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CSA #8 July 16th

Posted in Uncategorized on July 16, 2020| 1 Comment »

Well, we all survived the HUGE rainfall last week right at pick up time…Crazy and a bit of a challenge but as we say around here attitude is everything. At least it was not super HOT! It was surreal at times but we kept a smile on our faces and powered on… 2.5 inches dumped down from the sky in a very short period of time.

WET!

Another fun week. ALL the garlic is out of the ground and curing. A great harvest and as soon as we had it all out Scott tilled and created a new bed for our second rotation of zucchini.

Maeve carrying the garlic from the field as we hand pull.

cleaning garlic in the shade.

Headed out to the field to plant 2nd patch of Zucchini.

2 more rotations of beans went in and we are harvesting the sweet summer onions daily. We transplanted the final rotation of chinese cabbage and leeks. The watermelon patch was weeded the last time as after this week I do not think we can get in there anymore. It’s a carpet of vines. Just beautiful.

Maeve in the watermelon patch.

We are going to try for a heart and square shaped watermelon. We ordered these molds just for fun over the winter.

Tomato plants are loaded with fruit and we picked our very 1st ripe beauty. A golden yellow one.

1st tomato from the garden.

Next week we start potato digging….Exciting!

SUMMER SHARE #8

Full

Snack

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-ROMAINE HEAD LETTUCE, KOHLRABI, GREEN BEANS, PURPLE PEARL ONIONS, SWEET SUMMER ONIONS, ZUCCHINI, CUCUMBERS, ASIAN/EUROPEAN CUCUMBERS, MINI CABBAGES

Romaine lettuce-A summer favorite with a great flavor. And get this it can be grilled!

Romaine ready to harvest in the early morning sun.

Romaine at harvest.

Asian Greens Mix-(Full Only)-A spicy mix to add to fresh salads or eat alone as a zippy fresh salad. Can also be steamed.

Asian mix in hoop 1 ready to harvest.

Kohlrabi-We harvested 2 varieties a creamy what and a light green. We love them raw in our salads.

Kohlrabi after washing.

Green beans-Another bounty. I promise not this much next week! Again we are harvesting off of two plantings and you can see the differences in bean varieties. A smaller darker green and a thicker lighter green.

Bean plants are loaded!

Scott putting beans on a tray to chill in the cooler before we tub up.

Green beans all weighed out and ready for the shares.

Purple pearl onions-These are so pretty and perfectly sized for grilling. Excellent in fresh green salads or a cucumber salad.

Beautiful!

Sweet summer onions-We will have these for a loooooooooong time. The harvest has just begun and the row is long. They are deliciously sweet.

Summer onions just pulled.

Zucchini-Great harvest this week of this summer staple.

Morning daily zucchini walk.

Cucumbers-A very nice mix of 6 varieties of snackers. The 2nd rotation in the field just started producing. We pick every morning. Cucumbers store best in a plastic bag that is left open at the top.

Asian/European Slicer-1 or 2 small ones in each share.

These are just starting to produce. harvested daily for a small seed cavity.

Mini cabbages-Perfectly sized for a side dish and wonderful cut in 1/2 and grilled with a bit of olive oil.

Cute pointy guys in the Snack Pack Shares and round and pointy in Full Shares.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-POTATOES!, HEAD LETTUCE, GREEN BEANS, CUCUMBERS, ZUCCHINI, FLAT LEAF PARSLEY, KALE AND MORE….

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Summer Share #7 July 9th

Posted in Uncategorized on July 9, 2020| Leave a Comment »

We are hot but happy. Huge harvests from the garden. We joke that our lives are kinda like the movie Groundhog’s Day. The same thing over and over and over and over…..45-50 zucchinis harvested every morning, 2+ tubs of cucumbers picked and then 25-40 pounds of beans and watering maniacs in the hoop houses and green house. We are blown away with the harvests every morning. Such a great season…and we are keeping up even though we have to change our clothes 3 times a day!

1.25 inches of rain fell and it was wonderful. Just in time as it was dry.

Dancing in the rain.

We planted our final rotation of green beans, transplanted out a bit more broccoli, seeded in a “surprise” for the Fall and weeded the watermelon patch for the last time as I do not think we will be able to get in there anymore. It’s just about a full carpet.

Watermelon patch….tons of baby watermelon.

We weeded through hoop 2 again. Carrots and beets look wonderful and did another big transplant in Hoop 1.

Hoop 1 is now completely dedicated to “leafy greens”.

Peppers are forming and we picked a few early cherry tomatoes. We love summer…

Cherry tomatoes around the corner.

AND

Potatoes too…we did a quick check this week. Won’t be long now.

SUMMER SHARE #7

Full Share

Snack Pack

Leaf Lettuce, baby arugula, mini asian mix (full only) sweet onions, garlic, dill, sugar snap peas, green beans, shelling peas (full only), zucchini, snacking cucumbers, asian/european cucumber.

Leaf Lettuce-A sweet harvest from the hoop house. Perfect for light salads.

Leaf Lettuce triple rinsed and ready to be weighed for shares.

Arugula-A snappy favorite. A spicy peppery flavor. Add to a tossed green salad for a bit of zip or we love it slightly wilted with a bit of vinegar.

Arugula at harvest.

Asian Mix (full only)-A nice mix of asian choi and leafy greens. Beautiful color and texture.

Asian Greens mix in the morning sun.

Sweet onions-We picked a few early as we have 1000’s out there and I also wanted them with the 1st big cucumber harvest. The 2 pair up so well.

Scott with the Early Bird Sweet Onion Harvest. Note brussels sprouts growing tall in the background.

Garlic-Green Garlic. Just picked garlic that has not been dried. Amazing flavor-mild and almost sweet. More to come…A great garlic year for us.

Dill-Had to include this with the cucumber bounty…a nice big bunch. Great with fish too.

Dill in the field ready to harvest.

and headed up to the garage to be bundled.

Sugar snap Peas-This is the end of the sugar snaps….Enjoy. Raw or grilled they are wonderful.

Final pea harvest-the vines are over my head!

Shelling Peas (full only)-The last of these too for the season.

Green Beans-TONS! were harvested and there is a bounty for the CSA this week. We planted 2 rotations 3 weeks apart and they are both ready at the exact same time… We harvest daily so they are small and tender. We call those big guys pencils and who wants to eat a pencil?

Just finished 1 side of the 1st bean row….HOT!

Zucchini-The patch is just starting to really kick in…biggest 1 day harvest is 63.

Early morning zucchini harvest.

Cucumbers!-we planted 6 yes 6 rotations and this is just the 1st 1 starting…we wanted a nice long window of harvest this season…

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK….HEAD LETTUCE, PURPLE PEARL ONIONS, GREEN BEANS, ZUCCHINI, CUCUMBERS, CABBAGE, KOHLRABI AND MORE….

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SUMMER SHARE #6 JULY 2ND

Posted in Uncategorized on July 2, 2020| 2 Comments »

Another great week…HOT! but we chugged along. A few super early mornings and super late nights to avoid the afternoon heat but it works…. The plants sure love the hot temperatures! The cucumbers are kicking in…and summer squash too. The sweet summer onions are sizing up and all the potatoes are flowering. It sure feels like summer and it feels good. Beans have arrived! We have 3 rotations in the fields now so we should have a good long run…full share only this week but a bounty on the way. We transplanted out 300 more broccoli starts, and did a quick second weeding of all the beds in the garden. The big deal focus was peas! Honesty we have never picked this much in 1 week ever! Crazy. If you wondered at all what we were doing this past week and you thought hmmmm, maybe they are picking peas you would have about a 95% chance of being correct. We picked different areas daily and it seemed like it was never ending. They are sweet and delicious and so worth it.

Cool morning pea harvest.

Maeve showcasing the very 1st cucumber harvested from the garden this year….

….and the very 1st green bean.

SUMMER SHARE #6

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-GARLIC SCAPES, LETTUCE, FENNEL, SUGAR SNAP PEAS, SHELLING PEAS (LABELED) ONIONS, MINI CABBAGE, ZUCCHINI, CUCUMBER, GREEN BEANS(FULL ONLY)

Full share

Snack pack

Garlic scapes-This is the end of the scapes…use just as you would garlic cloves. Next week we start the garlic harvest. This garlic was planted last Fall and the crop looks wonderful.

Head lettuce-We harvested 4 varieties from Hoop 1 this week and we mixed it up and did an assortment in all the shares.

Morning lettuce harvest.

One of my favorite varieties…newham.

Fennel-We are huge fennel fans….it is very tasty shredded in a coleslaw and fantastic grilled.

Fennel in the field at harvest.

All loaded on the fennelmobile….

Chilling in the dunk tank.

Sugar snap peas-HUGE! bags-snack 1.25 full 2.25. Tons! picked this week…don’t worry they are tapering off. Try them grilled. Delicious.

Scott pea picking…

Jennifer on the other side of trellis.

Shelling Peas-(labeled) Maeve wrote pink labels for all bags. You must remove the outer shell to eat the sweet fresh peas inside. raw is great…but lightly steamed with salt and butter is heaven.

shelling peas at harvest.

Maeve working at the “pea weighing factory”.

Pearl Onions-1st time we grew these cuties and we love them! shish kebab on the grill. Perfect mini size.

Pearl onions in the morning sun.

Mini Cabbage-These cuties too can be cut and 1/2 oiled and grilled. Sweet!

mini cabbage harvest…pointy guys next week.

Beauties!

1st Zuchinni-Here we go! Enjoy! We pick daily and we pick small. If ever a baseball bat is needed for baking CSA members just need to ask.

Scott with the 1st zucchini harvest of the season.

Cucumber-We pondered long and hard as how to split up the cucumber harvest. We decided we all should have our 1st cucumber together. SO, 1 or 2 in each share this week. Nothing better than a just picked cucumber.

Picked just enough for everyone to have their 1st taste.

Green beans-1st pick of the season yesterday and a bit of a surprise. I thought a few days out yet. Just enough for full share.

1st bean harvest.

Bean surprise!

BEST GUESS NEXT WEEK-GREEN BEANS, CUCUMBER, ZUCCHINI, LEAF LETTUCE DILL, CABBAGE, ARUGULA AND MORE

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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!!!!

IMG_3159 (1)

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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.

A perfect heart.

Always fun to discover the goofy carrots!

A fantastic 1st harvest of carrots.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-BEETS!!!, FENNEL, HEAD LETTUCE, LEAFY GREENS MIXES, MINT, MICRO GREENS, PAC CHOI AND MORE!

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Summer Share #1 May 28th

Posted in Uncategorized on May 28, 2020| 2 Comments »

Well, we just keep rolling….a fantastic Spring for us in the gardens and we did a fast hustle the week break between last Spring Share and 1st Summer Share. 650 pounds of seed potatoes went in….1800 leeks-triple that number for onions, 350 pepper plants, 100 eggplant and seeded in the hoop houses with carrots and leafy greens. The cutting celery and parsley went in as an “end of day job” and we put a long row of tomatillos in just for fun.

Onion planting….2 per hole forever……

A second wave of broccoli and cabbage was seeded in and Maeve helped upgrade all the basil to larger containers. Scott got the tomato trellis up and tomato planting will be our last big job.

Tomato trellis going up.

Our tomato plants hanging out until the go in the garden.

We are loving the new hoop house! Early carrots and beets seeded in and the spinach is the best we have ever grown. We are looking forward to a happy STRONG summer with bountiful, delicious produce.

SUMMER SHARE #1

Full Share

Snack Pack

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-Spinach, head lettuce, beta mix (beet/swiss chard greens), pac choi, tokyo bekana, turnips, and kohlrabi

Spinach-delicious thick walled sweet spinach from our new hoop house. We are thrilled. Nice big bags for the Snack pack share and even more for Full. We love it wilted as a side with dinner and make tons of spinach balls and patties. Enjoy!

Morning Spinach harvest.

Juicy sweet spinach leaves….

Head lettuce-Amazing lettuce harvest this week. Encino is the variety in all shares-Spring and Full. AND Full shares have an additional butter head.

This week’s lettuce harvest.

Headed to the dunk tanks for a triple rinse.

Full Share Butterheads air drying.

Beta mix-A favorite! Great flavor chopped and added to salads raw-the skinny stems are delicious. Or slightly wilt/steam. Amazing.

Beta mix at harvest.

And rinsing in the dunk tank.

Pac Choi-Hoop 1 was loaded with assorted pac choi for 1st share. We eat it raw as a snack and love it added to broth. Full share also received a bag of cut mini itty bitty pac choi too…

Green choi getting a chilling rinse.

Tokyo Bekana-Full Share only-Adds loft to fresh salads. Tastes like a fluffy chinese cabbage.

Morning Tokyo Bekana harvest.

Turnips!-1st turnips from the new hoop house. A great harvest and a favorite Spring crop.

Spring Turnips!

Kohlrabi-Surprise! We were hopeful we could pull this off for the 1st share. Enjoy. Raw with a little salt-nothing better.

Look at those little gems!

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-HEAD LETTUCE, RADISHES, FENNEL, BASIL PLANT, PEA SHOOTS, SPINACH AND………FINGERS CROSSED-CARROTS!

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April 14th Spring #4 FINAL SHARE

Posted in Uncategorized on May 16, 2020| 1 Comment »

A delayed update as we have been hustling in the gardens….

A fantastic week again. All good news. We row covered alllllll the outside planting and inside too in the hoop houses for 5 nights to protect from frost. A huge job to get them under cover but worth it. We lost nothing to the freezing temps and we are grateful. Always a bit risky putting in the early crops.

Covering up the outside crops….we had to haul tons of rocks to hold the row cover down.

And uncovering all when the danger of frost over.

Hoop houses all tucked in too every night.

We are glad the extreme cold seems to be behind us now and we can carry on with direct planting in the gardens.

The huge job for the week was onion planting. We start our onions from seed that we start in late February. We wait and plant a bit later than most to let the seedlings bulk up a little. MUCH easier to transplant. Years ago when we use to plant early with itty bitty seedlings Scott said to me “it is like sticking yard down a hole”. Very funny to me…but a true statement and not easy to do. So we wait a few weeks and the job is much easier.

4000+ onions went out this past week-Sweet, storage and a few fun early varieties too.

Onion planting….

The focus is to “get the garden in” and hours of transplanting is how we organize our days.

Finishing up a row in the setting sun.

Beans have been seeded in, long rows of kale and kohlrabi out and cucumbers seeded in for later transplants. We are on a roll and look forward to a productive week ahead getting the last of the big crops in and slowly transition the hoop houses to summer production.

SPRING SHARE #4

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE.

head lettuce, leaf lettuce, turnips, spinach, chives, potted cilantro, arugula, mini pac choi

Head lettuce-A favorite early season variety. Harvested out of your new hoop house. Juicy and sweet mini heads.

Lettuce at harvest.

Leaf lettuce-A second and final cutting of the leaf lettuce rows. Tender and delicious.

Leaf lettuce ready for morning harvest.

Arugula-2nd and final cutting of this leafy crop. Snappy and has a peppery taste.

Arugula in Hoop 1 ready to harvest.

Spinach-We are blown away with the Spinach this Spring. HUGE!! juicy sweet leaves and 97 pounds again. Our best Spring Spinach harvest ever. Enjoy.

1 week’s growth of the spinach.

Chives- A nice sized bundle cut from the row next to the green house. Delicious with eggs.

Turnips-More of these little springtime gems. Best raw. Sweet flavor.

Maeve in the turnip top cutting factory.

Potted Cilantro- Best placed in a sunny window and snip to add to favorite dishes this week. OR transplant out into a garden or window box.

Maeve took this picture as the Cilantro was growing in the greenhouse.

Green Mini Pac Choi-A little guy to add a bit of crunch to your salads.

FINAL SPRING SHARE THIS WEEK. NO SHARE NEXT WEEK. SUMMER SHARE #1 THURSDAY MAY 28!!!! DETAILS WILL BE SENT DIRECTLY TO MEMBERS EMAIL NEXT WEEK.

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April 7th Spring Share #3

Posted in Uncategorized on May 8, 2020| Leave a Comment »

And the week flew by just like that. A delayed post. After the CSA delivery schedule for the shares yesterday we had to cover all exterior plantings with row cover to protect from frost-we worked until dark. A wonderful week in the gardens. We transplanted 2 varieties of early broccoli out and 3 different cabbages. Over 3000 plants went in over 2 days.

The early broccoli rows.

Scott got the irrigation all set up and the last of the plastic down.

We seeded in radish beds and had a huge turnip harvest from hoop 1 which we quickly reseeded with leafy green mixes for Summer CSA.

The turnips came out….

And by the next day 3 leafy green mixes seeded in.

Maeve and I finished upgrading the peppers and started all the watermelons and zucchini The greenhouse is FULL. We wait for this coldsnap to pass and then we can sprawl out a bit.