foxlinecityfarm

Much needed rain arrived and we are happy. It was a dust bowl out there in that wind. All good now. The brussels sprouts and kohlrabi went in the garden and Scott relaid a few rows of plastic that blew loose….we are taking a risk but planted bean seeds too just for fun. Hopefully the frost does not settle in these next few days. Onions have to wait until the weekend as it is now too mucky to crawl down the rows.

Great harvests this week from the hoop houses. Fantastic lettuces and the turnips are perfect. We pulled the turnips, prepped the soil and immediately replanted with turnips again for future summer shares.

We are excited for the upcoming garden plant sale as we canceled it last year. The heated greenhouse is FULL of tomato and pepper plants as well as other garden delights.

Looking forward to a wonderful summer.

Spring Share #2

Head lettuces, leaf lettuce, arugula, micro greens, chives, turnips, pink spinach

Head lettuces-A thick, sweet juicy variety called Newham.

Leaf Lettuce-LOOOOOOONG rows of perfect leaf lettuce = HUGE! bags of tender sweet leaves in every share.

Arugula-A mild snappy variety with a pretty serrated leaf. Raw or saute it is delicious.

Micro greens-Spicy baby radish sprouts. Snip and add to salads, garnish or sandwiches. Keep on a bright windowsill-water as needed. This is a 1 snip and done. It does not regrow.

Chives-A perennial crop that grows next to our greenhouse. A favorite with scrambled eggs or broth.

Turnips!-The Springtime delight. Sweet and smooth as butter. We love them raw but can be added to a stir fry.

Pink Spinach-So pretty! Thick juicy leaves. Great lightly wilted. The flavor!

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-head lettuce, turnips, rhubarb, spinach, mini green pac choi and more.

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And here we go! A beautiful day for the 1st share….We have had a great start to the season. The weather has been perfect for getting the gardens set and hoop houses prepped. Peas are up outside and all the rows and irrigation set. We planted long rows of early broccoli, cabbages and swiss chard outside last week with fingers crossed the temperatures did not dip too low at night. All good and transplants settled in. Next up the onions will go in and long rows of brussels sprouts and kohlrabi too. The hoop houses are full of fantastic leafy greens that we all crave after this long winter. We are excited to get back to our warm weather routines and days outside.

SPRING SHARE #1

butterhead lettuces, HUGE! bags of spinach, pac choi, tokyo bekana, radish medley, baby kale mix

Butterhead lettuces-A Springtime favorite as this type does not grow well in heat. Sweet and crunchy. Several heads in every share.

Spinach!-1st picking of the Spring transplanted spinach. Thick juicy leaves. Sweet and flavorful. HUGE! bags.

Pac Choi-A family favorite. We love it raw in salads for a bit of crunch…and charred in the oven or grilled is fantastic.

Tokyo Bekana-A fluffy chinese cabbage. Enjoy in a salad or saute with garlic and olive oil.

Radish Medley-3 varieties planted early in the hoop house. Delicious.

Baby Kale mix-We love this as a mixed salad slightly wilted. Great with beans or wheat berries-and of course feta. Or saute with scrambled eggs.

Best guess for next week….head lettuces, leaf lettuce, arugula, salad turnips, chives, PINK! spinach, micro greens and more!

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Happy 2021! CSA enrollment open to any returning FoxLine CSA member for the month of January. If you have ever been a member you are always considered a member of our CSA family. Open enrollment to the waiting list and general public opens February 1.

We are excited for the 2021 season. Share options and pricing too!!! remain the same as last year.

SPRING SHARE

SPRING SHARE 2021 4 consecutive weeks of cool loving crops from the hoop houses starting in May.  A green lovers delight!  Share will include 6-10 different offerings each week.  Tons! of Spinach, lettuce, salad mix, saute mix, sunflower shoots, pea shoots, arugula, salad turnips, radishes, baby carrots, pac choi, asian greens and more!  A delicious treat after the long cold winter!! $130.00 ($32.50 week) SOLD OUT

FULL SHARE

Full Share-18 consecutive weeks starting in June. A perfect share for a family or couple that cooks most weekly meals at home.  Feel free to share a share with another family and split the bounty weekly or every other week.   Weekly offerings of seasonal produce all summer long.  Tons of leafy greens!, spinach, lettuce, salad mix, saute mix, basil, asian greens, pac choi, swiss chard, celery, rhubarb, radishes, carrots, beets, summer squash, winter squash, spaghetti squash, cucumbers, beans, peas, broccoli, cabbage, edamame, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, melons, eggplant, peppers, brussels sprouts, onions, leeks, shallots, garlic, turnips, honey, flowers and more…..Produce is clean, carefully packaged and stored in our walk in cooler until time of pickup. $610 ($33.89 a week) SOLD OUT

SNACK PAC

SNACK PACK SHARE-18 consecutive weekly pick ups starting in June…..Back by popular demand after 2014 launch…..  The perfectly sized share for a single person or busy couple or family.  Smaller portions-1 meal, “ready to eat” produce, low preparation time all considered when we pack the snack pack share.  We love this share!  Seasonal garden produce all season long.  Tons of leafy greens!, spinach, lettuce, salad mix, saute mix, asian greens, basil, swiss chard, celery, rhubarb, radishes, carrots, beets, summer squash, winter squash, spaghetti squash, cucumbers, beans, peas, broccoli, cabbage, edamame, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, melons, eggplant, peppers, brussels sprouts, onions, leeks, shallots, garlic, turnips, honey, flowers and more…..Produce is clean, carefully packaged and stored in our walk in cooler until time of pickup. $390 ($21.67 a week) SOLD OUT

Enrollment form below……click on the “download button”

Fill out the form and mail to FoxLine City Farm with payment. We will confirm all.

Any questions or concerns feel free to contact us by phone 608 393 0383 or email foxlinecityfarm@yahoo.com

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And just like that we reached the end. Our best season ever! Even though a good friend said to me I say that every year….it is nice to say that every season gets stronger and stronger. Thank you for all the returned surveys. The feedback is very helpful in planning the coming year. We had no idea that so many love and this year miss the ginger. We grew it for 3 seasons with hohum results and given the cost of the organic seed stock elected to not grow it this season. We may reconsider now that so many of you mentioned it. Also…seedless watermelon….hmmmm. The flavor is not as sweet but so many of you asked-and said it would be preferred. We will keep making note of all the feedback and plan for the upcoming 2021 season. Our reflections on this year. The garden was strong all season long. The cucumbers were abundant-almost too abundant. We finally got our rotations down…. Best onion and garlic harvests we have ever had. The sugar snap peas were great but the heat sure shortened the season. Our tomato harvest was another “best ever” and hoop 2 provided fantastic spinach and carrots. We need to grow even more carrots….2 additional rotations this year over past seasons but it would be good for even more. We had tons of baby cabbage! And it seems most of you love fresh lettuce every week and we will continue this in the future. We have never missed a week yet of fresh leafy greens….The disappointment was broccoli. We had it but not as much as we wanted. Not sure if it was where we planted in the garden or maybe just bad timing. The eggplant too did not do as well as past seasons-even though it is considered an “extra” we wanted more. We all did great with the open air pick up routine and only had that 1 HUGE! rainstorm to deal with….but we survived. We miss our extra/take it or leave it table and the inside routine too but we all made the best of the situation in the world these days. We decided early on to only have a positive attitude about whatever this crazy year was going to throw at us….Good Food and a smiling face makes everything better! Future bonus shares to come! Happy Autumn to all of you.

#18

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WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-head lettuce, spinach, pac choi, carrots, baby cabbage, brussels sprouts, ornamental pumpkin of your choosing, squash, red norland potatoes, fingerling potatoes (full only), radishes, beans (full only), and purple carrots (full only), honey!

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Head Lettuce-We harvested romaine and a cute many bicolor this week from hoop 1. Both are in all shares…

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After the lettuce harvest we quickly replanted hoop 1 for future Fall lettuce harvest.

Spinach-Another great harvest. Thick, juicy leaves….

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And another peek at our baby spinach experiment.

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Pac choi-delicious in broth! Or we love the crunchy texture in salads.

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Carrots-A great harvest from hoop 2 and 1 more row is still out there!

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Baby cabbage-little sweet heads. Great in a stir fry or slaw. Or add to tacos!

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Brussels sprouts-the plants are sooooo tall. We snuck some more off the bottoms. Enjoy this autumn treat!

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Ornamental Pumpkin-Choose your own they are ready in the driveway! We had a blast filling the bed of the truck every night this week! Thank you John Raupp and the Raupp family for the amazing pumpkin patch on the family farm. We are grateful!

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Squash-Acorns in all the snack packs…a new variety called starry night in all the full shares (a speckled acorn) and sweet delicata in the full shares too.

Potatoes-Scott got them all out! Red norlands in all shares and fingerlings in the full shares too.

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Radishes-1st pick from a long row in hoop 2.

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Beans-Now here is a surprise! Enough for full share.

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Purple carrots (full only)-An experiment….Not sure of the oddball shape but rich earthy taste. I am going to make purple carrot soup.

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Honey-Backyard honey from our 2 hives. Enjoy!

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It seems Autumn has arrived….

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We focus on clean up these days. A little bit every day. The cucumber trellises are down and a few rows of cabbage stumps pulled. An odd feeling to see the space open up. We had our 1st big visit to the squash and pumpkin patch. Just beautiful. With more to come. We keep seeding in the leafy greens in Hoop 1 as lettuce grows thick and juicy this time of year and we will roll along as long as weather permits.

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VERY hard to believe that next week is the final share of the regular CSA season. Honestly the best season we have ever had and honestly it zipped by in a blur. We will offer many “bonus shares” in the weeks to come! So much Autumn bounty. My favorite time of year. Details next week and also our personal reflections on the 2020 season.

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#17 WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-head lettuce, spinach!, potatoes, carnival squash, heirloom “aunt thelma” squash (full only), italian fry pepper, onions, garlic, beans (snack only), sunflower bouquet, fennel (full only), golden beets (full only)

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Head lettuce-fantastic heads of super sweet head lettuce.

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Spinach-over a 1/2 pound in Snack and just over 1 pound Full Share. 1st Autumn harvest out of Hoop 2.

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And a peek at our baby spinach experiment…looking good.

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Potatoes-Well, they are all almost out of the field. This week- either red norlands, a delicious russet that is fantastic fried or grilled, or our favorite mini upstates that we steam or boil.

Carnival Squash-Squash season has begun! Long storage life and super sweet flavor.

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Aunt Thelma (Full only)- an heirloom. Sweet and tastes like a sweet potato.

Italian fry pepper-our favorite pepper. Sweet and delicious raw.

Onions-storage onions…several in every share.

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Garlic-Best garlic year ever! 3 heads in every share. Enjoy!

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Beans (snack only)-a mix of green and yellow The final pick of the season.

Sunflower Bouquet-And again! Enjoy the beauty.

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Fennel-(full only) great grilled, shaved in a slaw or perfect with beets!

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Golden Heirloom Beets (full only)-so pretty when roasted and we love them with roasted fennel.

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BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-FINAL SHARE….HONEY, LETTUCE, PAC CHOI, SPINACH, CABBAGE, POTATOES, SQUASH, BRUSSELS SPROUTS, CARROTS, ORNAMENTAL PUMPKIN(S), AND MORE…..

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A chilly wet week for us….slower pace, long johns and layers to stay warm and dry. The work days much shorter and it feels like Autumn. We just about have all the potatoes out of the ground and we will start hauling delicious squash from the field next week. The ornamental oddball pumpkins look amazing!!! We are thrilled and a HUGE! thanks to John Raupp (my super hero) who makes all this possible for us. Tomatoes are done and I think I picked my last zucchini this morning. Slowly garden clean up will begin when it drys up a bit out there. A sure sign of Autumn….shade clothes off the hoop houses.

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1st spinach pick will be next week…another sure sign of Autumn. Great germination of our experimental baby spinach crop.

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2 weeks to go of our best season ever! What a bounty all season long. Survey in the shares this week….please take some time to let us know your thoughts of this summer and return by end of season. We will share our thoughts of this season in final post.

#16 WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-head lettuce, leeks, potatoes, heirloom pointy cabbage, sweet pepper medley, green/yellow bean mix, brussels sprouts, sunflower bouquets and survey

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Head lettuce-a delicious sweet summer crunch-crisp and juicy in this chilly weather.

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Leeks-We harvested all the leeks this week (2 varieties). Perfect for a hash or potato leek soup.

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Potatoes-We harvested 2 dry varieties this week that are perfect for frying or potato leek soup. Rose gold in snack pack and german butterball in full share.

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Heirloom pointy cabbage-A mini variety that is sweet and delicious. Great for a slaw, fresh eating, grilled or steamed.

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Sweet pepper medley-A mix of ONLY sweet peppers in all the shares-lunchbox, baby bells, shishito.

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Green and yellow bean mix-An end of season treat! This was our “hail mary” planting….sometimes they do not mature this late in the season due to day length and temperatures. We were lucky! Enjoy.

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Brussels Sprouts! -We snuck a few off the bottom of all the plants for a first taste of this end of season treat.

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Zucchini (Full Only)-3 in every full share and this is the end! We picked the last one this morning.

Sunflower bouquets-Another treat! Pretty sunflowers and perfect timing to brighten our week!

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2020 end of season Survey-Let us know what you thought of the season…

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-HEAD LETTUCE, POTATOES, SQUASH!, PEPPERS, ONIONS, GARLIC, SPINACH?, CARROTS, HONEY! AND MORE….

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And just like that we transitioned to Autumn. Dark chilly mornings, dewy cobwebs in our path and caps on our heads. School starts in a not so normal way but we move forward with hope and optimism….Days are shorter and the workload eases a bit and we have the fun of inspecting the pumpkin and squash patch. My favorite time of year.

We may be nearing the end of tomatoes and the cucumbers are done…but our last rotations of beans kicked in this week and we continue to transplant lettuce into hoop 1 and pull carrots from hoop 2.

#15

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE….HEAD LETTUCE, ZUCCHINI, GREEN AND YELLOW BEAN MIX, CHERRY TOMATOES, SLICE TOMATOES, CARROTS, CHINESE CABBAGE, STORAGE ONIONS, CORN!, SWEET ITALIAN PEPPERS, AND BROCCOLI SIDE SHOOTS (FULL ONLY)

Head lettuce-we picked 3 different varieties this week and mixed it up a bit. 1 or more in every share..

Zucchini-With the shorter days and cooler temperatures the zucchini patch is slowing down…2 in every share.

Beans!-yellow and green mixed. We are thrilled.

Cherry Tomatoes-We are near the end of this taste of summer. The texture changes with the cool nights and not as sweet. Savor.

Slice tomato-We may have picked the last of these beauties this morning too….

Carrots! Sweet and crunchy. A great harvest from hoop 2.

Chinese Cabbage-A fun mini variety…makes a great slaw. And delicious in a fresh salad.

Storage onions-These are the 1st of the storage onions….picked some time ago and curing in the shed. Long shelf life.

Corn!-HUGE! Surprise from Cousin John. 4+ inches of much needed rain and some warm temperatures and….magic! Delicious sweet corn to end the season.

Italian fry peppers-the start of these beauties-my favorite.

Broccoli Side Shoots-(Full only)-We had a nice harvest of the side shoots this week in the broccoli rows…

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-BRUSSELS SPROUTS!!!! TONS!!!!, HEAD LETTUCE, ASSORTED PEPPERS, LEEKS, FENNEL, POTATOES, TOMATOES? AND MORE….

 

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A happy HOT! week of progress.  We are trying something new this season.  We seeded in loooooooong rows of spinach seed directly into hoop 2.  Tight rows densely seeded in.  We are going to try for the perfect baby spinach.  We read up on it last winter and thought we would give it a shot.  So, 2 huge rows are transplanted with 1000+ spinach transplants (as usual) and then we did 5 tight rows of direct seeding to see what happens.  We are excited to see the results.

We had a great carrot harvest this weeks and also transplanted out long beds of radishes for Fall harvest.  This may be the end of the cucumbers for us.  What a great run!  Congratulations to all for eating more cucumbers this season than ever before….holy cow we were blown away by the volume.  And also very surprised that the 1st rotation kept producing all season long.

Several cabbage rotations are coming in from the garden and the tomatoes have hit their peak we think.  Colors are turning in the garden and the mornings are dark.  It feels like Autumn is around the corner even though it is blazing HOT!

Irrigation runs around the clock these days….the rain has always missed us.  Maybe today.  We are hopeful.

#14

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-HEAD LETTUCE (2 VARIETIES), EDAMAME, CUCUMBERS, SWEET LUNCHBOX PEPPERS (SNACK ONLY), BABY GREEN BELL PEPPERS (FULL ONLY), SLICE TOMATOES, CHERRY TOMATOES, ZUCCHINI, RED NORLAND POTATOES, MINI UPSTATE POTATOES (FULL ONLY), BABY CABBAGES, GREEN BEANS (FULL ONLY), GARLIC

Head Lettuce (2 varieties)- Beautiful! lettuce this week.  We are thrilled.  2 varieties in every share….

Edamame-A summer treat.  Quickly steam in salty hot water, drain, cool slightly salt again and pop from the pods and eat.

Cucumbers-This may be the end….I picked them big again just for fun.

Sweet Lunchbox Peppers (snack only)-These are sweet!  Delicious raw and in salads.

Baby green Bell peppers-(full only) Another harvest of these little gems…

Slice tomatoes-HUGE! harvests again this week.  Our best tomato year in a very long time.

Cherry tomatoes-The perfect snackers and also fantastic roasted in the oven.

Zucchini-The 2nd rotation is carrying us now.  Morning daily harvests of 30-35.

Red norland-We are working hard on getting all the potatoes out of the ground.  Not an easy job in this heat.  2 rows out this week…..red norland and the cute little white mini guys.

Baby cabbages-We love to grow these….perfectly sized for a meal-the best sweet slaw and they are fantastic sliced and grilled.

garlic-A great garlic year for us….plenty for us to enjoy.

Green Beans-(full only) This was a surprise yesterday!  We thought we had a week…more to come-picked enough for full share.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-head lettuce, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, green beans, tomatoes and more…..

 

 

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We rocked it this week…!  HUGE! tomato harvests,  spaghetti squash and a carrot rotation for a future share all came up from the garden…fantastic cucumbers and summer squash from the 2nd rotation-high volume of produce to haul and process but we are thrilled.  We sleep well at night and the garden is a bit shaggy around the edges right now but all good.

1000 spinach transplants went in hoop 2 and we transplanted a ton of Fall lettuce into hoop 1.

Final crops going in the week and it sure does feel like Autumn with the cool dewy mornings.

#13

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-HEAD LETTUCE (SNACK ONLY) MINI ASIAN MIX (FULL ONLY), ARUGULA, CUCUMBERS, ZUCCHINI, BROCCOLI (SNACK ONLY), PURPLE FILET BEANS (FULL ONLY), CHERRY TOMATOES, SLICE TOMATOES, SPAGHETTI SQUASH, ONIONS, SHISHITO PEPPERS (SNACK ONLY), BABY BELLS, BANANA, EROS SWEET PEPPERS (FULL ONLY)

Head lettuce (snack only)-A beautiful dark tricolor…sweet flavor.  Perfect summer lettuce.

Mini Asian Mix (Full Only)  LOVE! this mix.  Enjoy as a fresh salad or saute.  It is fantastic with a bit of garlic and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Arugula-zippy peppery flavor.  Spicy.  Add to salads or lightly wilted.

Cucumbers-We had a member request…big old fashioned cucumbers-so I kept myself out out of the patch for a day and we grew some big guys on the vines.  Instead of daily harvest we went to every other day just for something different this week.  My Grandpa Lang always harvested big cucumbers.  Grandma then prepared them sliced with vinegar, sour cream, mayo and TONS! of onions.  A summer staple in their home.

Broccoli-(snack only)-Side shoot bounty…we are thrilled with side shoot production this week.  Enjoy!

Cherry tomatoes-HUGE! Harvest  Pint in Snack double pint in Full.

Slice tomatoes-I think they have peeked this week.  TONS! Enjoy the bounty.

Spaghetti Squash-We harvested the tan beauties this week-snack pack…and the orange guys in full share.

Onions-Yes finally the last week!  We have had the best onion crop EVER!

Peppers- Shishito (snack)/baby bells,banana, and eros (full)-pepper season has begun.  We NEVER put hot peppers in our share.  Hot peppers will be an “extra” and we will ask if you would like them.  Shishito are a delicious thin walled japanese pepper.  kinda green pepper flavor.  VERY mild.  baby bells, banana and petty eros in full share are all sweet too.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK….BABY CABBAGE, HEAD LETTUCE, PEPPERS, TOMATOES, GARLIC, POTATOES, SUMMER SQUASH AND MORE….

 

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A bit of a delay as HUGE! harvests fill our mornings…all good and we are grateful for the bounty.

As usual for this time of year the week zipped by.  We are thrilled with the tomato bounty.  Our big goal was to grow some decent beets and we did-finally!  We have not excelleled in this area in the past.  It feels good to have a great harvest.

We did plant a final broccoli crop-just to see if it makes it.  A late variety that we have harvested in the snow in past year.  We will see.  Always fun to try.

Peppers are coloring up. We had to do some selective thinning on the italian fry peppers as there are tons on the plants and they are crowding themselves out.  Green fry peppers went in the full shares this week.

A big cabbage harvest is in front of us this coming week and the tomatoes too are strong.

CSA #12

what is in your share…head lettuce, cucumbers, leeks, potatoes, zucchini, kohlrabi, beets! carrots, watermelon, slice tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and green italian fry peppers (full only).

Head lettuce-a pretty head from hoop 1 this week.  Sweet juicy leaves.

Cucumbers-I thought we would quit picking the 1st rotation weeks ago…they keep producing.  BUT, I can see a slowdown the last few days with the shortened day length.  I love picking the cucumbers small with a tiny seed cavity.  Just delicious.

Leeks!-I love leeks!  This is a early season leek variety.  We start these seeds in February.

Potatoes-OF COURSE we had to include flaky dry superior potatoes with the leeks.

Zucchini-2nd rotation is taking over this week…this should be the last week we pick out of the 1st patch.

Kohlrabi-This is a cool german jumbo variety.  No woodiness at all…shave it in salads or fantastic in coleslaw….

 

Beets-As mentioned earlier…we really wanted a good beet harvest and here it is!  Enjoy!

Carrots-We are thrilled with the carrot harvest.  Nothing better than “real carrots”

Watermelon-this is the final week of watermelon from the patch.  A sweet harvest.  Remember last year we lost the crop early to disease.  Great to have a fantastic harvest. Watermelon is summer to us.

Tomatoes-HUGE! harvests every other day and we are thrilled.

Cherry tomatoes-The perfect snack.  We love the deep brown ones best called “brown berry”.

Green Italian Fry Peppers (full only)- more to come….

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-CABBAGE, TOMATO, CHERRY TOMATO, LETTUCE, ARUGULA, ZUCCHINI, PEPPERS, SPAGHETTI SQUASH AND MORE….

 

 

 

 

 

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