June | 2020 | foxlinecityfarm

Archive for June, 2020

Summer Share #5 June 25th

Posted in Uncategorized on June 25, 2020| 1 Comment »

Perfect rains just when we were getting a little worried that things were pretty dry…Lots of wet muddy clothes but cool working temperatures.

Coming up for dinner after a big broccoli transplant in the MUD! My boots weighed 10 pounds each!

A great week that zipped right along. We pulled the broccoli plants and had the beds replanted by evening…same with the chinese cabbage crop. Harvest/wash/pull plants/replant.

Evening replanting of the chinese cabbage beds.

A great start to the pea harvest. It is going to be a bounty!

TONS! of peas on the vine….best season yet I think.

Flowers are on the cucumber vines, pepper plants too. Tomatoes are forming and itty bitty beans are there when we peek under the leaf canopy. Big pretty blooms on the spaghetti squash. I bet we will harvest the first zucchini next week.

Zucchini runway in the morning sun. We are playing that beat the clock game again this year….hopefully the peas are done and we pull the trellis before the zucchini plants get too big! Fingers crossed.

Evening Potato patch inspection…we are hoping for potatoes on the 4th of July!

It’s sure starting to feel like summer is here!

SUMMER SHARE #5

Full Share

Snack Pack

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-LEAF LETTUCE, SUGAR SNAP PEAS, SCALLIONS, MINI CABBAGE, CHINESE/NAPA CABBAGE, KOHLRABI, CUT BASIL AND BROCCOLI SIDE SHOOTS (FULL ONLY)

Leaf lettuce-A delicious harvest from hoop 1. The 1st time we grew this mix. Love it! The mix includes salad burnet…a slight piney taste.

Salad burnet in the mix…no not a weed…

Leaf lettuce at morning harvest.

Beautiful!

Harvest complete.

Replanted by evening with romaine lettuce.

Sugar snap peas-The bounty begins! We are harvesting 3 different varieties. Eat pod and all. A great start to the pea bonanza.

A variety called cascadia.

Scallions/Green onions-Great to have fresh onion taste for cooking again after using storage onions all winter long.

Scallions at harvest.

Neat image of tops trimmed and ready for the washing station.

Mini Cabbage-1st harvest from the cabbage patch. We love these mini guys! Sweet and perfectly sized. 2 varieties this week…round and cone shaped. More to come.

The start of the cabbage harvest.

Napa/Chinese Cabbage-We grew 3 varieties. Mini, midsized and big. Medium beauties in the snack pack this week and big ones in Full share. My favorite cabbage for coleslaw.

Chinese cabbage at harvest.

Ready to wash….

Kohlrabi-A great harvest of these white gems…tender and sweet!

A full harvest of these favorites! and good news another huge row is planted too!

Cut basil-A nice big bundle for a great pesto for a hot or cold dish. Also, top on your favorite pizza. Maeve loves it in lemonade.

Basil ready to cut….

Bundling for the shares…

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-HEAD LETTUCE (MY FAVORITE VARIETY), DILL, FENNEL, SCAPES, 1ST TRUE ONIONS!, TONS OF SUGAR SNAP PEAS, BROCCOLI, CABBAGE AND MORE….

We did a quick peek and the 1st onions of the season are ready. beautiful pearls….

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Summer Share #4 June 18th

Posted in Uncategorized on June 18, 2020| 2 Comments »

And the beat goes on…..we settled into a fast rhythm in the garden. Every available planting space has been planted and we are staying in front of the weeds. The Fall rotations of broccoli and cabbages are started in the greenhouse too. The big deal focus last week was a fantastic carrot harvest, pulling the remaining beets and WEED!!!! Hoop 2. We immediately replanted with more beets and carrots for later this season. Done. It looks like a dance hall in there!

Maeve hauling out the last crate of weeds to the compost pile.

Hoop 2 weeded and fully planted with beets and carrots. In the foreground where the Spring spinach and turnip rows grew- we planted a few weeks back…carrots and beets already germinated.

We did an evening check and weed at the potato patch. Looks fantastic! We plant our potatoes at Scott’s relatives farm. Raupp Family Farm. Beautiful sandy soil for potatoes. We are grateful and love this family. I have said it before…..John Raupp is my HERO!!!! He makes this all happen. Thank you John for the dream potato patch.

The potato patch! What a beauty….

The garden is coming on strong with all the warm sunlight and long day length. Scott tied up the tomato plants earlier this week and yesterday noted they have grown 6 inches! Cabbage is heading, pepper plants growing tall, cucumber vines crawling up the trellis and the monster rows of peas are going to hit next week I think. Exciting times and absolutely amazing all rolled up together. Full harvest mode is right in front of us.

SUMMER SHARE #4

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-HEAD LETTUCE, GARLIC SCAPES, CARROTS, KOHLRABI, SWISS CHARD, BROCCOLI (SNACK ONLY) BABY BEETS (FULL ONLY), AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS (FULL ONLY)

Full Share

Snack Pack

Head lettuce-Beautiful sweet green heads from Hoop 1.

Early morning lettuce harvest.

Archie (Mr. 3 legs) hung out with me during the lettuce harvest. It has been a few weeks since we have seen him and always a treat when he says “hello”.

Garlic Scapes-We made our way down the lush garlic rows and cut the tops off to promote heading. Our crop planted in Fall looks strong. Garlic scapes taste just like fresh garlic. Use as you would garlic cloves.

Garlic Scapes ready to be cut.

Carrots!-We are thrilled to have a second harvest of carrots so early in the season. We LOVE! our new second hoop house. These carrots were planted in April.

Carrots from Hoop 2.

Hand pulling the carrots in the early morning sun.

Carrot harvest complete.

Kohlrabi-Our first picking of these beauties….A beautiful white variety that we love. Great crunchy flavor. Enjoy raw as a snack or add to salad.

1st kohlrabi harvest from the outside garden. A full harvest next week of a looooooooooong row.

Swiss Chard-A colorful mix. So pretty. We love it sauteed with eggs and scapes.

Scott washing the Swiss Chard before bundling…

Swiss chard ready for the CSA Shares this week.

Broccoli (Snack Pack Only)-A great harvest of the early smaller head broccoli. We have high hopes to have a HUGE! broccoli year…2 more rotations planted in the garden now and 2 more seeded in cells in the green house for future plantings.

Scott (with his 1st snazzy haircut since I do not know when-winter?) getting ready to weigh 1 of the washed crates of broccoli…

Baby Beets (Full Only)-This is the 2nd pick out of the patch in hoop 2. Tender and you do not even need to remove the skin. Beets are a favorite around here.

Beets washed and ready for Full Share.

Sugar Snap Peas (Full Only)-Our 1st picking in the pea patch…..more to come. It looks to be a great pea year for us.

1st pea harvest. 2 weeks earlier than last year.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-LEAF LETTUCE, WHITE KOHLRABI, PEAS, BABY CABBAGE, FENNEL, DILL AND MORE….

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Summer Share #3 June 11th

Posted in Uncategorized on June 11, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Another fantastic week in the gardens. We are relieved that we did not get any damaging wind, rain or hail. Just a perfect warm soaking shower of 1.25 inches. We transplanted out over 1000 cabbage, kohlrabi and broccoli starts. Another long row of beans were seeded in and edamame too. 160 JUMBO watermelon starts went in the watermelon patch early in the morning after the danger of heat and storms past. We love growing the watermelon starts huge in the greenhouse and transplanting them out late. They seem to thrive in the heat of early summer. Hoop 2 is fully transplanted with carrots and beets where the spinach once grew and we continue to weed every spare second we have. Scott jokes that he cannot keep ahead of the “hay field” grass mowing and weed wacking the edges of the gardens…We seeded in cells for another rotation of broccoli, cabbage and kohlrabi as soon as we finished the transplanting and also tons of lettuce for hoop 1 seeded in too. When we walk the gardens in the morning we are pleased that all looks strong and settled in. The garlic looks fantastic! And the peppers and tomato plants have doubled in size with the heat. They are happy and so are we.

1 of our many runs out in the rain this week to close up the hoop houses again….

SUMMER SHARE #3

Full Share

Snack Pack

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-leafy green asian mix, baby kale mix (snack only), baby beta mix (full only), BEETS!!!!, fennel, mint, micro greens, broccoli (full only) and Pac choi (full only).

Asian greens mix-A slightly spicy mix. Enjoy fresh as a salad or saute.

Asian greens mix ready to harvest in the morning sun.

Kale mix-(snack only)-Delicious rubbed with olive oil, added to a leafy green salad, smoothie or saute as a side. We love the flavor baby kale.

Baby Kale in hoop 1.

Beta Mix (full only)-This is my “go to” side with eggs. I saute a ton with garlic and olive oil and keep refrigerated to have a bit with breakfast in the morning. Also fantastic chopped-skinny stems and all-for a delicious fresh salad.

Beta mix triple rinsed ready to go home with Full Share Members.

Beets!-We are thrilled! These little gems were planted at the end of March. A great first harvest.

What a beauty!

Beautiful beets….note rows behind me-this is where all the Spring Spinach was planted. It is now seeded in with beets and carrots.

Driving the “beetmobile” after the 1st harvest from hoop 2.

We cut the tops off the beets, Scott “polishes” the gems, and they just shine.

Fennel-It is nice when the timing works out….A beet fennel salad is delicious.

Ready to harvest.

Fennel planted in early April.

Trimmed and ready to wash.

Mint-We had to include with the beets and fennel for a wonderful salad. Also, Maeve is hot on making fresh lemonade this year with mint and basil added. Or just added to drinking water is refreshing. Keep on counter or refrigerator in a glass of water.

Mint in the cool morning sun.

Micro Greens-a cute tray of spicy greens to add to fresh salads or garnish a main dish. Keep on counter on a plate and water as needed. Snip with a scissors. When all are cut compost. They will not continue to grow.

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Broccoli-(Full only)-1st cutting! This is the early broccoli-smaller head size and very sweet. More to come-Snack Pack only next week. We hope to be broccoli kings this season!

A developing broccoli head a few days from harvest…

Green Pac choi- (full only)-this is the end of the pac choi run for awhile. Fresh or saute it has a great crunch.

Last of the early pac choi harvest out of hoop 1.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-SWISS CHARD, HEAD LETTUCE, CARROTS!, GARLIC SCAPES, KOHLRABI, AND……FINGERS CROSSED-PEAS!!!!

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Summer Share #2 June 4th

Posted in Uncategorized on June 4, 2020| Leave a Comment »

The tomatoes are in! Always the last HUGE! time consuming job on our long planting list. 420+ plants all nestled in the trellised rows.

Tomato planting….5 rows went in this year!

Tomato Patch is IN!

Scott got the shade cloth on the new hoop house before that big blast of heat rolled in and it sure makes a difference.

Hoop 2 loving the shade cloth up. Just in time….

At least 10 degrees cooler in there. We notice the peas are flowering, the garlic is just about ready to “scape” and early broccoli is starting to head and the cabbages too. Hard to believe but it is summer!

SUMMER SHARE #2

Full Share

Snack Pack

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-BASIL PLANT, PEA SHOOTS, HEAD LETTUCE, SPINACH, RADISHES, PAC CHOI AND CARROTS!

Basil Plant- (2 plants in full share)-Maeve and Jennifer planted the basil plants and did the upgrading to larger pots this Spring. Genovese variety. Plant in the ground or in a pot to enjoy all summer long.

Basil plants ready to go to new homes.

Pea Shots-Delicious fresh pea flavor. Stalks are tender and sweet. Place on a kitchen window sill on a plate and water as needed. Snip vines and add to fresh salads or garnish soups or stir fries. Compost when all vines are snipped.

Pea shoots!

Head Lettuce-Another great harvest of lettuce out of Hoop 1. Assorted varieties were harvested and we mixed it up a bit and assorted varieties went into the shares. Best early season lettuce we have ever grown and we hope it continues all summer long.

1 of the many lettuce varieties out of hoop 1.

And then up for a quick tripple dip in the cool dunk tanks.

Spinach-A great final harvest of our Spring Spinach. 100’s of pounds came off the 2 rows this season and we were amazed. We picked the last crop very early in the morning and then pulled the plants and prepped the area for summer beets. Spinach will return in Fall.

Scott with the final Spinach harvest. We triple rinse, spin and then air dry on this screened rack Scott created.

Radishes-We harvested radishes from an outside planting and inside hoop 2 this week. 2 crops french breakfast and white icicle. Both snappy with a bit of heat.

Looks like peppermint candy! Radishes ready to bag for CSA Shares.

Pac choi-I LOVE! pac choi….it is Maeve’s “go to” snack. She chomps down on the delicious stems. We add it to all our salads, love it wilted down with olive oil and garlic and also added to broth at the last minute. We harvested 2 varieties this week…and I was in such a rush to get it cut in the morning heat I forgot to take a picture of the beautiful green variety (in full share only)….so including image below of an earlier harvest….

Pac choi at harvest….

And chilling in the dunk tank.

Carrots-1st Carrot harvest of the season. These carrots were seeded in early March. A slow go but so worth it! Enjoy!! We have big carrot goals this year. Hopefully LOTS! of carrots throughout the summer. Maeve calls these “real” carrots because of their great carrot flavor.