foxlinecityfarm

Weeding and watering was our week. Irrigation runs all day long somewhere in the gardens….a constant these days. We are keeping up and life around here looks good. This heat makes for early morning work and then an evening return to the gardens to finish up. Both hoop houses are fully planted with carrots-(colored ones too!), beets and assorted leafy greens. The field crops look fantastic and all are strong except for the peas which I am not even going to mention again. We will get what we get from the 2nd pea rotation and move on. The vines are struggling in this heat and no matter how much water we dump on them it is just too hot. Not a pea year that’s for sure.

The mini head cabbages are sizing up and the cucumber vines are flowering and the eggplant too. Green beans are around the corner! The 2 rotations of chinese cabbage headed up earlier than expected and the mini variety in the shares this week. The potatoes at the farm are growing tall and getting ready to flower. We ordered 2 new varieties this year just for fun and 1 is pink-fleshed! Potatoes are a favorite.

We picked the 1st summer squash this morning and it is on the extra table….I’m sure by next week there will be enough for the shares….Zucchini harvests signal the start of summer to me….and here we go!

CSA #3

garlic scapes, turnips, head lettuce, beets, kohlrabi, broccolini (full only), onions, chinese cabbage, swiss chard.

Garlic Scapes-Nice thick stalks with great garlic flavor. Use as you would garlic.

Turnips-This is the last of the springtime turnip harvest. Best turnip harvest ever for us.

Head Lettuce-A delicious lettuce harvest again this week. Enjoy the harvest from Hoop 1 with extras available too if anyone would like more from the extra table.

Beets-These beauties were started early in our greenhouse in individual cells and transplanted out into hoop 2 for an early harvest. Delicious. Sweet flavor as they grew slow and in cooler temperatures.

Kohlrabi-This is from our 1st outside planting. 2 varieties white and light green. A great raw addition to fresh salads.

Broccolini (full only)-We are enjoying this early treat. Taste just like broccoli. Love it on the grill or panfried with the garlic scapes.

Onions-The surprise rockstars of the week. I was walking by the onion area and decided to take a peek. Shocked they were ready. These are the early cocktail onions-variety is Eclipse. More to come next week too.

Swiss Chard-We had a great harvest of these tender stems. Scrambled eggs and chard are a breakfast treat. Also a quick saute with garlic scapes and onions and a splash of soy sauce is a perfect summertime side dish.

Chinese cabbage-Another surprise this week….it jumped up a few weeks in harvest date. Enjoy in fresh salads, stir fry or we love it in broth.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-head lettuce, micro greens, broccoli?, summer squash, broccoli, onions and more

This crazy weather! After that blasting heat-this oddball cold. We got down to 37 the other night and actually worried about frost!

It’s dry. Irrigation is the daily theme around here and it runs all day in some area of the garden. We are keeping up but we sure hope for some rain. This past May was the 4th driest May on record and we seem to be down almost 4 inches from normal rainfall. With irrigation the garden is strong. Cabbage is heading up and tomatoes growing tall. We are crawling down the rows and securing the vines to the trellis.

The garden loved the heat-except those peas which I have mentioned before. We harvested those ankle high pea vines from our 1st planting….and filled a small bucket. Disappointing. Our 2nd planting looks a bit better but not a good pea year due to the heat and drought.

The onions are sizing up and the 2nd planting of edamame has germinated. Our 1st green bean planting is starting to flower. And we are happy to see zucchini forming. A sure sign of summer arriving.

The garlic scapes are forming and we will cut next week for the CSA Shares.

We replanted Hoop 2 with 2 sections of carrots and 1 of beets. Hoop 1 we replanted with leafy lettuce and another rotation of arugula where the radishes were. The greenhouse has a whole new round of garden delights. Late kohlrabi, more cabbage, lettuces and broccoli. And another round of basil that should hit right when the tomatoes are at their peak.

We are focused on weeding-everyday we make our way down some row with a good audio book. Next week we will hit the potato patch (which looks fantastic!) and through the brussels sprouts and then we will be fully weeded out-for now.

Summer CSA #2

What is in your share-head lettuce, baby kale mix, pac choi, turnips, carrots, pea shoots, pink spinach, radishes, scallions (full only), broccolini (snack only)

Head lettuce-We love this lettuce. Big beautiful leaves and a robust flavor.

Baby Kale Mix-A nice addition to a fresh green salad. Also, delicious slightly wilted in a grain salad with added veggies and feta.

Pac choi-This is the last of the pac choi until Fall. Asian greens do not like to grow in heat. Fresh or in a stir fry they have a great crunch.

Turnips-Best turnip harvest ever! The creamy texture and sweet taste is a early season treat.

Carrots!-The flavor!!!! Spring carrots grown cold and slow are delicious. These seeds were planted in March. Enjoy.

Pink Spinach-The end of spinach until Fall. Remember to chop up the pretty stems in salad or warmed up sides. The stems have the best flavor.

Pea Shoots-Delicious pea flavor. Keep on a bright windowsill, water as needed. Snip and add to your fresh salads, add to sandwiches or as garnish. This is a 1 and done after snipping it does not regrow.

Radishes-A huge radish harvest out of Hoop 1 this week. Big bags of these garden gems for everyone.

Best Guess for next week-Beets, head lettuce, garlic scapes, micro greens, swish chard, kohlrabi, maybe chinese cabbage….and more!

We had a very busy 1 week break between Spring and Summer Share pick-up. AND we are thrilled to say as of last night-every single crop we wanted to have in the ground or seeded in is in! Even some extra wish list treats are out too. We had a few full days but it sure feels good to have the really big jobs behind us. Around 300 tomato plants went in on a not too hot day. A long row of cherry tomatoes, 2 rows of red slicers and a split row of heirlooms and paste.

Over 2000 sweet potato slips went in at the farm. Our fantastic helper Jeannie and Jennifer blasted down the rows and we had it all done in a bit over 4 hours.

We weeded all the broccoli and onions and leeks and cabbage on a very hot day and the garden looks very spiffy.

The watermelon patch went in and the cantaloupe patch too….2 very long rows of cucumbers were transplanted and 2 long rows of 2nd rotation cabbage. More carrots were seeded in Hoop 2 where we pulled the spinach. A woodchuck decided to chomp down 3/4 of our 2 rows of edamame just as it was coming up. A BIG bummer but we had the space so we quickly reseeded in another area of the garden. We will just have to wait an extra week or 2 to eat edamame later this summer. Leaf lettuce was seeded in hoop 1 and more lettuce was transplanted in the hoop too. Hard to believe but I seeded in Fall broccoli in the greenhouse this week and more dill for itty bitty fronds for our cucumber salads later this summer. We are on a roll and final feel over the Spring planting hump. The plants sure grew in that heat wave and look robust….all except the early peas. They did not like the heat at all! They decided to flower and it seems too early as the vines are small. The earliest planting is already forming peas and I joked with Scott we will be picking peas on ankle-high vines! We are not going to have the pea bounty of past years due to that heat wave but we will have peas for sure right around the corner.

Summer Share #1

What is in your share-Basil Plant, head lettuce 2 in snack,3 in full, turnips, spinach, kohlrabi, arugula, tokyo bekena, pac choi, broccolini (full only)

Basil Plant-A nice Genovese variety to take home and transplant out into the garden or a larger pot.

Head lettuce-A great harvest this week of 3 different varieties….2 heads in each Snack Pack Share, 3 in each Full Share

Turnips-We have had our best harvest ever of the turnips! We planted tons VERY early in the hoop houses and had a great yield. Enjoy this springtime treat. The smooth texture and sweet flavor are wonderful. Delicious raw.

Spinach-This is the last of the Spring planted Spinach. We harvested and pulled the plants as they do NOT like the heat at all. We will replant again for Fall.

Kohlrabi-This is the kohlrabi we planted in hoop 2 in early spring. A crunchy addition to your salads.

Arugula-We planted a nice long bed in hoop 1 for this spicy treat. Enjoy as a snappy addition to a fresh salad or lightly wilt as a warm side.

Tokyo bekena-I’m a huge fan of this early season green. It’s got a great flavor and texture. Taste like fluffy Chinese Cabbage.

Pac Choi-We love this charred on the grill or in the oven and then add a shake of soy sauce. And it is fantastic raw in salads.

Broccolini-New for us this year after a failed attempt many years ago. It seemed this winter every time we went out to eat broccolini was on the menu. We decided to give it another shot-2 varieties and it is delicious! A quick toss in the frying pan with a bit of olive oil and garlic. Taste just like broccoli. Full Share only this week but more to come.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-HEAD LETTUCE, TURNIPS, BEETS!, PAC CHOI, PINK SPINACH, RADISHES, BROCCOLINI AND MORE….

Another happy week around here. We are chugging along. The 1st zucchini patch is planted with 54 assorted zucchini plants. Eggplant is in and we decided to add a few more plants this year. We planted a 1/2 row eggplant and finished the row with tomatillos and call it our novelty row. A new lettuce rotation went in hoop 1 and more lettuce seeded in the greenhouse. We seed in 300 every week to keep our rotation steady. Lots of watering and the irrigation is running somewhere all day as it is dry! All the tomatoes and peppers will go out this weekend and it will be nice to have some space in the greenhouse again.

Spring Share #4

green spinach, head lettuce trio, turnips, kohlrabi, green onions/scallion, basil plant

Green spinach-a HUGE! bag of juicy green spinach. Very flavorful.

Head lettuce trio-3 different heads of lettuce from hoop 1. Unique in texture and flavor.

Turnips-We are thrilled to have these little gems for 3 weeks of the Spring Share. A very good turnip year for us. Enjoy the delicious flavor that can only be found in early Spring.

Kohlrabi- great flavor with a great crunch. We love kohlrabi. Can be enjoyed raw or roasted.

Basil plant-These are ready to go to new homes. Started from seed about 7 weeks ago. Italian Genovese Variety.

Green onion/Scallions-First onion of the season. Strong flavor. Raw or cooked they add that fresh onion taste after a long winter of storage onions.

NO SHARE NEXT WEEK.

1ST SUMMER SHARE THURSDAY JUNE 8TH

A happy productive week around the gardens and the days zipped right by. The biggest news is the potatoes are all in! A bit over 310 pounds went in the ground in a little over 5 hours. Our wonderful helper Jeannie placed them down the rows and we rolled along quickly. Always a relief to have that big job behind us. We are excited as we are trailing a few new potato varieties this year for fun. Pink fleshed beauties I am most excited about this Fall. See what the first few harvests bring.

A very long row of leeks went in….about 3500 in total and 3 different varieties. Scott said a long time ago it is like sticking yarn in a hole. It takes patience but I had a good audiobook and it was a beautiful day. We planted 2 sections of edamame. Fun to dream about eating this crop later in the season.

We reseeded the turnip area in the hoop houses with carrots, transplanted lettuce starts, another row of beans and 2 varieties of kohlrabi. 1 variety of the 3 we planted of sugar Snap peas did not germinate well so we opted to replant with a stronger variety. It’s a hustle this time of year. Over the weekend our good friends and helpers Brian and Al came and all the supports went up for the tomatoes, cucumbers and peas. We are grateful for the help of these wonderful friends. Scott got the shade cloth on hoop 2. A sure sign that summer is coming.

Peppers and Tomatoes are our last big deal job and we will start planting the end of next week. The garden is filling up and it feels wonderful.

Spring Share #3

What is in your share-Pink Spinach, mini head lettuces, micro greens, turnips, kohlrabi, pac choi and cilantro.

Pink Spinach-DELICIOUS! So beautiful…makes a very pretty salad. Be sure to eat the stems as they hold the sweetest flavor. There are recipes out there for just spinach stems! Google if interested as there are many.

Mini head lettuces-We love these little gems….great fresh taste and are crunchy.

Turnips-We have the full harvest out of the ground and are thrilled with the yield. This is a Springtime treat. This Japanese variety only grows well in cooler temperatures….the taste turns bitter in the heat.

Micro greens-We love snipping and adding these baby radish starts to fresh salads. A bit of a snappy kick!

Kohlrabi-1st Kohlrabi harvest out of hoop 2. These were transplanted out in late March for an early treat. Scott likes to comment that all the leafy greens are delicious but nice to have some “hard goods” in the spring shares.

Purple pac choi-A variety called Rosie. Grilled, sauteed, or raw it has great flavor.

Cilantro-We have several trays of cilantro ready to cut for these members that love the flavor of this tasty herb. A nice accent to Mexican dishes and fresh salads.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-FINAL SPRING SHARE-GREEN SPINACH, HEAD LETTUCE, GREEN ONIONS, BASIL PLANT AND MORE….

We are having our Tomato Plant/Garden starts sale in the driveway this Friday and Saturday 8-4 both days! Tons of tomatoes-slice including heirloom, paste and cherry. Peppers, basil. broccoli, broccolini, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, leeks, kale, brussels sprouts ground cherry and more….

A fun week around here….long rows of swiss chard went out in the garden and the 1st rotation of green beans seeded in. Cucumbers started in the greenhouse and a whole new rotation of asian greens. Friends came over the weekend and helped lay landscape fabric down our walking rows for a weed barrier and it looks snazzy out there. Scott has the irrigation set and running and we will lay the summer squash tarps this week for zucchini planting. We harvested 4 long sections of turnips from hoops 1 and 2 and they look fantastic. Carrots will be seeded in once the areas prepped. Feels wonderful to be back at it again! A few long days and early mornings but we sure are happy.

SPRING SHARE #2

What is in your share-head lettuce, leaf lettuce, radishes, baby kale, turnips, sweet potatoes and spinach

Head lettuce-A sweet and delicious butterhead variety of lettuce. Only grows well in Spring. A CSA favorite.

Leaf lettuce-Nice big bags of this tasty treat. Scott jokes it is like washing tissue paper! All our lettuces are tripple rinsed and air dried before we bag up for the shares.

Radishes-The garden gem medley from hoop 2. This finishes out this rotation.

Baby kale mix-Harvested small from hoop 1. Delicious in fresh salads or slighty wilted too.

Turnips!-The shining star of the week. We planted tons early this spring in booth hoop houses. They are delicious. Sweet and the texture! smooth as butter. Enjoy this delight.

Spinach-this is the 1st picking of our Spring planted spinach. Great harvest!

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-Mini head lettuce, PINK SPINACH, pac choi, micro greens, kohlrabi?, turnips and more….

We love this time of year. New beginnings and hopeful. The hoop houses are planted with early-season crops and the outside garden is going in with cold-tolerant plantings. Long rows of broccoli, and broccolini too this year- cabbage, chinese cabbage, brussels sprouts and kale all in. We finished up the onions yesterday and calculated that about 9600 went in those rows! We joke when crops go in…”sure hope we have enough!” Peas are poking up and the garlic is tall. Our heated greenhouse is jammed FULL with all the tomatoes and peppers, squash and melon starts. The next rotation of hoop house crops are ready to be transplanted. Scott had to add two “additions” to the greenhouse this year and it now has wings on either side! A nice strong start to the season.

Spring Share #1

Spinach-A favorite Spring treat. This is the Spinach we transplanted into hoop 2 last August and wintered over. This is the final picking of winter-overed spinach. Next week we will transition to the 1st harvest of Spring planted spinach.

Pea Shoots-Keep these beauties on a bright windowsill on a saucer. Water as needed-Snip and eat the tender shoots with salads, as a garnish or wilt in a broth or stir fry for a delicious Springtime treat. Flavor is just like a fresh pea. This is a 1 and done. Will not regrow. Compost after all the shoots are cut.

Tokyo Bekana-A family favorite. A flavorful Asian Green. Tastes like a fluffy Chinese Cabbage. Add to raw salads or sandwiches for a bit of crunch or loft. Can also be quickly wilted and enjoyed as a warm side dish. We like to add a few shakes of soy sauce after wilted. Enjoy!

Pac Choi-2 varieties. Add to your fresh salads and enjoy raw. Grilled and slightly charred is fantastic. We also oven-bake on a cookie sheet for our veggie side at meals. Long storage life too.

Leafy baby greens mix-This is a fun little mix of assorted baby greens. Enjoy raw.

Radish Medley-We have 4 varieties planted in hoop 2 and will continue to harvest through next week.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-HEAD LETTUCE, LEAF LETTUCE, BABY KALE MIX, PAC CHOI, SPINACH AND MORE

Happy New Year!

We are very excited to launch the 2023 Season. Last year was a “best ever!” season for us again and we are looking forward to another strong and happy season with our CSA Family. Our 12th Season sharing our gardens with the community.

The 2023 CSA Enrollment is open for the month of January to any past member of FoxLine. Enrollment to the general public and waiting list opens on February 1.

Download/Copy the Enrollment form below or contact us at foxlinecityfarm@yahoo.com and we will add you to the list!

SPRING SHARE

SPRING SHARE 2023 4 consecutive weeks of cool-loving crops from our hoop houses starting in May.  A green lovers delight!  The share will include 6-10 different offerings each week.  Tons! of Spinach, head lettuce, salad mix, saute mix, sunflower shoots, pea shoots, micro greens, arugula, salad turnips, radishes, baby carrots, pac choi, asian greens, and more!  A delicious treat after the long cold winter!! Produce is clean, carefully packaged, and stored in our walk-in cooler until the time of pickup. $155.00 ($38.75 week) 

FULL SUMMER 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, flowers and more…..Produce is clean, carefully packaged, and stored in our walk-in cooler until the time of pickup. $715 ($39.72 a week)

SNACK PACK

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, and 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, flowers and more…..Produce is clean, carefully packaged, and stored in our walk-in cooler until the time of pickup. $500 ($27.78 a week)

Our Pick up routine remains the same….consecutive Thursdays at our house 1200 Carpenter Street Baraboo WI. All produce will be washed and ready in our cooler in returnable cloth totes ready to go at pick-up time. Spring Share 4pm-6pm Summer Share 3pm-6pm. Outside open-air pick up available upon request.

We will confirm by email all membership and payments received.

Let the season begin!

Thank you! We made it to the final pickup of the regular summer share season. It is fun to say we had the best-ever season! We love sharing the bounty of the gardens with our CSA Family. We have said it many times before but we are beyond grateful for this life we have and so thankful for the members of our CSA family. Much love to all of you.

A beautiful week of final duties. We STILL! have digging to do with the big sweet potato harvest but think all will finally be out of the ground next week. It feels good to see the space open up in the main gardens and the compost pile grows. Scott has most of the trellising down in the gardens and we have irrigation to pull. The hoop houses are planted with late seasons greens for the bonus shares but the ground is opening up in there too.

It has been a near-perfect season for us and we are glad, relieved and a bit tired all rolled together. Thank you to all members that returned the survey. It is very helpful in planning and we appreciate the honest opinions on this season. Overall we feel very positive about the summer. The weather was wonderful and we had a bounty of rain. Our tomato season was strong and that is always a relief as so much time is dedicated to this crop. We were happy with 8 weeks of harvest but a bit disappointed that the heirloom varieties were not the powerhouses they have been past seasons. We had great cucumbers and zucchini and the bean rotations seemed to hit the mark. We reached our annual yearly goal of fresh delicious lettuce every week in our shares. We do not think any other CSA does this and we are thrilled we are able to pull it off through the summer heat. We had a best-ever season with many crops, kohlrabi, carrots, onions, lettuce, spinach, potatoes and sweet potatoes. Brussels sprouts were strong this year after crop failure last year due to mildew. Cabbage and early broccoli were great too. Oh! edamame was perfect this year and we felt the volume just right. We were happy with the beet rotations that came out of hoop 2-this is a crop we struggle with a bit for some reason and we are happy with our decision to only plant in the hoop house and we are happy we transplanted those itty bitty transplants to get a jump on the harvest. Cousin John’s Sweet Corn rocked! Absolutely fantastic and we are grateful with the Raupp Family Farm sharing their delicious sweet corn with us. The disappointments are few but there are always a few. Our second rotation of broccoli grew huge and strong in the summer heat and rain and then those big damp heads baked in the hot afternoon sun and rotted. Ick! And sad to watch. We were bummed with the pepper harvest too. Peppers were there but not the bounty we hoped for. Over all we are happy with the season and feel satisfied with our rotation of variety and quality.

Scott just did the total for the season…..13,344 pounds of produce went home with share members this summer. WOW!

A thank you to our helpers Jeannie and Al who were there when we needed them. Happy workers that made life easier. And a thank you to all again who kept us going last Fall when Scott was ill and supported us in so many ways….everyone of you made this season possible and we are beyond grateful.

CSA #18-Final Share of the 2022 Summer CSA Season

Head Lettuce-Another juicy, delicious and beautiful head lettuce.

Arugula-A snappy treat for the final share. Great added to fresh raw salads or a light wilt with a bit of salt for a warm side.

Potaotes-The variety this week is gold rush. Great for soups but can be baked fried or boiled.

Leeks-Love the flavor in hash or of course potato leek soup.

Sweet potatoes-We included both varieties this week in the shares…

Squash-Snack choose 1 Full Share choose 2-several varieties to choose from.

Onions-Storage that will last several months.

Pie Pumpkin-A varietiy we love. Heirloom. Very dry and creamy. Perfect for soup, bars or pie. Thin walled so not a long storage life….Fall ornamentals here for thise members that would rather have a decorative and not bake a pumpkin.

WE WILL TAKE 2 WEEKS OFF TO GET THOSE SWEET POTATOES OUT OF THE GROUND AND DO SOME CLEAN UP AND THEN OFFER “BONUS SHARES”. I WILL SEND OUT NOTICES ON FACEBOOK AND DIRECT EMAIL AS TO COST AND WHAT WILL BE IN THE SHARES.

A happy week here to kick off October. Fun days in the autumn sun digging out the sweet potatoes and hauling loads out of the pumpkin and squash patch. We are beating the frost expected Friday night. We have a ways to go with the sweet potatoes but what a harvest!

We love this time of year with all the colors and wonderful bounty! It sure is heavy and we are running out of storage space but we are not complaining-this has been a near-perfect season for us and always fun to say “best ever!” Spinach and lettuce are amazing this week from the hoop houses and the hoop houses will chug along hopefully until Christmas as we like to harvest on Christmas Eve for fun…We have the last leeks to pull from the main garden this coming week and the outside gardens will be ready to be put to bed.

#17

Head lettuces-A perfect pair and just delicious.

Sweet potatoes-A different variety this week-bayou belle. Enjoy!

Spinach-A huge harvest out of hoop 2. Very flavorful.

Brussels Sprouts-A treat for sure. We snuck some more off the stalks and got 100 pounds. Roasted or pan fried they are delicious. Or shaved in a slaw make a great raw salad.

Radishes-A snappy addition to fresh salads….

Garlic-This is the end of the garlic for the season.

Onions-More storage onions cured in our shed. These will last several months.

Squash-Several varieties to choose from…snack select 1 full share select 2.

NEXT WEEK FINAL SUMMER SHARE OF THE SEASON. WE WILL TAKE A 2 WEEK BREAK (FOR GARDEN CLEAN UP) AND THEN OFFER “BONUS SHARES” FOR THOSE MEMBERS THAT MAY BE INTERESTED. I WILL SEND OUT AN EMAIL TO ALL WITH DETAILS.

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-POTATOES, LEEKS, LETTUCE, SWEET POTATOES SQUASH, ARUGULA, ONIONS, FALL ORNAMENTALS (DECORATIVE GOURDS) AND MORE….