foxlinecityfarm

It’s bounty time! With perfect rain-just over 3 inches and perfect weather. Almost a repeat of last week…. Huge HEAVY harvests coming from the garden. We are thrilled with the tomato harvest this week. Enjoy! Nothing tastes better than a fresh tomato.

We pulled the carrots from hoop 2 and the beets came out too. Both of these crops will appear in future shares. We reserved 2 sections in the hoop for Fall Spinach transplants and direct seeded in spinach seed for baby spinach production. Radishes will fill the side wall rows next week.

The zucchini patches were powerhouses but the 1st rotation is slowing down. Cucumbers are near the end of their season and the peppers are FINALLY showing color. We dug the 1st purple potatoes and these appear in Full share this week. Purple is a personal family favorite. Best mashed potato in our opinion and we love them fried.

The Brussels Sprout rows look amazing and we are thrilled as last year was a crop failure and edamame is right around the corner. So many wonderful things to look forward to as the garden shifts again to late Summer and Autumn.

SUMEER CSA #9

What is in your share-corn, head lettuce, kale mix, summer squash, purple beans, cucumbers, potatoes, onions, broccoli side shoots (snack only), bell pepper (full only), slice tomato, paste tomato, cherry tomatoes

Corn-Amazing flavor! From Scott’s relative’s farm. Raupp Family Farm. Absolutely delicious.

Head lettuce-A pretty bicolor summer crisp this week.

Baby Kale Mix-Add it to your fresh salads or a quick saute to wilt with garlic and onions as a delicious side dish. We like to stir it into broth.

Summer Squash-A Strong summer squash season here….and in the heat we picked twice a day-on some days over 50 came from the 2 patches.

Purple Beans-A bounty! These are skinny french filet beans and as you know change color when cooked.

Cucumbers-We are nearing the end of the harvest window. Maybe 1 more week…

Potatoes-The last of the red norlands went to snack pack this week and the start of the purple potatoes in Full Share.

Sweet Summer Onions-Enjoy these wonders as we have the best ever harvest.

Broccoli Side Shoots (snack only) The early broccoli plants are sending out tons of side shoots. Perfect for the weekly stir fry.

Bell Pepper (full only)-FINALLY! a pepper from the garden….it is taking forever.

Slice tomato/Paste tomato-A great harvest this week with several varieties to choose from.

Cherry tomatoes-pint in snack and quart in full. A great assortment in color, size texture and flavor.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-ROMAINE LETTUCE, TOMATOES, POTATOES, PEPPERS, CARROTS, BEETS, FENNEL AND MORE….

Read Full Post »

August arrived! Happy days that are very full of harvest duties. A perfect rain fell right when we needed it most and we are relieved. A bit over an inch and we eased up on the round-the-clock irrigation. We started the every other day visit to the tomato patch and Jeannie and Maeve got all the storage onions and shallots out Monday morning. The melons are growing large and we are still waiting for the peppers to color up. Edamame crop looks fantastic and next week a big carrot harvest. The days are long but we are thrilled with how strong the season is for us.

CSA #8

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-CORN!!! HEAD LETTUCE TRIO, SUMMER SQUASH, CUCUMBERS, CHERRY TOMATOES, SLICE TOMATOES, PASTE TOMATOES, PURPLE FILET BEAN, DILL, PURPLE BASIL, CHINESE CABBAGE, GARLIC AND SWEET ONIONS

Corn!-This is conventional corn grown by Scott’s relatives the Raupp Family. It is delicious and grown by a fantastic family. We are grateful.

Head Lettuce Trio-Great lettuces out of the hoop house this week. A mix in every share.

Summer Squash-We are harvesting twice a day now… patch 2 is in full swing.

Cucumbers-I think this is the peak of cucumber harverst. picked small to ensure a small seed cavity and best flavor.

Dill-a batch of pickles, fish or salad garnish.

Cherry tomatoes-A beautiful mixed selection.

Tomatoes-slice and paste…the 1st of the season

Purple Filet Beans- Long and thin. The purple fades/disappears when cooking.

Purple ruffle basil-delicious genovese flavor. Beautiful on a fresh salad or garnish a paste dish. Makes a fun pesto too.

Chinese Cabbage-We trialed 3 varieties….mini, medium and large. An assortment is in the shares this week.

Garlic- We are thrilled with the garlic harvest this season. Thank you Brad and Jeannie for getting it in the ground last Fall.

Sweet Summer Onions-We will be seeing these in the shares for awhile. A best ever harvest for us.

Best Guess…????-unsure as there are many choices. Cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, summer squash, cucumber, purple filet beans, beets, fennel, carrots and more.

Read Full Post »

Another fast week of abundant daily harvests. We are thrilled with the sweet onions that came out of the ground on a perfect morning. 2 long sections of wonderful. We are making our way through the cleaning of them and they will appear in the shares for many weeks to come. Next week the storage onions and shallots will come out.

AND! best news ever we started digging potatoes!!! A favorite activity and we have been savoring these gems every night at dinner. We hand fork them out of the ground and then carefully lift with our hands as the skins are so tender. It seems like we just planted and I looked back on the calendar and it was 8 weeks to the day that we put the seed potatoes in. Crazy!

Daily harvest with the summer squash and cucumbers and great lettuce in the hoop house keeps us busy. We transplanted over 500 lettuce starts into hoop 1 and started the Fall Spinach too. We planted a “Hail Mary” last green bean rotation. We had the space and thought “why not”….all depends on the weather. 3 rotations of beans are out there now and why not shoot for a late 4th as a treat to finish the season. Next up for beans are purple and maybe even next week.

Scott got all the garlic sorted and crated to cure in the shed. It is a good garlic year for sure….

Peppers are finally sizing up and hopefully slice tomatoes in the shares next week. It’s always fun to see the changes in the garden.

Perfect rain fell of almost 3 inches in 2 days easing the pressure of constant irrigation. We sure are enjoying ourselves these days and look forward to another happy week.

CSA #7

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-Head lettuce, cucumbers, arugula, new red potatoes, sweet onions, zucchini, kohlrabi, basil, broccoli side shoots (full only), and cherry tomatoes (snack only)

Head Lettuce-We harvested several varieties this week-delicious lettuce for your salads.

Cucumbers-The vines have hit full production. We pick them smaller in size so there is a smaller seed cavity and we think the flavor is better and skins tender and less bitter.

Arugula-Snappy! A great peppery flavor. A nice bite added to fresh salads or wilted is delicious with a dash of soy sauce.

New Baby Red Potatoes-finally fresh potatoes. I am not a fan at all of “old potatoes”. The flavor of just dug potatoes is a treat! Steam, boil or roast.

Sweet Onions-Raw or saute they are wonderful. A great harvest and many more will appear in the shares. Best stored in the fridge.

Zucchini-Daily and sometimes twice daily trips to the patches ensure perfectly sized summer squash. AND the baseball bats we sometimes miss are on the extra table for those that wish to make zucchini bread or fritters.

Kohlrabi- 1 in every share for salad crunching.

Basil-Fresh cut this morning….Genovese. Do not put in the refrigerator. Best kept on counter in a glass of water. Snip as needed.

Broccoli side shoots-(Full Only)-The broccoli plants are in full side shoot mode.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-ROMAINE LETTUCE, BEETS, TOMATOES, POTATOES, ZUCCHINI, ONIONS, FENNEL, CHINESE CABBAGE, CUCUMBERS AND MORE….

Read Full Post »

A fast week of abundant harvests and happy days. Daily visits continue to the summer squash patch and cucumber trellises. We crawl down the bean rows every day to pick the perfect green beans. Irragation is our focus now and it is running all day somewhere in the garden. The 1st cherry tomatoes are ripening and slicers sizing up. The big deal harvest here was all the garlic came out on a perfect breezy overcast morning. Scott estimates 1400 head came out and now drying in the shed. Looks to be a best ever!! harvest for us. A huge thanks to our friends Brad and Jeannie who planted all this garlic last Fall when Scott was so ill. We are grateful and the coolest thing is Jeannie was here to help us with the harvest.

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE

head lettuce, garlic, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, cabbage, cherry tomatoes (full only), eggplant (full only)

head lettuce-a beautiful head of fluffy red lettuce. It’s delicious! We love growing assorted varieties to explore different textures and flavors. Enjoy.

Garlic-Just harvested yesterday! When it is just dug it is referred to as “green garlic” not cured. Flavor is amazing….more to come.

Cucumbers!-And the big harvests begins….Vines look great.

We are using the heart and star molds again this season. So maybe a member will get a surprise beauty in the share. Fun on a fresh salad.

Summer Squash-We harvest every morning 6 varieties out there and we pick them small.

Green Beans-Another great harvest week. A bounty. Our bean weigher has returned from camp.

Mini Cabbage-the last of these little gems. We LOVE them sliced thick-a little salt and olive oil and grilled. “cabbage steaks”. Makes a fantastic side slaw or adds some crunch to a fresh veggie salad.

Cherry Tomatoes (full only)-The tomato season has begun! Just enough for full share this week. TONS! more to come….

Eggplant (full Share only)-We harvested 2 varieties this week-Italian (egg shape) and Asian (long skinny). A treat. We love adding to stir fry. Or roasted is a treat.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-HEAD LETTUCE, BEETS, POTATOES, ZUCCHINI, CUCUMBERS, TOMATOES, FENNEL AND MORE….

Read Full Post »

We are rolling along at a fast pace of bountiful harvests! Early morning cucumber crawl and dancing in the zucchini patches. Patch #2 started to kick in which was a surprise….we thought it would be 2 more weeks before we harvested out of there. The long bean rows are visited daily and we pulled 2 rows of carrots in hoop 2. Scott quickly seeded in more carrots the same day and we transplanted 1000 beets that we seeded in cells in the greenhouse to give them a jump start as we were temporarily out of ground space to direct seed into the ground. Fussy!!! job but we got those itty bitty guys in and watered. The irrigation runs all day somewhere in the garden…it is DRY. We did a bit of maintenance in the potato patch and spot checked the early reds. A few weeks yet-but soon! And the best news……. we see color on the cherry tomatoes.

CSA SHARE #5

Romaine Lettuce-Great flavor and the perfect summer lettuce. We have 1 CSA member that loves it grilled. We tried it and love it too!

Carrots-A bounty from Hoop 2.

Green Beans-We are harvesting daily of plants that were seeded in early May. We pick daily to harvest beans on the smaller size as we think the flavor and texture the best this way. And we don’t like to chew on “Woody Pencils”-Maeve’s description of big beans when she was small.

Cucumbers-I’m surprised at the bounty here….we picked the 1st cucumber last Friday and huge harvests every day since.

Onions-These are the 1st onions of the season. Little cocktail onions. Stronger flavor but can be enjoyed raw. We love them with cucumbers for a quick salad.

Broccoli!-WOW! Best broccoli harvest ever…and we see side shoots forming too. A great 1st broccoli harvest.

Zucchini-Here we go! The bounty is starting….

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-Head lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, zucchini, fresh garlic and more…..

Read Full Post »

It’s fun to say we had another great week in the gardens. Everything looks strong and robust and we are keeping up. The 1st bean pick is always fun…that sure says summer to me. Nothing tastes better than a fresh green bean.

Baby peppers and eggplant are forming. I think we may pick the 1st cucumber tomorrow and the vines have reached my height on the trellises. The tomato plants are loving this heat and loaded with tomatoes. Scott spends many hours securing them to the supports. Cantaloupe is flowering and the miles of brussels sprouts are looking fantastic with big thick stalks. And early potato harvest is around the corner….I personally cannot wait as a just dug potato is amazing and we miss the taste. We had the best broccoli harvest I think we have every pulled from the garden. We planted another rotation of beans and chinese cabbage was transplanted out in the row where we harvested the regular cabbage crop. A perfect rain too this week-1 3/4 inch fell overnight and I laughed out loud when I walked into the zucchini patch-the plants doubled in size. Hard to believe that next week we will be transplanting Fall broccoli out and hard to believe it is July. Life is good here-a bit of mud and pants that can almost stand on their own with a thick coating of dirt after we crawl the long rows but we are happy and grateful for it all….

CSA #4

A bounty! Leaf Lettuce Salad Mix, Broccoli, Cabbage, Kohlrabi, Garlic Scapes, Shelling Peas, Green Beans (full only).

Leaf Lettuce Salad Mix-2 different mixes that we harvested and then mixed together. Delicious, sweet and tender leaves. We harvest just at 1st light to ensure great flavor and quality.

Broccoli-A ton of broccoli!! Enjoy the harvest. We are thrilled and more to come next week too.

Mini Cabbage Head-The perfect size. We make cabbage “steaks”. Thick slabs drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper and grill! Char the edges a bit. Great flavor. And these mini heads are perfect for a side slaw. The leaves are tender.

Kohlrabi-A pretty variety. Lite lime colored. Long storage life in the fridge.

Garlic Scapes-Last of the Scapes…we move on to green garlic next.

Shelling Peas-Split the pod and eat the peas-raw or steamed………We harvested the whole crop and pulling the vines. Our pea harvest is wimpy this year. “Environmental Factors”…..we planted late due to the cold wet Spring. Then that oddball heat blast in the 90’s early May and the vines started flowering VERY short….and now this 3rd round of hot days when the peas are usually done is taking it’s toll on the plants that do not like extreme heat! The vines are yellowing. We decided to pick what we can and move on as this is probably as good as it gets. That Fall broccoli will take it’s place once the trellises are down. We are grateful for what we had this ends the pea season for us. Both sugar snap and shelling.

Green Beans-The 1st pick and just enough for Full Share this week. The plants are loaded and we will spend many hours in the rows this week.

Zucchini-Get ready….here they come! And patch #2 just started flowering…

Best Guess for next week….broccoli, zucchini, cocktail onions, green beans, romaine lettuce and more…

Read Full Post »

Some morning we walk out in the gardens and think-“This is pure magic!” We are often amazed at how quickly plants size up. Kohlrabi bulks up over night and the cabbage too. We are watching the broccoli head up now and it will be in the shares next week. Beans are sizing up and the potatoes are flowering. We got the second zucchini patch in, seeded in beets, transplanted tons of lettuce, a late bed of radishes in hoop 2 for potato salad in a few weeks, and Alice we got those sunflowers in!-Plus Scott found a place for a few more rows of sunflowers next to the new zucchini patch. And we weed! Rows are clear and we are addressing our walkways. Oh, we see tomatoes forming too and the plants are HUGE! Sure feels like a great season. Happy Almost July!

CSA #3

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-Head lettuce, kale, fennel, cabbage, sugar snap peas, kohlrabi, sunflower shoots, and a sunflower plant to plant for happiness and cheer at your home.

Head lettuce-We harvested 2 varieties this week. A fluffy green beauty and a mini dark head. All shares received 1 or the other or a combo of both.

Kale-We have great kale this season and it seems it always gets overlooked at share time. So, we are tucking it in the shares early in the season. We grew several varieties and bundled a nice mix for everyone. Chop and add raw to your fresh salads, wilt and enjoy as a warm side, or we love it with wheat berries or other grain for a fun mixed salad with carrots cabbage and garlic scapes.

Cabbage-These sure sized up this week and surprised us. Heads are the perfect size. Slice and grill, raw slaw with the fennel this week or add some crunch to your salads. It’s sweet and delicious.

Chinese Cabbage (full share only)-Another surprise- We grabbed a few of these early birds as they were ready to roll and adding to full share only this week. More to come.

Peas!-The sugar snaps have arrived. Variety is an early variety called Sugar Ann. Eat pod and all!

Kohlrabi-1st kohlrabi out of the field. Perfect!

Fennel-We love the flavor added to a cabbage salad. Grate it or chop it fine, fantastic on homemade pizza, and sliced and grilled is a treat! Fun to try a new flavor if you never have tasted it.

Sunflower shoots-Snip the shoots and add to salads for a nutty taste. Great on sandwiches too.

Sunflower plant-A bit of cheer to add to your yard. Plant by your front door or outside where you can see it from the window. We all need a bit of hope and brightness right now in our world.

Zucchini-(full share)-The patch has just started producing….enough for 1 in full share only this week.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-BROCCOLI, CABBAGE, LEAF LETTUCE, ZUCCHINI, BEANS????, AND MORE…..

Read Full Post »

A HOT! week but a productive week too. We worked early in the morning and sometimes through the heat and then back out after dinner. The watermelon and cantaloupe patches went in. We start the plants in larger containers in the greenhouse-babysit them and transplant out later when the plants are big and strong. Weeding is our top priority these days and we are still on top of it! We made our way down all the potato rows and sweet potatoes too and they look fantastic. We are whispering it may be a “best ever” year for these 2 crops. We don’t want to say it too loud and jinx it.

We see tomatoes starting on the cherry tomato plants and the beans are in full flower. Broccoli is finally heading up and the cucumber plants are vining up the trellises….It feels like summer.

We are excited that peas and zucchini are going to be in the shares next week and we are moving into harvest mode around here.

CSA Summer Share #2

What is in your share-Head lettuce, baby kale mix, garlic scapes, carrots, pac choi and basil plant.

Head Lettuce-We harvest the leafy green crops at first light on these hot days to insure they are crisp and not bitter. We zip them up to the cooler and then triple rinse and then spun dry in Scott’s new invention. He created a leafy green spinner out of a tread mill motor, huge fan guards and red fiberglass left over from a valentine heart project years ago. It works great and what a time saver.

After the lettuce is harvested we try to follow the 24 hour rule. The space is replanted within 24 hours with another rotation….

Baby Kale Mix-Fresh in salads it’s great. I love it sauted with the garlic scapes and eat with scrambled eggs.

Garlic Scapes-Delicious! These are the forming flowers off the top of the garlic plants. We cut them off so the plant puts all it’s energy into forming a big bulb. Tastes just like garlic. Use as you would garlic. Makes a great pesto too.

Carrots!-These crunchy delights were planted in hoop 1 in March. Maeve calls them “real carrots” because of the flavor. We plant the carrots in rows and then between the rows we planted baby head lettuce and in between the lettuce we planted fennel. First the lettuces came out for Spring Share and now the carrots-next week the fennel. We are able to harvest 3 crops out of 1 section of the greenhouse when space is tight in the early season.

Pac Choi-A favorite around here. I roughly chop and saute and then eat a whole one with rice. It is great in fresh salads for a good crunch and charred on the grill is amazing.

Basil Plant-A genovese variety. Cut and enjoy…or transplant to a larger container or your garden to snip all summer long.

Best Guess for next week-peas, head lettuce, fennel, zucchini sun flower shoots and more….

Read Full Post »

What a great time we are having in the gardens. Crops are strong and well watered thanks to all this rain. The plants love the high temps and growing like crazy. It’s fun to watch. The 1st rotation of beans is just about to flower and 2nd rotation germinated this week. We have hoop 2 fully planted in carrots and beets AND! fully weeded. We are thrilled with our new sweet potato supplier and even more thrilled that our shipment was delivered all the way from North Carolina by a wonderful amish man who we met at the Portage Petro a full month earlier then we have ever received our slips in the past. We planted immediately and more good news….we planted 500 slips more then we have ever planted. Fingers crossed for a best ever sweet potato year for us.

The broccoli is about to head, cabbage too. We started cutting the tops of the garlic as the plants are forming scapes, and the peas are flowering. Tomato plants are thriving and Scott has them well trellised. Weeding is a priority now. We need to get the walkways covered this week. Bring on Summer is the feeling around here.

We are grateful the terrible storms have not caused us any grief and skirted around us. It’s wet but be are just rolling along…..in the mud.

SUMMER SHARE #1

leaf lettuce, asian mix salad blend, green onions, radishes, kohlrabi, tokyo bekana, butter head lettuce (full only)

Leaf lettuce-A delicious leaf lettuce blend that we cut VERY early in the morning and wash and chill quickly so it is perfectly sweet and delicious.

Asian leafy salad mix-A great combo of textures with a bit of spice! Can be enjoyed raw in salads or quickly wilted as a warm side. We love it with a dash of soy sauce.

Green Onions-Planted in March in Hoop 1. Harvested and bundled by Jeanie our wonderful helper this summer. Delicious and they have a bite to them.

Radishes-2 snappy varieties in this mix. Enjoy!

Kohlrabi-We planted these in hoop 2 late in March. Great texture and a family favorite. A nice crunch to salads.

Tokyo Bekana-I love it raw added to salad. I love the texture and the color too. It’s perfect and a perfect early season treat as it does not like to grow in heat. We did a quick early morning harvest before the heat wave blasted in and it is delicious and crisp.

Butter head lettuce (full only)-A beautiful lettuce that only grows well in Spring. We planted it between the carrots.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-Carrots!!!!, head lettuce, pac choi, garlic scapes, arugula and more…..

Read Full Post »

We had another fantastic week of getting big jobs done. We have wonderful help this year! Al and Scott got all the trellis up on a very long work day and Jeannie and I followed behind and planted 484 tomato plants. We are grateful for these absolutely amazing people in our lives. Cucumber transplants went out and then we direct seeded more down the trellis rows to extend our harvest season. Hoop 2 is cleared out of all the Spring planted spinach and kohlrabi and beets and carrots have taken their place. We seeded in another round of cabbages, kohlrabi, zucchini and broccoli in the greenhouses now that we have some room in there. AND we returned to the Baraboo Farmers’ Market on Saturday and had a super fun day selling our tomato plants. It’s a fast pace this time of year, full days and we sleep well at night but the gardens look wonderful and we love it!

Spring Share #4

Turnips, radishes, kohlrabi, micro greens, basil plant, head lettuce and spinach.

Turnips!-The last of these buttery wonders from the hoop house. A Spring Favorite for sure.

Radishes-Beautiful and crunchy red “gum balls” for your salad. We planted these in hoop 2 24 days ago. Blows me away how quickly radishes develop.

Kohlrabi-Another great spring crop of a crunchy treat. We love it as a coleslaw, and also shredded in our salads. Big salted slices are also a go to around here.

Head lettuce-The variety is Cherokee. Delicious and Beautiful!

Green Spinach-Jeannie and I harvested the last of it on a very early cool morning and then pulled it all. Spinach will return in the Fall.

Basil Plant-Genovese Type. Perfect for Summer Pesto. Transplant to a larger container if you want it to grow large.

Micro greens-We planted up 2 different varieties. Choose the one you think is the prettiest. Place on a bright windowsill and water as needed. Snip and add as garnish to salads, sandwiches or side dishes. We love it tossed on soup. It is a 1 and done. After you cut all-compost soil.

Green onions-Harvested from hoop 1 and these little guys have a bite to them.

1st Summer Share Thursday June 16th. Same routine. Pick up time is 3-6.

Read Full Post »