foxlinecityfarm

A fun fast week around here! The 3 inches of rain changed our clean-up plans as we were not too excited to slip around in the mud and pull up irrigation in the sloppy fields. So we kept ourselves busy with hoop house duties and other tasks that have been taking the back burner this summer. And on a few of those chilly days, long johns were on! It is starting to feel like Fall for sure. We are digging the “best ever!” sweet potato harvest whenever we have time and spent a few hours yesterday pulling some beauties from the field. It’s amazing and we are thrilled. Get ready to eat a lot of sweet potatoes!

CSA #14

Head Lettuce-We are rocking the lettuce this year! Beautiful romaine and summer crisp this week.

Edamame-This is the last of that mountain of Edamame we harvested this season. Quick blanch and eat the bean from the pod with a bit of salt. We love it on fresh salads.

Potatoes-This week’s selection is Peter Wilcox. Purple skin and white flesh. Bake, fry, roast, or mash it is wonderful. A delicious all-around potato.

Shallots-A few more of these little delights. We had a great shallot onion season.

Sunflower bouquet-A little beauty to feed the soul. A fun CSA tradition for us in the Fall.

Beets-These beauties came out of hoop 2. This is the last of the beets for the season.

Micro Greens-This is a snappy mix of assorted radishes. The perfect garnish for a fresh salad or a cream soup.

Peppers-We pulled a few more Italian fry peppers from the plants this week. And assorted Bells for full share only. Hot or mildly hot peppers on the extra table.

Baby Spinach!-(Full Share only)-The start of the spinach from hoop 2. Enough for Full Share only this week but more to come. Another sure sign of the change of season to wonderful Autumn.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-Squash!, potatoes, sweet potatoes, head lettuce, carrots, onions, peppers, leeks, and more…..

And just like that Autumn rolls in….the shade cloths coming off the hoop houses always signal the change of season.

We rocked garden clean up this week! We pulled out the early brassicas and tossed them in the compost pile. We pulled the cucumber vines off the trellis and tomatoes too. More landscape tarp came up and stored and irrigation rolled up to recycle.

We direct seeded in some late arugula in hoop 1 and our treat for the week was dig some early sweet potatoes.

We checked the squash and pumpkin patch and almost ready! Hopefully next week we will be able to harvest some winter squash.

CSA #13

Fun fact. The week is our heaviest CSA share EVER! A new record! 1318 pounds going home with members. A bounty!

Head lettuce-Just beautiful lettuce this week from Hoop 1. It is delicious and so pretty.

Watermelon-Another great harvest. HUGE! guys and seedless minis.

Cherry tomatoes-This is the last week (I think) for cherry tomatoes….enjoy the last of these little delights.

Potatoes-Gold rush is the variety and (another) personal favorite. Dry and fluffy great for mashed and fried. Baked too!

Sweet potatoes-Get ready the harvest is amazing. We planted tons and early too to ensure a nice long season after last year’s so so harvest. 2 varieties went in this is the early one.

Peppers-Italian fry peppers in all the shares and cute little lunchbox sweet peppers in full share only this week. Hot peppers and mildly hot peppers on the extra table.

Garlic-more from our stash….garlic will be in every other week until season end.

Onions-1st of the storage onions cured down in our shed.

Kohlrabi-This variety is a german heirloom. A jumbo and not woody. Peel and eat raw or add to stirfry or roast.

Green beans-Full share only this week….and good news the late “hail mary” crop is flowering. We will have a other rotation of late beans! We are thrilled.

Best guess for next week….leaf lettuce, edamame, beets, potatoes, winter squash??, onions, peppers AND another surprise or 2.

Happy September and Happy Back to School for all the kids in our CSA family. It is going to be a wonderful year!

Last of the tomatoes cooking down for delicious winter meals….and our thoughts turn to Autumn squash and potato harvesting.

We had a powerhouse week again. The last of the Fall Spinach was transplanted into hoop 2-the jumbo!!! edamame crop harvested and cleaned, a big beet harvest out and washed for future shares, 3 lettuce rotations decided they were ready at the same time so a great lettuce harvest this week too. Maeve and Jennifer harvested the watermelon as the rainstorm hit, got them all in record time and then danced in the rain to celebrate.

AND we started cleanup!!! An all-time season record for us for being on the ball and tackling this early and not leaving it until the end. Thank you Jeannie for pulling all those beans and cantaloupe and summer squash with us…we even rolled up the landscape fabric. We are on a happy roll!

CSA #12

Head Lettuce Trio-A wonderful mix surprised us this week. Several varieties. Delicious and colorful.

Edamame-Delicious! We love it steamed and eat right from the warm salted pod. Great with fresh salads or in spaghetti sauce. A treat!

Watermelon-A great harvest of the mini watermelon. 3 varieties and some seedless….Sweet and perfectly sized. IF by chance we guess wrong and you receive 1 overripe under ripe or just not quite right please grab another next week. We think we got it but sure hard to know for sure without cutting….A perfect treat to mark the end of summer.

Peppers-We had a great pepper harvest this week. We pulled a few more of the italian fry peppers green as they are so crowded and also pulling the plants over as they are sooooo heavy. More to come. Bells in the Full share this week and assorted mildly hot to hot peppers on the extra table for the members that like a bit of heat. Hot peppers are never added to the shares.

Shallots-The first of the storage shallots and onions. Great mild flavor.

Summer Squash-The OFICIAL END-we pulled the plants. A great run….

Brussels Sprouts!-We planted an extra early variety and started them extra early in the greenhouse. After last year’s sad crop failure we wanted to make sure we had a long abundant season of this favorite. Enjoy the sneak of the bottom of the stalks.

Cherry Tomatoes-Another bounty! Maeve is the super washer and packer.

Slice Paste Tomatoes….this is the end we think….a good long 5 weeks of harvest.

Leeks-The 1st harvest of early leeks enough for Full Share only this week. The BEST with fried potatoes.

Green Beans-(Snack only)-We just started the harvest on this 2nd to last rotation in the garden…more to come.

Radish-(Full only)-We had a small space open up a while back in Hoop 2. We seeded in enough radishes for Full Share. More Autumn radishes to come.

Cantaloupe….(Full Only) These are the last of the cantaloupe from the patch harvested before we pulled the vines.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-potatoes, head lettuce, heirloom kohlrabi-the jumbo guys!, peppers, garlic, watermelon, beets, storage onions and maybe a surprise…..hmmmmmm

Another perfect week. An easy pace with a later start time as it really is not light out until 6 a.m. We ignored the weedy shaggy edges this week and focused on the harvests and a bit of fun before school starts.

The very last lettuce rotation of the season was seeded in cells in the greenhouse-crazy! We still transplant out 300 lettuce plants a week in hoop 1 and will continue this for about 6 more weeks.

And it is tomato sauce time here. Both Nesco crock pots hang out on the counter these days.

We planted a long row of late radishes in Hoop 2 for fun and we dug the 1st of the heirloom potatoes. We peeked under the sweet potato vines and they sure look great. The cucumbers are done and the last picking of cucumbers on the extra table this week and I think we will be coming to a hard stop on the slice tomatoes next week too. We have had a good 5 weeks of tomatoes but we can tell the vines are going down. Expected with this weather and late season but hard to see them go. We are looking forward to Autumn and all the delicious treats to enjoy….best news is we are going to sneak off some brussels sprouts next week for an early taste. The plants are gorgeous and and we planted 2 varieties…1 an extra early variety so we have a nice long season after the crop failure last year.

CSA #11

Head lettuce-A great harvest this week of delicious and crunchy head lettuces we harvested 2 varieties and 1 or both will appear in your share.

Cantaloupe-All we can say is delicious!

Tomatoes-A HUGE! harvest again this week Quart cherries for everyone and a great selection of slicers. This will be the last big week of tomatoes….

Cabbage-Crisp, sweet and fluffy. A perfectly sized medium head.

Heirloom potatoes-These potatoes are amazing boiled or steamed. Also great in tinfoil on the grill. The flavor can’t be beat!

Broccoli Side Shoots-(Full Only)These are the plants we planted in Spring they just won’t quit.

Peppers-We planted 3 different varieties of Bell peppers and small medium and large. A combination of some sort is in every share. We are thrilled after the long wait for the peppers. Also, Italian Fry Peppers this week too. We thinned the plants a bit as they were loaded and the peppers were getting very crowded. Also check the extra table for additional peppers-ancho, jimmy nardello, jalapeno and more…

Summer Squash-A surprise that they are still chugging them out. Longest summer squash season we have had.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-Brussels Sprouts!!! (for real), edamame, green beans, head lettuce, tomatoes, radishes and more…

A very happy week here in the gardens….

Final plantings are all in except for late spinach and the usual lettuce rotations. We are hauling out the potatoes and a beyond great tomato harvest this week.

The storage onions and shallots are just about cured and will appear in future shares. Our cucumber plants are just about done and ready to retire for the season same with zucchini patch #1 and the next rotation of green beans flowering. We did our taste test in the melon patch and think we will start the harvest next week. Fingers crossed.

AND! we went and did our first check of the winter squash ornamental pumpkin patch….fantastic!

CSA #10

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE-TOMATOES-SLICE/PASTE/CHERRY, HEAD LETTUCE, COLORFUL CARROTS, SWEET ONIONS, BEETS, FENNEL, CORN AND SUMMER SQUASH

Tomatoes-Huge harvest this week. Enjoy!

Cherry tomatoes-The most we have picked at one time-EVER!

Head Lettuce-2 varieties harvested this week from Hoop 1.

Colorful Carrots-Harvested from Hoop 2. A fun assortment of color. We love them roasted. And absolutely fantastic chopped fresh in salads. The flavor!…and I totally forgot to take a picture when we were harvesting….

Beets-A favorite here. We love to roast them in the oven and then eat hot or cold.

Summer Squash-Enjoy…Patch 1 is just about done and #2 slowing down as well….we are nearing the end of this summer staple.

CORN! We had to do it again….it is soooooooooooo good this year! Thanks to John Raupp-Raupp Family Farm for providing this treat.

Fennel-Great with a beet fennel salad and delicious grilled too. Shave in fresh salads for a unique flavor.

Garlic-An image from harvest. Scott has all the garlic cleaned up and ready for the shares. We will have garlic every other week. Great harvest thanks to Jeannie and Brad. Bulk garlic for sale starting next week. And who knew-garlic freezes very well for winter meal prep.

Best Guess for next week-melon???, head lettuce, cabbage, peppers and more….

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….

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.

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….

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….

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…..