foxlinecityfarm

We are having such a great season…..Crops are strong, we are strong and we are just and only just staying in front of the weeds but I’ll take that.  It is that really great time of the season where it is all coming at once….the plans we made  in the cold snowy days of late December are now really happening. Our days are long with many trips to the compost pile with load after load of weeds.  At times the bean rows seem to go on forever and we wonder if we will ever get the last of the late potatoes out of the ground because it takes forever to hand fork up those little beauties. Too many cherry tomatoes on the vine can make us take a big deep breath after we say “WOW!” and just start picking…. That overabundance of produce problem that has plagued us all season is a good problem to have….we drop off to the food pantry, give away tons to friends and family-even strangers “just take it-really!”, we eat well, “put up” as much as we can for winter and try not to over pack the shares each week.

The end of season crops are soon to reach harvest and we are looking forward to a whole new round of garden vegetables to enjoy.  We also spent this last week seeding in some late season quick crops.  Long rows of Spinach for a Fall harvest and more with hopes to winter over for Spring Share.  Radishes, swiss chard transplants, beets, more carrots, salad turnips and some broccoli that can handle the cold and snow for hopefully a Winter Share Thanksgiving treat. You never know with that last one and how the season will finish up with the weather.

The ever changing hoophouse. Quick fall crops seeded in on the left and foreground.

3rd Bean planting ready to be picked!

Huge tomato plants.

Paste tomatoes on the vine.

I was starving out in the field and needed a quick snack….looking for a few of the last Summer rasperries and did not know Scott was near.

STILL! waiting for the melons to ripen. We need a few warm nights to help them along. Hopefully next week they will appear in the shares.

Summer Squash Jungle!

We have decided to cut down the summer squash jungle and give us all a break from the overwheming harvest.  It is near to impossible to make our way through the patch and the daily overabundace we harvest daunting.  A 2nd patch we planted later in the season is just starting to produce and summer squash will reappear in late sason shares.  Phew! A difficult decision but good one we think.

Summer Squash Harvest.

And more summer squash harvest.

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE 

Another monster share week!  454 pounds of Summer Wonderful.

SNACK PACK

1/2 pint Cherry tomatoes-The beautiful assorted mix.  Have you picked a favorite yet?

Tomato Mix-It is Pasta/Pizza Sauce week.  A nice container for a homemade batch.

Sauce Herb Bundle-Fresh Parsley, Oregano, and Rosemary for a flavorful sauce.

Basil Plant-Started late in the season and pampered in the greenhouse so it would be perfect, tender and juicy with young leaves when the tomatoes hit. Enjoy!

Sweet Summer Onions-White and Red combination.  These are sweet summer onions and not storage onions.  Keep in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator.

Zucchini-A generous assortment of this powerhouse crop for the week.  It will disappear for the next few weeks for a much needed overload prevention break.  Back again at the end of the season.

Potatoes-Just dug Carolas!  Our #1 favorite.

Mini Sweet Lunch Box Peppers-We have been waiting all summer for these pretty and tasty little gems.

Portioning out the Mini Lunch Box Sweet Peppers.

Lettuce-A juicy butter crunch.  A treat at this time of the season as the variety usually cannot handle the summer heat.  We took a risk and gave it a shot and here it is.

Pickle Pack-Perfect mix for a batch of refrigerator Pickles.

Dill-A generous bundle for pickles.

1 Sweet Big Bell Pepper.

FULL SHARE

Full Pint Cherry Tomato-The beautiful assortment.  Have you picked a favorite yet?

Tomato Mix-It is Pasta/Pizza Sauce week.  A nice container for a homemade batch.

Sauce Herb Bundle-Fresh Parsley, Oregano, and Rosemary for a flavorful sauce.

Basil Plant-Started late in the season and pampered in the greenhouse so it would be perfect tender and  juicy with young leaves when the tomatoes hit. Enjoy!

Sweet Summer Onions-White and Red combination.  These are sweet summer onions and not storage onions.  Keep in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator.

Zucchini-A generous assortment of this powerhouse crop for the week.  It will disappear for the next few weeks for a much needed overload prevention break.  Back again at the end of the season.

Potatoes-Just dug Carolas!  Our #1 favorite.

Scott found a heart shaped Carola potato when packaging. A surprise in a share this week.

Mini Sweet Lunch Box Peppers-We have been waiting all summer for these pretty and tasty little gems.

Spinach-YES! Spinach!!  Hard for us to believe too……Hoophouse grown Spinach in August. We gave it a shot with the projected cooler Summer a heavy shade cloth, lots of water and maybe a bit of magic was involved but it is here and it is good!

Just picked….Tender Spinach in August.

1 Sweet Big Bell Pepper

Tri Color Bean Mix-The end of this colorful harvest.

Beets-The BEST!! we have ever grown.  Just beautiful and tender.  Watered twice a day in the hoophouse.

Fennel-I cannot resist the beet/fennel combo.  A perfect mix in my mind and had to include it in this week risking food share overload.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-CORN, HONEY, SUMMER LEEKS, MELON (HOPEFUULY!), POTATOES, TOMATOES AND MORE……

It is comforting to us to report happy news.  Our garden is the best it has ever been!  The vegetables are thriving, the proper crop rotations are getting in the ground at the proper time,  weeds are at a minimum and we are managing to stay in front of them, our work load does not seem overwhelming, we sleep well and have time for play with Maeve.  We have hit our stride and it feels good.  So, we weed, water, harvest and plant something every day and then repeat it the next day.  A simple, focused life here.

A long chilly week of day and night temperatures have slowed down a few crops-TOMATOES!  They are coming and I am sure with the warmth projected this week we will see more color.  Beans are chugging along but we have yet to pick the big mother load.

Remember these itty bitty beauties last week? We should start picking tomorrow.

The melons are slow to develop too but they are there,  just behind from last year’s growth……

This cold July has been wonderful for our leafy green crops and this weeks lettuce harvest is amazing!

Hoop House “Leafy Greens”.

This weeks lettuce harvest ready to cut.

HUGE! delicious lettuce heads!

Tropicana is this variety and it is the perfect summer lettuce.

We seeded in another long section of storage carrots and this week’s temperature is perfect for germination.

Carrot section under row cover.

The big popcorn experiment is doing well……we are shooting for knee high by the end of July.

The long popcorn row.
To the left is the new zucchini section. Where the garlic once grew.

Scott finished the garlic harvest!  It is counted out, our seed garlic for next year portioned off and all hanging to cure.  1300 bulbs are drying in the shed.  A successful and bountiful harvest.

Onions and shallots are just about ready.  We snuck an onion off of for everyone this week for a taste.  We sampled a shallot last night at supper and it was sweet and delicious.  We are excited to offer shallots for this first time in our CSA shares.

Pears are not as prolific as the HUGE! harvest last year but they are ripening up.  We are hopeful the volume is there for weekly shares.

Pears in our little mini orchard.

The greenhouse is full again of little basil plants.  I like to restart a huge batch so we all have fresh juicy succulent leaves when the tomatoes really hit.

Major Basil!

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE

Another wonderful week of harvest.  Enjoy!  414 pounds of food this week!

SNACK PACK

Lettuce-HUGE! heads of a tasty variety called Tropicana.

Garlic-Another fresh bulb of this favorite crop.  We will take a few weeks break from offering it again while it cures in the shed.

Mint-Refreshing.  Add to salads, fruit or a nice addition to cucumber water.

Summer Squash-An assortment of these little beauties.

Green Beans-Traditional American long round green beans OR the elongated flatten European variety.

Slicing Tomato-Here they come.  Enjoy.  We grow many different varieties-primarily Heirloom so you will experience a huge range in color, taste and size throughout the season.

Eggplant-An assortment of midsize varieties.

Cucumber Mix-Hope you are LOVING!! those little mini thin skinned wonders.  We are!  Also, a few American true pickling cucumbers in the mix too.  These have the spines and a more bitter/tougher skin.

Sorting out the cucumber harvest for this weeks share.

Dividing up the delicious mini snacking cucumbers.

Long Skinny Slicing Cucumber-1 in each share.

Onion-A taste of the delicious summer onion crop to come.

Maeve cleaning onions.

FULL SHARE

Lettuce-HUGE! heads of a tasty variety called Tropicana.

Garlic-A few bulbs of this favorite crop.  We will take a few weeks break from offering it again while it cures in the shed.

Mint-Refreshing.  Add to salads, fruit or an addition to cucumber water.

Summer Squash-An assortment of these little beauties.

Green Beans-Traditional American long round green beans OR the elongated flatten European variety.

Slicing Tomato-Here they come.  Enjoy.  We grow many different varieties-primarily Heirloom so you will experience a huge range in color, taste and size throughout the season.

Cherry Tomatoes-1/2 Pint mixed container of these tasty little gems.

Maeve helped pick the Cherry Tomatoes this week.

Showing off a beauty!

Cucumber Mix-Hope you are LOVING!! those little mini thin skinned wonders.  We are!  Also, a few American true pickling cucumbers in the mix too.  These have the spines and a more bitter/tougher skin.

Long Skinny Slicing Cucumber-2+ in each share.

Cabbage-A delicious mid season slightly flattened head.

Onion-A taste of the delicious summer onion crop to come.

Bouquet OR Berries-the Full share is split this week.  You will receive a garden flower bouquet or a 1/2 pint of Raspberries.  Next week we will switch.

Fantastic raspberry year for us. The first year the patch is big enough to include them in the share.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-potatoes, tomatoes, salsa mix (cilantro, peppers, onions, mini garlic, tomatoes), summer squash, cucumbers, celery, lettuce, beets?, and more…….

This week we will visit the bees and harvest Spring Honey. I cannot wait to see and taste the harvest.

Another wonderful week in the garden….It sure is nice to work in cooler temperatures-but sure slows down the tomatoes, beans, peppers and melons.

Loaded mini sweet pepper plants! Scott trellised them to make sure they would not crack from the weight.

Melons!

Mini single serving cantaloupe.

We seeded in an early heat tolerant spinach and it germinated beautifully in this weather.  The loooooong row of cauliflower and more late season broccoli went in last week.  They love the cool temperatures to settle into their new growing homes. Low transplanting stress.  So, a trade off I guess and we just wait a bit longer for some of the heat loving crops.

All the way down to the telephone pole. Late season cauliflower and broccoli harvest.

The hoop house is in full glorious swing.  Scott and I realized that it has completely transitioned through 6 crops already this year.  Hard to believe.  This space sure has been a powerhouse for us.

Watering in the hoop house crops.

The garlic harvest has begun and we are pleased with the yield.  Fresh garlic is in the share this week with more to come throughout the season.  When the crop is fully harvested  we will condition the soil and a new summer squash patch is ready to take it’s place.  We like to have a second rotation of summer squash to ensure zucchini all summer long. 45 plants are waiting in the greenhouse now ready to go in.

Lots of weeding again this week.  A second pass through the shallots and onions which are heading up nicely.

Summer sweet onions.

Red long Tropea onions.

We are still hand digging all the early potatoes and should finish the big job this week and will work on transplanting out more Fall/Early Winter crops in the freed up space.  Scott checked on the bees and they have been busy.  We will start spinning Spring honey in the next few weeks and appear in future shares.

Pretty Summer cabbage.

We started picking beans every other day and they are waiting for a big blast of heat.  The plants are loaded with beautiful little beans but they are taking their time to “bulk up”.  Several rotations are in the garden now for a steady supply this season.

Scott picking beans.

Jennifer picking beans.

Pretty purple bean flowers.

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE

304 pounds of produce today!!!

Scott packing the shares this morning and dividing up the summer squash.

SNACK PACK

Kale-a Delicious assorted bundle.  Eat raw in salads, wonderful braised or make “chips” in the oven.

Garlic-Fresh garlic and the first of the season!

Summer Squash-A few assorted beauties in every bag.

Cucumber-A mix snack assortment and 1 long skinny Asian slicer.

Cherry Tomatoes-Just JUST! enough for a 1/2 pint of these assorted wonders for snack pack only this week.  Keep on the counter and out of the refrigerator and they will ripen up throughout the week.  13 different varieties this year assorted shapes, color, size and flavor.

Cauliflower-This early cauliflower crop did not head up as we had hoped. Always tricky.  Tasty but tiny heads.  We have 4 more tries in the garden now to get those jumbo beauties.

Pac Choi-The last rotation of my favorite until late Fall.

FULL SHARE

Basil Bundle-A mixed bunch of sweet basil.  Oriental Breeze which is sweet and spicy and Cinnamon (with the pretty purple blooms) which carries the flavor of……cinnamon.

Mini Lettuce-A few compact red mini romaine.

Garlic-A couple of heads of this just dug fresh treat!

Summer Squash-Several assorted varieties in every share.

Fingerling Potatoes-A delicious variety called Tom Thumb.

Cucumbers-A big assorted snack pack and 2 long Skinny Asian Slicers.

Eggplant-Several varieties planted this year and an assortment will appear in your share.

Peppers!!!-1 Bell pepper, 1-2 Poblano peppers and 1-2 Jalapeno. The Jalapeno is a new variety we are testing.  NO/LOW HEAT and all the flavor.

Slicer Tomato/s-We had enough slicer tomatoes ripen this week for 1-2 in each share.  MORE! to come soon.

Beans-1/2 pound bag.  2 varieties separated. A popular giant Italian style with rich flavor and an early green bush bean.

Weed, water, plant and harvest-that is our daily theme around here.  A busy time with the sometimes twice daily visit to the cucumber and zucchini patches but we are on top of things and always exciting to see the healthy and abundant vegetables coming out of the garden.  The pea vines came down, the ground prepped and the big late popcorn “experiment” took their place.  Fingers crossed that there is enough time to reach maturity.  We had good germination in the greenhouse and all 1000 of those little cups were transplanted Saturday morning.  We started the potato harvest and we are thrilled with the yield! Well over 300 pounds.   Our early red norland crop is all out of the ground and in the share this week.

Scott hand forks the plants out of the ground and I harvest from the soil.

Beautiful and abundant potatoes.

Maeve helped wash the potatoes…

There was a lot of this………

distraction……

and this……

distraction………again…….

But we eventually got the washing job done.

Maeve feeling pretty cool about all the potatoes.

Weeding is a top priority and we spent a good part of 2 days cleaning up the zucchini patch with a bit of additional help from our friend and CSA member Barbara.   Weed free and beautiful picking rows.  We will leave it open for a few days, quickly hoe any new weed growth and toss a layer of straw on top.

Tidy Zucchini rows.

A friend has taken up residence in the zucchini patch.  I see him there often when picking.  

We started planting our Fall harvest crops.  More broccoli, cabbage and kohlrabi went in last week and tomorrow long rows of cauliflower again.  The daikon radish was planted and Swiss Chard started in the greenhouse again.  We are preparing beds for big sturdy storage carrots and will plant by the end of  this week.  Our garlic harvest will start and the fingerling potatoes will come out.  A big “to do” list.

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE

320 pounds of garden delights went out the door today.

SNACK PACK

Beets-3 varieties.  The beet greens are eatable too.

Fennel-Makes a delicious salad with beets and cabbage.  Wonderful roasted as well.

Cabbage-An early mini head.  Perfect for slaw, salad or stir fry.

Zucchini-The plants are really starting to produce!  We planted 4 different varieties this year and an assortment will appear in your box throughout the season.  We pick them small and tender.

Scott and Maeve packing potatoes.

Potatoes-  Early Red Norland.  Perfect steamed, fried or mashed.

Cucumbers-Little Munchers.  We saw these appear at the grocery stores last year and loved them.  We scouted out the seed and are testing out 4 varieties.  Enjoy!

Garlic Scapes-The end of these for the season.  True garlic harvest starts this week.

Sweet Thai Basil-A delicious and unique tasting basil.  Great addition to chicken marinades, salad dressing, stir fries or soups.

FULL SHARE

Pac Choi-I do think this is my favorite “green” this year.  LOVE! it fresh as a salad and even more braised with the scapes and a bit of soy.

Cabbage-An early mini head.  Perfect for slaw, salad or stir fry.

Kale-An assorted bundle.  We planted 6 different variety.  Makes wonderful Kale Crisps or fresh in salads.  Great addition to smoothies.

Zucchini-The plants are really starting to produce!  We planted 4 different varieties this year and an assortment will appear in your box throughout the season.  We pick them small and tender.

A funny little guy is going home with someone today.

Eggplant-The plants are going nuts out there!  We have NEVER had eggplant this early.  3 varieties planted so an assortment in the boxes.

Potatoes-  Early Red Norland.  Perfect  steamed, fried or mashed.

Cucumbers-Little Munchers.  We saw these appear at the grocery stores last year and loved them.  We scouted out the seed and are testing out 4 varieties.  Enjoy!

Long Slicers on the vine.

Slicing Cucumbers-Just picked!  The first of the season.

Garlic Scapes-The end of these for the season.  True garlic harvest starts this week.

Sweet Thai Basil-A delicious and unique tasting basil.  Great addition to marinades, salad dressing stir fries or soup.

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July Holiday weekend.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-cucumbers, garlic, potatoes, zucchini, lettuce, eggplant, beans????, cherry tomatoes?????, + more.

We’re good.  Another heavy week of weeding and managing the crops. The garden has loved the rain and steamy temperatures.  Many crops seem to double in size.  The bean plants are flowering and we see little threads of beans forming. Several rotations are in the garden now and  1 more will go in.  A steady supply of beans all season long and bulk canning boxes will be available for purchase if interested.    Cucumber and tomato plants are loaded and the cauliflower is heading up.  We laugh as Scott always says we are finally heading into “real food”.    This is the point in the season where we often rise with the sun to beat the heat and harvest early in the cooler morning temperatures and then guiltily take a quick nap in the heat of the day and return out at dinner time until dark.  It is a schedule that works for us.  I lost the battle with the “carrot pillow” weeding.  7 hours and Scott helping for an additional 4 with little progress…. to me it was not worth the huge amount of time with perhaps low yield.  I asked Scott to till it in.  3 other carrot rotations are in now and another HUGE one going in this week of the larger Fall/Winter storage carrots so we are not concerned just really disappointed that this area got away from us.  The raspberry patch looks great and this will be a treat to look forward to in the near future.  We are hoping to start are early potato harvest next week.  The test plants we dug (and ate) were delicious and abundant.  AND! the tomatoes are ripening!  REALLY!  Soon cherries in the shares and the others not too far behind.  We get pretty excited about tomato season around here as we plant many different heirloom varieties.

First tomato of the season!

Sungold on the vine.

Cherry tomato plants loaded with blossoms.

We are going to experiment.  We ran out of space early season to plant popcorn.  Something I hope we can get in every year and never do.  A cool heirloom variety called Bear Paw.  Well, space freed up this week and we pondered if we should try it or not.  We are on the cusp of having enough time before frost.  70 days to maturity.  After supper one night we went to the greenhouse and seeded in almost 1000 little cups each with a kernel of corn.  We hope for better germination with me keeping an eye on it and also not worrying about weed pressure early on.  Wish us luck as we are cutting it close!

Prepping popcorn pots.

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE

314 pounds of produce this week.  WOW!   A great week!  Enjoy……

Scott with all the produce in the cooler washed, weighed and ready to be portioned out.

SNACK PACK

Lettuce-Nice big bag of juicy assorted leaf lettuce.

Salad Turnips-A favorite in our house.  SWEET! and tender.  Maeve eats them like apples. A wonderful addition to salad, greens can be braised too.

1 of the turnip patches before harvest.

Peas- The end of the season.

Snow Peas- The  flat skinny guys.  Eat pod and all.

Sugar Snap Peas-Pull the string and eat pod and all.

Chinese Cabbage-Fluffy heads that hold forever in the refrigerator in air tight storage.  Eat fresh or stir fry.

Garlic Scapes-The top of the garlic plants.  Taste just like garlic.

Garlic scapes in the plant.

Kohlrabi-A few for everyone.  Crunchy and sweet.

Strawberries-REMAINING BARABOO SNACK PACK MEMBERS ONLY.

FULL SHARE

Spinach-The end of the summer season of this fantastic crop.  We noticed it was thinking about bolting and expected it to happen the week.  We harvested 11 pounds and pulled the plants.

Salad Turnips-A favorite in our house.  SWEET! and tender.  Maeve eats them like apples. A wonderful addition to salad, greens can be braised too.

Peas- The end of the season.

Snow Peas- The  flat skinny guys.  Eat pod and all.

Sugar Snap Peas-Pull the string and eat pod and all.

Shelling Peas-Shell and eat peas ONLY.

Chinese Cabbage-Fluffy heads that hold forever in the refrigerator in air tight storage.  Eat fresh or stir fry.

Beautiful Beets!-A big goal of ours this year is to grow primo beets. A struggle in the past for some reason.  We are on our way.  Several crops in the garden.  Enjoy greens too.

BEETS!

Fennel-Perfect! and right on time for a beet fennel salad. Also wonderful with apples, a potato gratin, or grilled.

Fennel in the garden ready to harvest.

Eggplant OR summer squash-An early start to both of these wonders…..either will appear in full share boxes only.

Eggplant in the field.

Summer Squash plants loaded!

Garlic Scapes-The top of the garlic plants.  Taste just like garlic.

Sour Cherries-Surprise!!!!  We cut each and every one of these little beauties off the neighbor’s unsprayed tree with a snippers.  2+cups each.  Enough for a batch of scones, muffins, or a small crisp.

Cherries on the tree.

The harvest.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-baby kale, cabbage, potatoes!!!!, zucchini,  cauliflower?, sweet thai basil,  + more……..

Another powerhouse week in the garden.  The rain came!!  Just about 5 inches here in a short time and we were starting to worry it would not stop.  Perfect for us and no washout issues or flooding.  We are grateful.  The garden grew in leaps and bounds in response to the moisture and heat.  Tomatoes are growing tall and loaded with blossoms and fruit, the bean plants doubled in size and the watermelon is flowering.  Cucumber vines are inching their way up the trellis,  baby zucchini forming, and  eggplant too which is shocking to us.  The garden is strong and healthy.

Baby Zucchini. Maybe next week a few in the boxes????

Really! This early…. That is eggplant. Tons of them out there.

Cabbage plants heading up nicely.

I was the Weeding Queen all week and my shoulders sure knew it…..we blasted through all the cruciferous crops, fussed with the leeks for hours on end, spent an afternoon hanging out with the rows and rows and rows of potatoes making sure all weed free and perfect.  I have 1 long carrot bed that is calling me yet but the soil was just too wet to tease away the weeds from the thread like baby carrot seedlings.  I am calling that area the “carrot pillow” as there is a nice fluffy canopy of weeds that shouts at me every day when I enter the garden.  A priority this week is the rain hold off.

Taking a break from weeding. Brussels sprouts in front of me and cabbage behind.

We started another row of green beans in the garden. Transplanted another rotation of fennel, kohlrabi, and cabbage out there too.  We direct seeded in a few varieties of Fall Turnips, and anther round of radishes in the hoop house and 2 rotations of lettuce.  AND all our Fall/Winter crops were started in the greenhouse.  Crazy to me that it is time to be thinking about this already.  Busy but it feels good.

Scott had time to add to Maeve’s playground area and got the slide up.  We hope to start the living willow fort this week.  We have had the willow slips rooting in buckets since Spring and excited to get this project started.

Leveling the slide.

Our time and focus now shifts to the daily duties of monitoring harvests along with weed management…..Daily walks around the garden and planning what and when we need to pick.  The major crops are in or started in the greenhouse at this point and now we maintain and enjoy the bounty.

It was another big deal harvest this week!  We are all going to eat really really well.

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE

256 pounds of produce went out the door today.

SNACK PACK

Baby Spinach-Delicious and tender deep green leaves.  I have mentioned this before (a few times) this is our best Spinach year ever!  What we harvested this week was 2 long rows planted as a hopeful early season extender of this tasty crop.  Not a heat lover.  You never know with the summer heat if it will preform or just give up.  We gave this area lots of attention, lots of water and shade cloth.  It worked!   We are glad.

Spinach before harvest.

Spinach after harvest.

Swiss Chard-So pretty.  Long thin tender stalks and juicy leaves.  A favorite of mine.  This crop does not like heat either so it will be pulled and a new crop is already started in the greenhouse for Fall harvest.

Beautiful Swiss Chard before harvest.

Peas!!!!!-They have started and it is a strong crop.  The vines flowered much shorter than last year’s too huge never ending pea crop.  We had concerns.  All is well.  Enjoy the start of the pea season.

Sugar snap-Pull the string and enjoy pod and all.

Snow-Thin beauties.  Wonderful in stir fries or fresh eating with dips or salad.

The pea vines are loaded and Scott even had to add bracing as we were concerned the weight of the crop would pull from the trellis.

Baby Carrots-Sweet!  Maeve says,  “tastes like candy”.  A fantastic harvest for us and a treat.  Enjoy.  I forgot to take a picture this year of how we wash our carrots.   An old wringer washing machine.  Will add pictures here from the past so new members can take a look.

A peek inside at the carrots.

Scott and Maeve having a quick snack break.

Final rinse.

Pac Choi-A  surprise huge harvest for us.  Will keep for weeks in a plastic bag in the fridge.

Dill-This crop doubled in size in the rain.  Makes a zippy fresh dressing, great on fish or add to salad for flavor.  Lots more coming.  Several rotations in the garden for cucumber time.

Strawberries-MADISON SNACK PACK SHARE MEMBERS ONLY

FULL SHARE

Lettuce-Crisp, pretty lime green leaf.  A variety I wanted to try because of the name.  Frizzy haired lady.  This is the time of year we have to get up and in the garden at 5 to pick the leafy greens.  Nice and cool from the evening temperatures.  Rough some mornings but so important to ensure quality.

Broccoli-Those Spring Broccoli plants are producing abundant tasty side shoots.

Mizuna-A spicy asian green that can be sauted or enjoyed fresh in salads.

Baby Spinach-Delicious and tender deep green leaves.  I have mentioned this before (a few times) this is our best Spinach year ever!  What we harvested this week was 2 long rows planted as a hopeful early season extender of this tasty crop.  Not a heat lover.  You never know with the summer heat if it will preform or just give up.  We gave this area lots of attention, lots of water and shade cloth.  It worked!   We are glad.

Swiss Chard-So pretty.  Long thin tender stalks and juicy leaves.  A favorite of mine.  This crop does not like heat either so it will be pulled and a new crop is already started in the greenhouse for Fall harvest.

Peas!!!!!-They have started and it is a strong crop.  The vines flowered much shorter than last year’s too huge, never ending pea crop.  We had concerns.  All is well.  Enjoy the start of the pea season.

Sugar snap-Pull the string and enjoy pod and all.

Snow-Thin beauties.  Wonderful in stir fresh eating with dips or salad.

Baby Carrots-Sweet!  Maeve says tastes like candy. A fantastic harvest for us and a treat.  Enjoy.

Pac Choi-A  surprise huge harvest for us.  Will keep for weeks in a plastic bag in the fridge.

Dill-This crop doubled in size in the rain.  Makes a zippy fresh dressing, great on fish or add to salad for flavor.  Lots more coming.  Several rotations in the garden for cucumber time.

Strawberries- ALL MADISON MEMBERS THIS WEEK.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-fennel, kale, lettuce, garlic scapes, peas, beets???, turnips and more.

A fantastic week of garden duties.  We were weeding fools and it feels wonderful to see the nice clean rows of beets and onions.  Our herb area is all spiffed up and the million itty bitty sweet annie shoots pulled out.  I left 2 because I love the way it smells but I bet I will regret this decision next year as it reseeds itself everywhere.

Scott got all the tomatoes tied up on the trellis.  The plants look strong and robust and it seems they are growing several inches overnight. 

Scott trellising the tomatoes. He trims the lower branches off for improved air flow and also dips his tools in a fungicide after each plant.

Another loooooooong row of summer broccoli went in and the hoop house cleared of a huge lettuce bounty.  We have prepped it and will replant several new crops. We feel good to be on top of thing so far and the weeds not overwhelming.  This is the time of year that weeding must take priority in daily tasks or several crops will be quickly choked out and disappear.  Time was spent in the greenhouse seeding in another round of cabbage, dill, fennel, broccoli (again), lettuces, basil and pac choi.

The garden looks good.  Potato plants flowering and peppers beginning to set.  Lots of irrigating day and night and we are wait for rain.

It was an amazing week of harvest and it seemed that every day there was something else saying “pick me!, pick me!” and we were surprised.  We have the big problem of overabundance and it is a good problem to have…..enjoy this weeks maga harvest of garden goodness.

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE

248 pounds of garden delights went out the door today…..

SNACK PACK

Pac choi-A favorite of mine this year.  Will hold forever in the refrigerator in a plastic bag.  Enjoy braised with garlic (scapes) in olive oil and a bit of soy sauce. Also, delicious raw roughly chopped in a salad with a soy dressing, oranges and almonds.

Tat Soi-  Our “try something new” item this week.  A slightly spicy asian green.  Crunchy stems and green leaves are all edible.  Can be stir fried or eaten raw as an unique addition to the maga lettuce harvest this week.

Arugula- A snappy peppery bunch.  Adds a kick to fresh green salads or amazing on pizza.  A fellow CSA member makes a tasty arugula pesto to be enjoyed over pasta.

Garlic Scapes-The curly tops off the garlic plants.  Tastes just like garlic cloves.  Use as you would garlic cloves in meal preparation.

Garlic scapes in the plant.

Harvesting the scapes.

The long garlic rows.

Sunflower Shoots-Delicious nutty flavor.  Add to amazing salads this week, top off a sandwich or garnish soups.

Sunflower shoots grown in trays in the greenhouse. Before and after “harvest”.

Lettuce Bonanza-We had several lettuce varieties that were ready to pick.  3 unique types that will make a stunning salad.

Kohlrabi-a few of these snappy snackers.

FULL SHARE

Pac choi-A favorite of mine this year.  Will hold forever in the refrigerator in a plastic bag.  Enjoy braised with garlic (scapes) in olive oil and a bit of soy sauce. Also, delicious raw roughly chopped in a salad with a soy  dressing, oranges and almonds.

Tat Soi-  Our “try something new” item this week.  A slightly spicy asian green.  Crunchy stems and green leaves are edible.  Can be stir fried or eaten raw as an unique addition to the maga lettuce harvest this week.

Arugula- A snappy peppery bunch.  Adds a kick to fresh green salads or amazing on pizza.  A fellow CSA member makes a tasty arugula pesto to be enjoyed over pasta.

Garlic Scapes-The curly tops off the garlic plants.  Takes just like garlic cloves.  Use as you would garlic cloves in your meal preparation.

Lettuce Bonanza-We had several lettuce varieties that were ready to pick.  3 unique types that will make a stunning salad.

Baby Spinach-This was 1 of those crops that shouted “pick me!,  pick me!” to us at 6 last night.  So we did in a flurry of harvest and washing and packaging…..we were hoping it could wait a week but with projected high temperatures we worried it could not make it.  ENJOY! the surprise.

Peas!-a pint for everyone. The harvest has just begun.  An early variety called Sugar Ann Snap peas.  Pull the string and eat pod and all.  Delicious.  More to come…….

Saute Mix-A unique blend of many different greens for fresh eating or stir fries.  Delicious over eggs.

Basil plant-Nice big plants to for basil all summer long.

Strawberries-Baraboo Full Share only this week-1 pint. Our patch is not big enough to harvest the quantity needed in 1 picking for all members.  We will rotate groups each week until all members receive a pint.

Belated Happy Father’s Day wishes to all the Dads in our CSA family. We hope you had a wonderful day with your children.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-Swiss chard, peas, carrots, kale, lettuce, mizuna greens, garlic scapes. strawberries, and more…..

A good week and a busy week of the last BIG duties in the garden.  The huge pepper planting job is done!  We are excited about our pepper selections this year.  Last year we tested out a few of the mini sweet peppers that are so delicious for quick snacking.  Perfect for single serving and oh so sweet and beautiful.   These plants performed well in the garden and we received a lot of positive feedback from members about how much they enjoyed them in the boxes last season.  We dedicated a nice long row to these colorful minis called lunchbox and bangles.  We also expanded our sweet bell plantings and planted more of those beautiful Bull Horns named Carmen.  In our opinion the best for summer grilling.  Hot Pepper choices we winnowed down to the delicious anchos and jalapeños.  We are also testing a new jalapeño being offered for the first time that has the jalapeño flavor and no heat.  We will see what we all think of this……The remaining pepper plants were donated to the Baraboo Food Pantry Garden and the Baraboo Community Garden Space.

A nice long row of the mini sweet Lunch box and Bangles Peppers.

Our assorted Sweet Pepper row. We plant these on reflective plastic mulch to increase yield. Scott covers the mulch with straw after we first plant to prevent “sunburn” with the intense sunlight. We will slowly brush back the straw as the plants settle in.

The trellis went up for our cucumbers and I was right behind with the seedlings going in.  Long thin skinned European beauties, TONS! of mini thin skinned snackers, those delicious white salt and pepper guys that are my favorites.  We shortened the row of  true pickling/eating cucumbers that we had an overabundance of last year and thought it would NEVER end.

The cucumbers. We grow our cucumbers on a trellis for ease of picking and keeps them cleaner off the muddy ground.  A nice long row of carrots are under the cloth row cover to the left in this photo.

Other big duties checked off the list this week……spaghetti squash in, melons in, edamame in, a second planting of celery and celeriac, a 3rd planting of green beans seeded in,  loooooooooooooong rows of beets and carrots seeded in the hoop house less than 24 hours after the green onions and spinach pulled and ground prepped.  Hustle Hustle…..

This week our gears shift to weeding and maintenance duties.  Our first and second plantings of beets and carrots need attention.  It is difficult to weed too early as the little seedlings need time to develop.  Well, the weeds grow right along with them and they need to disappear.  Fussy and time consuming to thin and weed.  Our organic sweet potato slips arrived on Saturday and they are waiting until tomorrow to be planted as we were focused on harvest over the weekend.  500+ slips will go in the ground for early Fall harvest.

The tomato plants have settled in and now require support on the trellis.  We grow our tomatoes on panels in an espalier fashion.  Wide rows and lots of airflow improves production.

This is a picture from last year. Tying up the tomatoes….This tool is a huge time saver.

Tomatoes already developing on the vines….the plants are loaded with blossoms and we wonder if we will have early tomatoes this year.

The garden is beautiful at this point in the season…..a quick tour…..

Eggplant blooms.

Potato blossoms.

Next week’s Swiss Chard harvest. Gorgeous!

WHAT IS IN YOUR SHARE

176 pounds of garden goodness went out the door today!

Harvest this week went smoothly.  We are comfortable with the volume required and the time needed to clean and process the produce.  Very little “freak out” on my part.  The plants matured as expected and the weather cooperated.

Counting out the green onion harvest.

Bundles of Green onions ready to be banded….it looks like I am a huge fan of the “spray tan” this year!

Major flash glare on the chalk board today……sunlight “issues” by the cooler.

SNACK PACK SHARE

Lettuce-A nice juicy head.  Lettuce is perfect at this time in the season.  Cooler temps and slower growth.

Radish Medley-The last of the radishes for awhile.  We have cleared the beds and waiting to reseed a few weeks…They hold well in a sealed bag in the refrigerator.

Asian Green-This variety is called Tokyo Bekana.  Bright lime green ruffled leaves.  A bit like a loose Chinese cabbage in flavor and texture.  Can be enjoyed raw in salads or sautéed.  Delicious and a favorite in our house.

Green Onions-A nice bunch of mild beauties.  These were started from seed in Feburary and  harvest from the hoop house.

Broccoli-A snack sized bag from our early broccoli trials.  Small head formation due to the quick transition to summer heat but deliciously tender and flavorful.

Mini Basil Bundle-The Basil plants got a haircut.  A sweet treat for a pasta dish or added to fresh salads.

FULL SHARE

Lettuce-A nice juicy head.  Lettuce is perfect at this time in the season.  Cooler temps and slower growth.

Mini Lettuce Heads-Deep green bib lettuce heads.

Radish Medley-The last of the radishes for awhile.  We have cleared the beds and are waiting to reseed a few weeks…They hold well in a sealed bag in the refrigerator.

Asian Green-This variety is called Tokyo Bekana.  Bright lime green ruffled leaves.  A bit like a loose Chinese cabbage in flavor and texture.  Can be enjoyed raw in salads or sautéed.  Delicious and a favorite in our house.

Green Onions-A nice bunch of mild beauties.  These were started from seed in Feburary and  harvest from the hoop house.

Spinach-A BIG juicy bag and the end of this cool loving Spinach crop until Fall. The plants were thinking about bolting and production goes way down too in the heat so we pulled the plants.  We have 2 long rows of baby spinach planted.  This 2nd variety can withstand the heat a bit more and should be ready in the next week or 2.

Kohlrabi-A few early heads in all full share boxes.  A Maeve favorite and several plantings already in the garden.  These will appear again in future boxes throughout the season.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-lettuce, asian greens, pac choi, sunflower shoots, basil plants, peas?????, swiss chard, and more……

Our entertainment during box prep. Maeve practicing  “flower girl duties” for a fictitious future wedding.

Remember to return your share boxes and bags each week for future reuse.  Thanks!