try if you or your child is not allergic to honey.
(Above recipe from Mindbodysoul blog)
Final crop of the season.
Baby Arugula-Hoop house grown snappy baby arugula. We love it it our salads or on top of pizza.
Baby arugula ready to pick. December 7th and fresh greens!
Brussels Sprouts-A big bag of our favorite. 1 of the first seeds we start in Spring and 1 of the last plants to be pulled from the garden. Frozen fingers at harvest but oh so sweet.
Brussels Sprouts on the stalk.
Leeks-The last of the late season leeks. We love them added to our breakfast hash.
Lettuce-Sweet juicy heads of Bambi again. It loves to grow in the chilly days of Autumn.
Baby Bambi Lettuce in the hoop house.
Kale x 2-2 bunches…..a big bunch of our favorite Tuscano and a 2nd of leafy mixed. Both have great flavor that sweetens up with frost.
Kale Harvest.
Pac Choi-A juicy hoop house grown head. We love it raw added to our fresh salads to add a bit of crunch.
Kohlrabi-A few heads in each share. Remove the tough outer skin and enjoy the inner white flesh as a crunchy addition to fresh eating.
FoxLine Soap-A very good friend of mine makes this for me as a birthday treat and makes extra for me to share with the CSA.
Chinese Cabbage or Dark Winter Oakleaf head lettuce-1 or the other will be in the share.
Dark Oak Leaf lettuce ready to harvest.
Romanesco/Cauliflower-We picked the itty bitty heads when we pulled the plants and added this tiny treat.
foxlinecityfarm 