foxlinecityfarm

The final share of a fantastic season.  Our best ever on so many levels and we are pleased, grateful, relieved, and a little bit tired out all rolled up together.  It’s fun to reflect on this amazing summer that honestly seemed to zip right by.  The gardens and hoop house have been powerhouses all season long.  We set a few personal goals and hit most of them.  One was to provide “leafy greens/lettuce”  in every share every week.  We did it and we did it well.  Another was to rock on broccoli-and we did it, we wanted to provide more carrots than last season and we did that too and were very pleased that we had carrots in our very 1st share this season.  We still are hoping to grow even more for next season so carrots can be a regular item in the shares all season long as a treat. We wanted to grow more beets and different varieties of beets and we still stink at growing beets….we had 2 good crops and that was it.  We are glad we had “some” but had much higher hopes.  Other seasonal highlights and “best evers”…Wasn’t Uncle Jim’s corn great this year!! 6 weeks.  WOW! Thank you Uncle Jim. The onion crop was amazing this year.  Great varieties, sized up well, and high yield.  Beans were abundant (and not too abundant that we were swimming in them).  We had an early harvest and the rotations were strong all season long.  Peppers were great! And are still rolling along which is pretty crazy.  Our potato crop was near perfect aside from 1 variety which we will discontinue and the new potato digger made harvest so much easier. Brussels Sprouts!  HUGE!!!! best ever for us.  We harvested over 600 pounds so far and the stalks are still loaded.  Winter squash harvest was MUCH stronger than past years, watermelon was spot on, and the 5 varieties of leeks we planted had high yield with more still in the field for winter share.  Our tomato harvest was better than last year but the harvest widow short.  We had great and bountiful tomatoes 3 weeks longer than last season but still ended too soon when the cold wet weather came late summer they never really came back with big harvests.  Cherry tomatoes of course chugged along forever….Cucumbers were perfect and early BUT! ended too soon and our second planting never really amounted to much…we will improve on this next year and same with zucchini-great when they were here but wished for a longer window of harvest. Shelling peas way back at the beginning of the season were delicious and abundant.  A big treat in our mind and I think we are the only CSA around that provides these….sugar snaps flowered when the vines were short and our yield was down because of this.  We hoped for more but were grateful for what we had given the odd weather challenges early in the season.

It is important to us that there are a few extra perks in our CSA.  Every share had flower bouquets a few times this summer as a pretty surprise, beautiful basil plants went home with everyone too to enjoy all season long.  Backyard honey sure is a sweet treat and the ginger a zippy marvel grown in our backyard…..Fun additions that make our CSA special.

The final big goal for us is really 3 fold-1.variety-207 different varieties were provided this season with great rotation and not repetition over and over and over of the same stuff…-2.clean, properly processed and well presented produce with a 3. personal touch.  Our family does all the work with no outside hired/volunteer help at all.  We did it!  We want our members to look forward to their shares every week and enjoy them with very little cleaning to get them to the table.

Now for my favorite end of summer detail….12,718 pounds of produce went home with CSA members this season. With a bit of calculating this translated to less than 50 cents a pound for delicious clean produce all summer long.

We are grateful for this season and the support of our CSA members that make this life possible for us.  Thank you to all….

SUMMER SHARE #20 FINAL SHARE OF THE 2017 SUMMER SEASON

1463 is the weight of the final shares this week!  WOW! But…. is does include the weight of the ornamental pumpkins.

Shares are packed in paper kraft bags this week so no need to deal with a return bag.

Scott packing final share in kraft bags.

SNACK PACK

head lettuce (2 varieties), storage onions, brussels sprouts, carrots, pepper, sweet potatoes, winter squash, ornamental pumpkin

head lettuce-2 gems this week, a fluffy late summer crunch, and mini head bibbs

Summer crunch at harvest this week.

Early morning lettuce harvest.

storage onions-several in every snack pack share.  Long storage life.

Cleaning onions before they go in the shares.

brussels sprouts-We are thrilled to offer these for a 3rd time this season in the final share.  Delicious.

160 pounds harvested this week!

Carrots-Fall carrots are so sweet.  A great end of season harvest for us.  Enjoy!

Carrots!

Posing with the bounty….

This is how we wash our carrots-an old wringer washer.

Pepper-An assortment from the final harvest….How amazing that the pepper harvest is still strong!

Sweet potatoes-A great Autumn treat!  As mentioned before we are thrilled to have a sizeable harvest at all with to our late planting date due to supplier issues and the cool summer.

Phew! We have some big ones.  You just never know what you are going to find when you start digging.

Potatoes-Perfect! baking, mashing Superiors this week.

Winter squash-a mini acorn or Carnival in every share.

Ornamental pumpkin-a thank you treat!  Enjoy!

Scott harvesting the ornamental pumpkins out at Cousin John’s. Thank you Cousin John!

FULL SHARE

head lettuce, spinach, storage onions, brussels sprouts, carrots, peppers, sweet potatoes, potatoes, pac choi, winter squash, ornamental pumpkin

Head lettuce-2 varietes a sweet and juicy mini bibb head and a crunchy cold hardy summer crunch.

Scott harvesting the mini lettuce heads.

Lettuce all crated up and ready to head to the wash tanks.

Spinach-A nice big bag.  We are picking off 3 rotations in the hoop house.

Storage onions-several in every full share.

Brussels sprouts-A nice big bag for several meals.  A favorite!

Carrots-2 pounds in full share.  A great late season harvest for us.

Maeve passing time with the carrot harvest.

and modeling with the carrot….she told me to take the picture as it would look really “cool”.

Final Fun carrot shot!

Peppers-Several in every Full Share from the final harvest.

This week’s pepper harvest.

Sweet potatoes-An Autumn treat that even sweetens up over time….

Potatoes-Superior potatoes this week.  A great baker or mashed. And perfect!

Scott packaging up the beauties for the share.

Winter squash-2 a delicata and an acorn in full share this week.

Pac Choi-Mini little guys to add some crunch to fresh salads or a light stir fry.

Ornamental Pumpkin-a final share treat for autumn decorating.  Enjoy!

Auntie Howdy I will have to send you notes in the mail from now on….love to you and happy autumn.

Ornamental pumpkin Harvest.

THANKS FOR SHARING A GREAT 2017 SUMMER SEASON WITH US!!!

WREATH WORKSHOP IS AROUND THE CORNER….FRIDAY’S CLASS IS ALMOST FULL.

Maeve getting creative with the wreath we made together last year.

1ST WINTER SHARE PICK UP IS THURSDAY NOVEMBER 16TH  See you then….

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Happy Full Harvest Moon….be sure to look at the beautiful moon tonight before you go to bed and reflect on the wonderful summer season.

A fantastic long late season harvest for us this past week.  Great abundance fills our days and we wonder when we will have the time to tackle the clean up.  We started hand digging the sweet potatoes and are pleased with the yield after a delayed Spring planting due to issues with our organic supplier.  We worried all season long if they would size up and we are grateful they did.  Not the amazing bounty of last year but we are satisfied. More squash was hauled in and we harvested all our oddball ornamental/edible winter squashes and pumpkins on a bright sunny day.  A HUGE! Thank you to Uncle Jim and Cousin John for making this possible for us.  It is one of my favorite crops and it could never happen without their generosity and help.

Oddball winter squash and  pumpkin harvesting.

Look at those beauties….!

A Maeve picture of some of the cool ones.

Hauling some of the beauties to storage….a selection will be available at pick up today on the “extra” table outside the garage door if you wish to take 1 for eating/decorating…

SUMMER SHARE #19

1 more pick up remains of the Summer 2017 Season. 

Please return all your bags for reuse and also take some time to return the season end survey.  Your thoughts are so important in shaping our future seasons.  Member suggestions brought back the pie pumpkins this year, requested we grow colored lettuces (which we did for the 1st time this season), and let us know you all love brussels sprouts as much as we do….as well as other helpful comments that improve our CSA.

537 pounds is the weight of our garden bounty this week….enjoy!

SNACK PACK

pie pumpkin, sweet potatoes, potatoes, ginger, garlic, radish medley, spinach, sweet mini peppers, collard greens, kohlrabi, wreath workshop info and Very Merry info. too (Maeve is going to sell her cards at this wonderful holiday event again)

Pie pumpkin-a sweet pie pumpkin for everyone.

Choose a pie pumpkin from the table at pick up.

Sweet Potatoes-We started the harvest with more to come next week.  We harvested 2 varieties this week, all white skin and flesh and red skin white flesh either or both in every share.

Sweet potato harvest.  Perfect weather too!

Potatoes-Beautiful superior potatoes this week.  Great baked or mashed.

Ginger!-Fresh ginger as a treat.  It is brushed clean and NOT! washed as we have found this is better for longer storage life.  Leave on the counter.  Snappy spicy flavor.  Great for tea, add to your drinking water, or delicious with creamy pumpkin soup.

Ginger at harvest.  LOVE! my hand me down 80’s garden sweater…

Ginger ready to be brushed…

Garlic-2 heads in each snack pack share.

Radish Medley-3 different varieties grown in our carrot trough after the final carrot harvest.

Radishes after washing….they look like peppermint candy!

Spinach-Hoop house grown spinach and we have just started picking off our 2nd rotation that was transplanted out to over winter.

Washed Spinach ready to be bagged up for the shares.

Mini Sweet Peppers-Tons of these sweet little gems were harvested this week.  It’s October!  Sweet and delicious and long storage life in the refrigerator.

Mini Sweet peppers all portioned out for the shares.

Collard greens-A HUGE personal favorite.  I love it raw as my sandwich wrap, added to salad, make a quick side slaw for dinner or wilted in broth as a side is delicious.

Collard green harvest.

Kohlrabi-a late season harvest.  Peel the thick outer skin and eat… Great with salads or stir fry.

FULL SHARE

pie pumpkin, sweet potatoes, potatoes, ginger, garlic, radish medley, leaf lettuce, sweet peppers, sweet shishito peppers, collard greens, purple kohlrabi, acorn squash, sunflower bouquet, wreath workshop info. and Very Merry info. (Maeve will be selling her cards at this holiday event again this year)

Pie Pumpkin-Creamy bright orange flesh that roasts down to make a fantastic and flavorful soup.  We taste tested one this week and made a soup with coconut milk, garlic, onions, ginger and chunked potatoes in too.  It was delicious.

The pie pumpkin harvest a few weeks back….pumpkins all cured in the greenhouse and are ready to eat.

Sweet potatoes-We started the hand digging….enjoy!

Sweet potatoes at harvest.

Potatoes-Superior is the choice this week.  Great baked or mashed.

Ginger!-A season end treat….we are thrilled with the yield and the flavor.  Store on the counter.  These roots have been brushed and not washed to prolong storage life.

Fantastic Ginger!

Scott gently brushing away before they go into the shares…

Garlic-4 heads in every Full share.

Radish Medley-A mix of 3 snappy varieties.

Leaf lettuce-A nice sweet leaf lettuce mix from the hoop house.

Leaf lettuce at morning harvest.

Leaf lettuce in it’s 2nd rinse of 3.

Sweet Peppers-A mixed harvest this week and several appear in all full shares.

This week’s pepper harvest.

Shishito Sweet Peppers-A final shishito harvest.  A nice big bag of these delicious snackers.

Collard Greens-Raw, in a quick slaw, added to salad to add some crunch, or added to broth.  Delicious.  A big favorite of mine.

Purple kohlrabi-A snappy beauty or 2 in every full share.

Purple kohlrabi ready for the shares.

Acorn squash-this is a mini sized acorn.  Perfect for a meal.

Acorns harvest a few week’s ago-cured and ready to eat.

Sunflowers-A few late planted seeds for a Fall flower surprise.

Wrapping the sunflowers for the Full Shares.

BEST GUESS FOR OUR FINAL WEEK-carrots, squash, radishes, chinese cabbage, brussels sprouts, head lettuce, peppers?, kale, ornamental (jack o lantern) pumpkin, sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions and more…..

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