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Archive for August, 2019

CSA Share #12 August 29th

Transitioning to Autumn in the garden is always fun.  Daily routines ease a bit and the pressure to get the final plantings in the ground is over.  Scott was able to tend to a bit of our shagginess angst around the edges and we sure feel better about that.  A huge carrot crop came out of the hoop house this week and we quickly prepped the soil and transplanted early Fall spinach. This carrot crop we are holding for later shares.

Ready to harvest the carrot crop.

Maeve did the official taste test and we were ready to roll.

 

 

Carrots after we cut the tops off before washing.

600 spinach starts all settled in.

Final lettuce rotations were seeded into cells in the greenhouse.  Peppers are in full swing and so pretty-always fun to harvest the colorful beauty.

Love the color.

 

more color…

and more…

Slice Tomatoes are nearing the end but the cherry tomatoes are chugging along….

 

We will start with garden clean up this week-summer squash is ready to be pulled out along with the cucumber vines, spaghetti squash and watermelon.  And a surprise…another hoop house is going up!

CSA SUMMER SHARE #12 

Full Share.

Snack Pack.

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE.

beets!, dark romaine lettuce, kohlrabi, backyard honey!!!, cherry tomatoes, slice tomatoes, mini green bells, Italian Fry Peppers, Mini Chinese cabbage, green beans (full only)

Beets-Finally!  We stink at growing beets.  No sure why….we try but they take forever and tend to not size up.  So we are thrilled with this harvest and hopefully  another harvest to come…

Beets at harvest.

Beets washed and air drying before we weigh out for shares.

Dark romaine head lettuce-Mini romaine heads.  Beautiful dark color.

hoop house dark romaine at harvest.

 

Kohlrabi-Nice big crunchy heads.  A garden favorite.

Kohlrabi at harvest.

 

All perfect.

Backyard Honey-Sweet and a bit of citrus taste to it too.  This is early season honey.  Lighter in color.  We were so happy to have a great yield after a few ho hum years.

Snack pack honey.

Full Share honey.

Cherry Tomatoes-Tons are still being harvested and we are amazed with the volume.  More even on the extra table too.

washed and ready for shares….

Slice tomatoes-Vines are slowing down….maybe 1 more week.

Slice tomatoes out for customers to choose their favorites.

Baby Bells-Mini Green bell peppers-great for stuffing or snacks.

Italian Fry Peppers-Our favorite and so sweet.

 

Italian Fry Peppers. We grew 3 colors…red orange and yellow.

 

HUGE! Italian Fry Peppers.

Goddess Banana Peppers-Skinny yellow beauties with a streak of purple.  Tiny tiny bit of heat.  Thin skinned.

Mini Chinese Cabbage-Our favorite sized chinese cabbage.  Add to salad to add crunch or make a quick slaw.  Great flavor.

Green Beans (full share only)….final picking off this rotations…hopefully 1 more to go.

Afternoon bean picking…

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-LEEKS, POTATOES, ONIONS, CELERY, PIE PUMPKIN???, CHERRY TOMATOES, SLICE TOMATOES, GARLIC, FENNEL AND MORE…..

We love this season.

 

 

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CSA Share #11 August 22nd

We are on a roll for sure!  Huge harvests are coming out of the gardens and sometimes the volume of it all gets a little overwhelming for us….But it sure is amazing and we are thrilled with the the bounty….just where to put it?!

We harvested all the Superior potatoes this week. They are perfect and a nice big bag in every share.

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Superior potatoes at harvest.

 

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Scott and Maeve at the end of late afternoon harvest.  We are grateful for Scott’s relatives (Raupp Family) allowing us to plant potatoes at their beautiful farm.

We had another huge tomato harvest again this week and Cherry tomatoes are insane!  Scott said this morning that it is the best tomato crop in years and I agree.

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Tomatoes out for the CSA pick up today.

All the storage onions are out and curing-shallots too.  Edamame is sizing up nicely and we have beets for next week!

We did experience “crop failure” in the watermelon patch.  After a heavy rain the vines collapsed.  Something brought in with the rain…???  A sad crop to lose but we do not feel the melons are “shareworthy” and we cannot be sure of the ripeness.  We took a family vote of no confidence and the melons we do have are in the extra area this week….

Sweet potato crop looks strong and so do all the winter squash.  We will start harvesting the early leeks next week and colored carrots are around the corner.

 

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-romaine head lettuce, spaghetti squash, cherry tomatoes, slice tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, green beans, bell peppers, italian fry peppers, mini sweet peppers-lunch box (full only), broccoli, superior potatoes  935 pounds…

 

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Full Share

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Snack Pack

Romaine Head Lettuce-A great harvest of dark green romaine from the hoop house.

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Romaine at harvest.

Spaghetti Squash-We grew 2 varieties…big for full share mini for snack pack.

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Spaghetti Squash chilling in the shade after harvest.

Cherry Tomatoes-The bounty continues….!  Sweet treats for all.

Slice tomatoes-We are so happy with the harvest this week-great heirlooms and perfect red beauties for burgers and BLT’s..

Cabbages-A midsize “mini” head.  Perfect for a side dish or in a stir fry.  We love all the mini varieties.

Carrots-Another round of these perfect summer carrots.  Great flavor.

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Maeve packaged all the carrots for all the shares this week.  She rocked it!

Green beans-Maybe the last picking of this rotation.  1 more in the field.  Picked small and tender.

Italian Fry Pepper and green bell peppers-Pepper plants are loaded…here we go.

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Green bells and a yellow italian fry pepper.

Mini Sweet Peppers-1st picking of this favorite treat.  Full only this week.

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Mini sweet peppers for full share….

Broccoli-Final harvest off this rotation.

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This week’s broccoli-washed and ready for the shares.

Superior Potatoes-Enjoy this amazing flaky  potato.  Best mashed or baked ever!

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Superior Potato.  

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK…..BEETS!!!, HEAD LETTUCE (DARK ROMAINE), PEPPERS, LEEKS, TOMATOES, (MAYBE A GREAT SURPRISE-FINGERS CROSSED….), AND MORE.

 

 

 

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CSA Summer Share #10 August 15th

Another fast week of amazing harvest…and still shaggy around the edges!  Priorities….HUGE! harvest loads take time and we are thrilled with the yields.  No disappointments here.  We are focusing on potato digging and loved the variety this week.  Upstate Abundance is a new favorite I think.

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Hand dug potatoes this week.  A great yield.  This variety is new to us.  Upstate Abundance. We tested 20 pounds and love them.

The watermelon harvest was a surprise as we thought a week or 2 out.  More in the field so more to come.

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Maeve selfie in watermelon patch…

Slice tomatoes are hitting now and we are happy with our supply.  We harvest every other day.  Hopefully a few more weeks to come.

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Tomato in the sun.

Storage onions need to come out and another rotations of sunflowers are coloring up.  Next week’s “to do list”.

CSA SUMMER SHARE #10

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-dark romaine head lettuce, mini bibb (full only), potatoes, sunflower bouquets, onions, summer squash, Slice tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Italian fry peppers, kohlrabi, green beans, pac choi and watermelon and basil.

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Full Share

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Snack Pack

Romaine-Beautiful!!  Juicy dark heads.

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Romaine at harvest.

Mini Bibb lettuce (full share only)

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Mini Bibb ready to harvest.

Potatoes-We love these little gems!  Great boiled and/or mashed.

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Maeve with the potato harvest this week.

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And she weighed out all the shares too!  A great help.

Sunflower bouquets-Happy Bouquets to celebrate late summer.

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Daily morning sunflower pick.

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And bouquets ready for the shares….

Onions-Sweets and Cippolini in every share.  This may be the end of sweet onions…storage onions on the way.

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Summer squash-Maybe the end of summer squash…maybe.  1st patch is done and second slowing down already.  We will see….it has been a good run.

Slice tomatoes-Maeve and I picked every other day and there is a great selection this week.

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Tomatoes!

Cherry Tomatoes!-A great assortment this week.  Tons!

Broccoli-This crop snuck up on us this week.  More next week too.

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Broccoli Harvester in action.

Italian Fry Peppers-This is the start of the harvest.  We thin the plants out when still green as they are loaded.  Our favorite pepper.

Kohlrabi-Yippee!  Another rotation.

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Field cleaning the Kohlrabi.

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Kohlrabi in the dunk tank.

Green Beans-Great yield from a new variety to us.  Perfect!

Pac choi-Yes I am on a pac choi kick….LOVE!!!! it stir fried and also in salads raw.  Best harvest tis season.

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Pac choi in the morning.

Watermelon-The start of the harvest.  More varieties in the field too.

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taste test….

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and here we go….1st load.

BEST GUESS NEXT WEEK….BROCCOLI, CARROTS,  SPAGHETTI SQUASH, GREEN ROMAINE LETTUCE, TOMATOES, POTATOES, WATERMELON, BEANS, AND MORE….

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CSA Summer Share #9 August 8th

Another powerhouse week!  This season is blowing us away with the abundance coming from the gardens. We are more blown away that we are on top of garden duties.  So good.  Slice tomatoes are hitting their stride.  A good start to “tomato time” after a few ho hum seasons of the past.  Cherry tomato vines have topped the trellis and dancing high above.  It will soon be a jungle of colorful tomatoes.  We have had perfect soaking rains and no severe weather damage.  Fall crops are coming on strong our 3rd rotation of broccoli is heading up, another harvest of kohlrabi next week and we will pull storage onions next week too.  We harvested a great bounty of spaghetti squash and it is curing in the shed for next week (and future) shares.

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Spaghetti Squash harvest from the garden.

The last of the red norland potatoes have been harvested.  A fantastic yield of perfect gems.

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Last of the red norland crop.

We started in on the next variety as the vines are declining and did a test dig on all varieties in the ground.  All looks great except a new variety to us this year that we wanted to trail.  WELL, disappointment-very scabby skin BUT delicious flavor and texture.  When we were picking them up after the potato digger went through Scott joked that he was picking up pine cones!  HA!!! Still makes me chuckle.  So these tasty ugly guys will be available in coming weeks on the “extra table”.

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A heart find in the “scabby potato harvest”.

This may be the last week of cucumbers from our 1st planting.  Our 2nd “Hail Mary” crop is chugging along and we hope to have cucumbers return in a few weeks.  All depends on daylight.  Fingers crossed.

Our 1st summer squash patch is just about done and the second rotation in full swing.

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Summer Squash patch #2.

 

Final crops are all in now except radish and lettuce rotations which will continue on a weekly basis. We continue to seed in Fall and overwintered Spinach.  Edge “shagginess” and beautification is on for next week as we are sensing an easing up of daily duties and “have to” tasks.

CSA SHARE #9

Full Share

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Snack Pack

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WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-romaine head lettuce, garlic, baby kale mix (full only), sweet summer onions, cippolini onions (full only), summer squash, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, slice tomatoes bell peppers, banana peppers (snack only), carrots!!!!, chinese cabbage, corn

Romaine head lettuce- Sweet and delicious heads.  A late summer treat for sure.

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Morning Romaine harvest from the hoop house.

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Just cut and ready for the triple rinse.

Baby Kale Mix-(Full only) A nice big bag of assorted baby kale from the hoop house.  Saute is best with fresh garlic.

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Rinsed baby kale air drying before bagging.

Garlic-A good garlic season for us an nothing better than fresh garlic in veggie stir fry.

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Scott cleaning the garlic before it goes in the shares.

Sweet Summer onions-A bounty harvest for us this season and we are passing them along.

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Cleaned summer onions.

Cucumbers-Final harvest this week from our 1st rotation.

Cherry Tomatoes-The tomato patch has this feel of “well here we go!”  The volume is amazing.

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Cherry tomato harvest washed and ready to be packaged.

Slice Tomatoes-Choose up to 3 for Snack Pack and up to 6 for full share.

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A HUGE! tomato harvest this week.

Bell Peppers-The last of the the bell pepper harvest and next week we start in on the Italian Fry Peppers.

Yellow Banana Peppers-(Snack Only)-A variety called goddess.

Carrots!-We had a great summer carrot harvest from our “carrot trough”.  Crunchy and sweet.  Enjoy!

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After cutting the tops off we wash and chill for the shares.

Chinese Cabbage-A great harvest of the mini heads.  A perfect slaw or adds great loft to salads.

Corn-Another morning pick from Scott’s relatives farm.  Raupp Family Farm.  We are grateful they provide the corn for our CSA.  Delicious.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-kohlrabi, head lettuce, spaghetti squash, broccoli???, cherry tomatoes, slice tomatoes, green beans, onions,  sunflower bouquets and more…..

We will be selling at the Baraboo Farmers’ Market again this Saturday.  Produce, HUGE! Basil Plants, and pretty flower bouquets….

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CSA Summer Share #8 August 1

August bounty is here!  We are amazed with the harvests we are pulling in from the gardens.  A fantastic season so far and we are keeping up!  That is the best part.  The edges of the “compound” might be a bit shaggy and we may be a bit tired at the end of the day (and sometimes in the mornings too) but we are happy.  Life is good.  Another huge harvest of the red norland potatoes this week and we hope to pull the remaining reds out early next week.

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Maeve at the end of the red norland row after we dug 200+ pounds.

We picked our first slice tomatoes and the cherry tomatoes are hitting their stride.  The vines are loaded.  All the garlic is out and drying and all the summer onions pulled in 3 hours.  BIG! high volume yield is the theme.  The 1st summer squash patch is just about done and the 2nd patch is amping up.  The 2nd patch is 1/2 the size of the 1st as we suspect the thrill of zucchini is slowly fading but still nice to have a few each week.  Watermelon is sizing up and another bean rotation flowering.  And Spaghetti squash almost ready.  Final Fall planting of mini cabbages and kohlrabi in and yet another rotation of Fall spinach started this past week.  We are excited that the Italian Fry peppers are starting to color and we picked our 1st jalapenos for the extra table.  August is really the best month as we watch the light change and the garden share it’s gifts.

 

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Garlic harvest is complete.

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Making our way down the sweet onion rows.

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Watermelon sizing up.

CSA SHARE #8

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-Corn, cherry tomatoes, slice tomato, summer squash, cucumber mix, skinny european slice cucumbers, green bell peppers, sweet summer onions, pac choi, mini cabbage head, leaf lettuce, red norland potatoes.

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Full Share

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Snack Pack

Corn!!!-This is the 1st picking of corn from Scott’s relative’s farm….Raupp Family Farm.  It is conventionally grown and not organic.  We have included the Raupp corn in our CSA shares for years and it is a treat and we are grateful.  Delicious.

Cherry tomatoes-The vines are really starting to take off.  Sweet and delicious.

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Look waaaaaay down at the end I am waving from the end of a Cherry tomato row.

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Washed and ready for the shares.

Slice tomatoes-1st harvest 1 for snack and 2 for Full.  Looks like it is going to be a great tomato year.

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1st slicer of the season.

Cucumber mix-American snacker cucumbers.  Several varieties in each share.

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Full share cucumber mix.

European thin Slice Cucumbers-Several in each share of these thin skinned wonders.

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Thin European Cucumbers at harvest.

Bell Peppers-A HUGE! harvest this week…

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Harvesting Bells in the pepper patch.

Sweet summer onions-A favorite of mine and we have TONS!

Pac choi-Add a little crunch to your salad or stir fry this week.

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Pac choi ready to harvest in the morning sun.

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Cut Pac Choi ready to be crated and hauled to the dunk tank.

Mini Cabbage head-Snack has Mini pointy and Full share mini green and purple.

Leaf Lettuce-A nice mix for summer salads.

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Leaf lettuce after a triple rinse.

Red norland potatoes-Great yield this year and so delicious….and more to come!

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-CARROTS!, CORN, TOMATOES, CUCUMBERS, GROUND CHERRIES, HEAD LETTUCE, SUMMER SQUASH AND MORE….

 

 

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