foxlinecityfarm

Life in the garden is rolling along.  The plants seem to double in size overnight in this heat and the cucumber vines crawl up the trellis.  Tomatoes are setting fruit and the 1st rotation of cabbage just about ready to harvest.  It’s pretty cool!  Our week was spent seeding in more carrots and beets for late season harvest.  The second “season extender” zucchini patch went in, another rotation of green beans and another of edamame too.  We transplanted out 300 broccoli starts, and a couple hundred cabbage too.  We are weeding maniacs and so far seem to be on top of things.  It looks snazzy and no wading through calf high weeds in our walkways this year.

Pea harvest has just begun.  We had our 1st pick last night.  1 variety of 4 and next’s week harvest is going to be huge…We are thrilled!  Best pea crop we have had in years…..2 varieties tower over our heads on the trellis and all varieties are loaded with peas.

Scott doing a quick taste test.

Fantastic sugar snaps…

This is how we will spend our week…..staring at the pea vines.

Here is our big experiment this year. We planted all the spaghetti squash and summer squash in between the pea rows. We are banking on the peas being done and the trellis out of there before the squash gets too big. Yikes! It’s going to be close-real close! I’ll keep you posted.

The hoop house is transitioned to our “leafy green” house for the summer except for carrots where the turnips come out…

The lettuce house.

We’ve settled into a nice routine.  The garden is FULL! and hoop house too.  Our days will shift to harvest and maintenance.

NEXT WEEK PICK UP IS WEDNESDAY JULY 3RD.

SUMMER SHARE #3

I forgot to document weight the past 2 weeks in the blog.  That is always fun! This week 261 pounds of garden goodness went home with CSA members.

Full.

Snack

What is in your share….head lettuce, pac choi, kohlrabi, turnip, garlic scapes, sugar snap peas (snack only), baby beets (full only), zucchini (full only), and snow peas (full only).

Head lettuce-snack 1 snappy summer crisp and full 1 summer crisp and 1 fluffy bi color.

Triple rinsed and ready to bag.

Pac choi-I LOVE pac choi and eat it almost every day.  It is so juicy and flavorful.  It is a favorite.  Fresh in salad, saute, or in broth all delicious.

Pac choi at harvest.

Morning dew on the Pac choi.

Kohlrabi-We had a great harvest of kohlrabi this week-green and pretty white.

Kohlrabi chilling in the dunk tank.

Beautiful.

Salad Turnip-Surprise!  We thought we would give it a shot and it worked.  A great harvest of these gems from the hoop house.

Morning salad turnip harvest.

Garlic Scape-Always a fun crop.  Use as you would garlic.  Great mild garlic flavor.

Sugar Snap Peas (snack  only)-1st pick of the season and a 1/2 pound in every snack pack share.

Bumper crop Pea year for us…get ready for next week.

Baby beets (full only)-A small harvest of an experimental mini beet crop…Sweet little gems.

Garden gumballs!

Zucchini-(full only) The very 1st pick of the season of these garden staples.  4 varieties were planted this year.  We harvest daily so they are small and tender.

Summer Squash bloom.

Summer Squash season has begun.

Snow Peas (full only)-1st picking of these beauties as well.  Delicious fresh or in the summer stir fry.

Snow peas at harvest.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-Tons of peas, TONS!, beautiful broccoli, head lettuce, swiss chard, chinese cabbage, zucchini, and more!

Remember next week’s pick up is Wednesday!

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Happy Summer!  A fantastic week in the gardens.  Amazing how all the crops in the ground have taken off….

Tomato plants have doubled in size!

The watermelon crop is in!  180 plants.  An early morning duty.  We always wait a bit in transplanting this crop and grow the plants nice and big for time of transplant.  Works well for us and the plants seem to thrive in the warmer temperatures.  6 different varieties went in the ground.

Watermelon transplanting in the morning sun.

We seeded in more carrots, lots of beets, and long rows of beans again.  Another rotation of cucumbers at the trellis and we weeded all the onions.  Fall rotations of broccoli, kohlrabi, cabbage were seeded in the green house for transplant too.

We LOVED!!! this week….

We are hopeful Peas next week….a little bit of sunshine and we will have a bounty.

SUMMER SHARE #2

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE

Full Share #2

Snack Pack #2

Basil Plant (1 snack/2 Full), sweet leaf lettuce, mesclun mix, broccoli, bunching onions, tokyo bekina (fluffy chinese cabbage), kohlrabi, mint (full only)

Basil Plant- We started several different varieties for members to select a favorite to take home.

Leaf lettuce-Sweet juicy tissue paper thin harvest.  Nothing better than early season leaf lettuce.  All triple rinsed. This crop will return in Fall.

Leaf lettuce at harvest.

Mesclun Mix- A fun leafy mix of a few spicy asian greens with kale and leaf lettuce to round it out.  A favorite mix.

Dew kissed Mesclun mix in the morning.

Head Lettuce- A snappy head of Summer Crisp.  Sturdy leaves great on burgers and sandwiches.

Head lettuce at harvest.

Broccoli-This is the start of the broccoli bonanza.  An early variety called Blue Wind.  Smaller head size.  3 rotations are in the garden now of broccoli.  Hopefully a summer of broccoli for all of us….

Morning Broccoli Harvest.

Bunching onions-1st of the onions. We plant these in the hoop house for an early harvest.

Bunching onions planted against the side wall in the hoop house with tokyo bekina in front.

Tokyo Bekina-This is 1 of my favorite hoop house crops.  Great cabbage flavor, great texture, and so pretty.

Tokyo Bekina shining in the sun!

Kohlrabi-1st early harvest of these crunchy gems…we are going to be kohlrabi maniacs this year. MORE! to come….white, purple and those jumbo guys in Fall.

Kohlrabi floating in the dunk tank.

Mint (Full Share Only)- Add to your summer beverages, step in the evening for a hot tea, add to a fruit salad.  Mint shouts summertime.

Mint crop ready to harvest.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK…

Peas!!!???, swiss chard, garlic scapes, head lettuce, kohlrabi, pac choi and more…

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The gardens look fantastic after a slow cold Spring start.  We are thrilled!  We hustled between the raindrops and planted and planted and planted and planted.  A few long days but everything is in and thriving.

All the tomatoes settled in.

Potato planting out at Uncle Jim’s again this year.

Hands after planting 520 pounds manually.

Our crops look strong. Pea plants flowering and itty bitty peas forming…not too long of a wait for these beauties.

I saw garlic scapes forming today and the cabbage is heading up too.  Summer is on it’s way.  We are excited for the 2019 Season!

1st Summer CSA Share….

All produce is washed and portioned out prior to pick up time.  All Shares are packed and ready for pick up in our walk in cooler at designated pick up time.  Members names are on a list attached to cooler door.  Names are crossed of when share picked up.

Any packaging material can be returned for reuse or recycle.

Please return your tote for reuse the following week for reuse.

ALL Full Shares packed in orange totes.

ALL Snack Pack Shares packed in Green totes.

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE

Outdoor Spring Spinach, Radish medley, Sunflower shoots, Turnips, Baby kale, Head lettuce-(2 snack/3 full), Pac choi, Mini Green Pac choi (Full only), leaf lettuce….

Full Share

Snack Pack

Outdoor Spring Spinach-We picked the last of our early outdoor Spring Spinach.  It is delicious lightly steamed or saute.  The crop was pulled and the area transitioned to carrots.

Radish Medley-Tons!! of crunchy radishes.  Big bags in the Snack Packs and even bigger in Full Share.  A great harvest.  Long storage life in fridge.

Look Like candy in the sun….

Garden Gumdrops….

Maeve weighing out the radishes.

Sunflower Shoots-A fun “nutty” flavored treat.  Place on a sunny windowsill-snip for garnish, add to salads or soup.

Turnips-Those amazing Spring Turnips!  We saved a few from our last harvest to include in the 1st share.  Enjoy!  More to come in the future.

Turnips at harvest.

Baby Kale-A baby kale mix.  Fresh eating or saute-delicious.  Or great for juicing.  We LOVE chomping on the thin stems. Super sweet.

Baby Kale at early morning harvest.

Head Lettuce-  Lettuce overload!  3 great head lettuce varieties decided to be ready for harvest this week and a sweet leaf lettuce too.  Grab your salad forks and enjoy it all.  Unique flavor in all varieties.  2 heads snack 3 heads full.

Leaf Lettuce…a bumper crop harvest.  A sweet leaf assortment.

Leaf lettuce crop in hoop house…

Pac choi-Juicy stems and leaves are a great addition to fresh salads…or a quick stir fry.

Pac Choi washed and ready to be bagged for this week’s shares.

Mini Green Pac Choi- Full only…3 cute little mini choi in each full share.  Great flavor.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-broccoli (tons of broccoli!), head lettuce, leaf lettuce, bunching onions, tokyo bekina, pac choi, basil plant and more….

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