foxlinecityfarm

We LOVE! this time of year….nothing makes us happier than sweet potato digging and the pumpkin patch.  Cool evenings and beautiful light.

Just finished up another squash harvest.

Evening load of squash and pumpkins….

We started the sweetpotato harvest and we are thrilled with the early peek.  Best crop in many years.

just dug sweet potatoes in the sun.

Our 2 top priorities is to get the squash and pumpkins out of the field and the hoop house up.  We are chugging along with both big duties.

Another load to bring home.

Hoop house going up!

The last of the spinach was direct seeded in the hoop house.  Last rotation of lettuce going in tomorrow and another rotation of Fall radishes too.  We are happy and so satisfied with the bounty from the gardens and grateful for the good people around us that we share with all season long.

SUMMER SHARE #16

Full Share

Snack Pack

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-SPINACH!, HEAD LETTUCE, STORAGE ONION, BEANS, FINGERLING POTATOES, BUTTERNUT SQUASH, SWEET POTATOES, MINI LUNCHBOX SWEET PEPPERS, ITALIAN FRY PEPPER, ARUGULA

Spinach-1st harvest of the Fall Spinach from the hoop house and it is wonderful!  Sweet and juicy.

Picking Spinach in the chilly morning.

Before.

After.

Triple rinsed and ready to go home with CSA members today.

Head Lettuce-A great harvest again of the summer crisp that grows so well this time of year.

Storage Onion-Stronger than the sweet summer onions.  More to come.

Beans-We are thrilled that our late bean planting is producing.  You never know this time of year with cold temperatures and frost.  Green beans in snack pack and thin yellow filet beans in Full share.

Maeve was the bean weigher this week.

Fingerling Potatoes-A great harvest of these gems.  Best fried or grilled.  Fantastic flavor.

Fingerlings washed and ready.

Butternut Squash-A field of butternuts this year.  We grew 3 sizes from mini to jumbo.

Evening Harvest with Butternuts on top.

Sweet potatoes-We just did a quick sneak peek this week to see….it looks fantastic.  3 varieties planted…more to come in future shares.  Get ready!

This HUGE! guy is in a share this week!

Mini Lunchbox Peppers-Best harvest so far this season of these perfect snackers.

Red Lunchbox peppers ready to pick…

and a whole tub of orange.

Italian Fry Peppers-These sweet peppers are having a great season.  We harvest every 3 days and cannot believe how they color up.

Morning Pepper harvest.

Arugula-2nd and final cutting of this favorite spicy treat.

Arugula harvest.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-ORNAMENTAL PUMPKIN, DECORATIVE GOURDS, CARROTS, BRUSSELS SPROUTS, HEAD LETTUCE, PEPPERS, RADISH, CARNIVAL SQUASH AND MORE…..

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Such a great week-again….! A huge lettuce HARVEST came out of the hoop house. 3 rotations at once in this heat.  Harvest, triple rinsed , chilled, and hoop house replanted by dinnertime.  A whirlwind but we wanted to transplant the last of the spinach seedlings out and direct seed in some leafy greens.  We continue to gather up the winter squash and what a bounty.

Winter Squash harvesting.

Scott was able to start some Fall garden clean up.  Always a huge job and sometimes gets pushed to the back burner.  Feels good to see the cucumber trellis down and summer squash patch disappear….AND slowly the new hoop house is being assembled.

Next week we peek at the sweet potatoes-it looks to be a good season for us.  We planted 3 varieties and we look forward to eating the 1st one.

SUMMER SHARE #15

Full

Snack Pack

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-Head lettuce, pac choi, edamame, mini sweet lunchbox peppers, italian fry peppers, baby bell peppers, brussels sprouts, shallots, yellow filet beans, green beans (full only), spaghetti squash

Head lettuce-A fantastic hoop house harvest.  Juicy summer crisp.

Head lettuce in the morning sun.

Pac choi-This is the final pac choi of the season.  Snappy and as I mentioned my all time favorite and Maeve’s go to for after school snack.  We eat it raw.

Edamame-We planted the edamame rotations 3 weeks apart and they reached harvest 3 days apart!  210 pounds between the 2.  Crazy!  Enjoy the abundance.

Edamame on the stalk.  2nd rotation.

Mini Fry Peppers-These are great added to a dish or the perfect snacker.  Sweet and thin skinned.

Baby Bells-They just won’t quit!  This is the last of these little beauties.

Brussels Sprouts-Here they come!  1st picking of sneaking a few of the bottom gave us 100 pounds.

Brussels Sprouts ready to harvest.

Heaven!

Shallots-A few in each share.  We harvest these a few weeks back and they are cured and ready to go.  Great flavor.  Us as you would an onion or leek.  Best cooked.

Yellow Filet bean-Thin and perfect.  This was one of our “Hail Mary” crops several weeks back.  You never know at this time of year with cooler temperature if you will get a crop at all…this warm week was perfect.

Yellow Filet Bean.

Green Bean-(Full Only) The last green bean rotation flowered again and we were able to pick some for full share only this week.

Spaghetti Squash-  This is the last of the spaghetti squash for the season.  Small single serving in the snack packs and bigger ones in Full share.  Roast in the oven and scrap the fiber like noodles from the shell.  Makes a great casserole too.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-CARROTS, FINGERLING POTATOES, STORAGE ONIONS, HEAD LETTUCE, WINTER SQUASH AND MORE…

5 WEEKS REMAIN LAST SHARE OCTOBER 24TH.

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Autumn Bounty from the gardens.  A wonderful week of finishing up our potato harvest with the last crop of fingerlings out of the ground.

Last potato variety out of the ground.  Fingerlings!  Beautiful.  These gems will be in future CSA shares.

We are thrilled with our potato harvest this year.  All varieties except 1 exceeded our expectations.  The red norland harvest was amazing.  We hand dug a few extra early to kick off the season and then when they sized up used the potato digger.  A bounty.  And our test run of 20 pounds of seed potatoes of those sweet little mini “marbles” were a favorite.

Our 1st rotation of edamame is in the share this week.  Huge yield.  In years past we had groundhog issues early in the seasons.  These furry “friends” thought we planted the crop for their dinner and often times chomped down 1/2 the row.  Not this year.  We were proactive and fenced off early.    It took us a full day to pull the pods from the stems and we had help from our friend Barbara to get the job done.  Over 100 pounds and the 2nd rotation ready too.  Best ever.

Edamame harvest begins….

1st load up to the garage for cleaning.

We transplanted out more winter over spinach in the hoop house and late season lettuce too.  We have a bit more spinach to get in the ground but wait for space to free up.  Final tomatoes were picked This has been our longest harvest of tomatoes in many years.  We are grateful for such a bounty.

Our focus transitions to getting the winter squash, pumpkins and Fall ornamental out of the field and curing.  As the vines die back we see tons!  I told Scott we need tee shirts made that say “holy butternut!”.  4 different varieties went in from mini to jumbo and as far as the eye can see it it butternut heaven out there.  We are thankful to Scott’s relatives the Raupp Family for the space and help in allowing us to have the winter squash runway on their beautiful family farm.  This bounty is all because of them.  I cannot say enough.  Winter Squash and ornamentals are my #1 favorite and make me so happy.

Happiness-pie pumpkins from the field.

We roasted 1 of those pie pumpkins as a taste test. We strained it off and I made a savory pumpkin curry soup for dinner to kick off the season.  Delicious!  Next up pumpkin biscuits.

6 shares to go…October 24th Final share of the season.

SUMMER SHARE #14  1102 pounds of garden delights today.

Full Share

Snack Pack

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-Pac choi, romaine head lettuce, 1 slice tomato, acorn squash, pie pumpkin, Italian fry pepper, baby bell peppers, kohlrabi, radishes, edamame, storage onion, garlic, broccoli (full only)

Pac choi-Yes I am still on my “I LOVE” pac choi kick”….Nothing better! It is Maeve’s go to snack raw, we add it to salads for crunch, saute in stir fry and great in broth.  Enjoy!

Pac choi crop in the hoop house ready to harvest.

What a beauty!

Soaking in the dunk tank.

Romaine head lettuce-Sweet crunchy  leaves.  Great flavor and texture…and did you know you can grill it?

Romaine at harvest.

Tomato-1 for everyone and this ends our slice tomato season.  Best run in many years.  Great yield this season.

Last harvest from the tomato patch.

Acorn Squash-1st squash out of the patch.  Enjoy the 1st taste of autumn.

Washed acorn squash ready for the shares.

Pie Pumpkin-Great flavor and smooth texture.  Roast and add to tomato sauce, chili, soups, and bakery.

Maeve bringing the pie pumpkins from the field.

Italian Fry Pepper-So pretty and so sweet.

Look like candy.

Baby Bells-Another huge baby bell peppers harvest.  We are shocked at the number of peppers these plants have produced.  Perfect for snacking or added to salads or soups.

Kohlrabi-last kohlrabi harvest of the season. A CSA favorite.

Scott harvesting the kohlrabi.

Radish-1st autumn harvest of these snappy treats.

Morning radish harvest.

Edamame-LOVE! this as a snack….boil 3 minutes in salty water and enjoy the bean hot or cold.

Edamame cleaning the pods from the stalks.

107 pounds!

Edamame ready for the shares.

Onion-1st storage onions of the season

Garlic-1 head in snack pack 2 in full.  Hard to believe it is almost time to replant.

Broccoli-(full only) side shoots from the powerhouse plants.

Broccoli side shoots.  Yum!

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-BRUSSELS SPROUTS!, SHALLOTS, HEAD LETTUCE, FALL SPINACH???, SQUASH,  CABBAGE AND MORE….

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And autumn arrives in all her glory….We plant gigantic sunflowers throughout the garden late in the season to shine bright and happily greet us as we work harvesting and cleaning up the gardens.  I LOVE! this time of year….the colors are bold and we get to wear long sleeves in the morning sun.  The shade cloth will come off the hoop house this week and another big rotation of spinach is going in.  Our final potato crop-fingerlings are coming out tomorrow and the sweet potato crop looks strong.   The winter squash looks amazing-and bountiful thanks to Cousin John….Joyful is all I can say as we transition to another season.

Happy Back to school to all the kids in our CSA family.  It is going to be a great year!  I know it….

Maeve 1st day of 5th grade.

CSA #13

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE

530 pounds!  head lettuce, baby arugula, leeks, broccoli, oneida potatoes, no spray pears, fennel, cherry tomatoes, slice tomatoes, mini sweet peppers (snack only), Italian Fry peppers, pizza and mini bell peppers (full only), mix baby asian greens (full only).

Full Share

Snack Pack

Head lettuce-big fluffy sweet heads of summer crunch.

Lettuce at morning harvest.

Baby arugula!!-A favorite-snappy.

Arugula at harvest….

Making my way down the row of arugula.

Washed and weighed arugula. Last crop of the CSA share to be portioned off…

Pears-Had to add these in to go with the arugula…We pick them slightly under ripe so let them sit on the counter a few days…We are pleased we did get pears off 3 of our 6 trees this year after the deep freeze of winter.

Pears ready to pick.

Maeve with her pear harvest.

Leeks-We had a great harvest of 2 varieties.  King Richard (lighter green foliage) and Lexington (dark bluish foliage).

Scott hand forking the leeks.

Jennifer “field dressing” the leeks.

A rinse in the dunk tank.

Grading the leeks by size to be bundled for the shares.

Potatoes-Oneida is the variety this week.  Great all purpose potato.  bake, boil, mash or fry.  Perfect for leek soup.

Broccoli-A late season harvest off a small to mid-sized broccoli.  Sweet heads.

Fennel-Delicious grilled or shaved in to salad…we love it with beets if you have any left from last week.

Fennel at harvest.

Cherry Tomatoes-The cherry tomato plants are HUGE! and loaded with cherries…we have actually started to cut back on our harvesting as we suspect that we all are getting cherry tomatoed out by now…the lovely “blueberry” variety is just coming in to high swing and so pretty.

Look at the flower/star on top.

Slice tomato-I think this is it for our tomato season…longest run in many years.  We are pleased with the harvest this season but can see a bit of blight creeping in.

Mini Peppers (snack pack only)-a fun variety called lunch box.  Snappy and sweet and just the right size.

Dividing up the mini lunch box peppers for the snack pack members.

Italian Fry Pepper-1 in every share. Red orange yellow or green were harvest this week.  Sweet.

Not all were this big! But what a beauty.

Pizza Pepper-(full only) A favorite of mine….thick walled very sweet and perfect as a pizza topping.

Baby Bell Peppers-(full only)-cute little guys perfectly sized to toss in a salad or accent a stirfry.

Asian greens mix-(full share only) LOVE this mix lightly wilted with garlic.  Also pretty snappy as a fresh salad.

Asian greens at harvest.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-EDAMAME!!!, PIE PUMPKIN, DARK GREEN ROMAINE, GARLIC, CABBAGE, KOHLRABI, CHERRY TOMATOES AND MORE….

Edamame plants are LOADED!!!! Get ready. 2 huge rotations so we will be enjoying this treat for a few weeks. VERY excited….

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