This year our fields have been spared their usual early freeze and with the recent warm temperatures, the slicer tomatoes continue to ripen up. The peppers and eggplant have mostly given up, but we still found some summer squash and cucumbers last week – pretty late in the season for these crops! Look for plenty on tomatoes this week!

What’s Coming In?

Still plenty of big, sweet & crunchy carrots for the next two weeks, plus plenty more beets and lots of potatoes. We also have a good supply of winter squash and pumpkins.  Most of the big winter squash – the kabochas, hubbards, the butternuts and buttercups cure up immediately after the first frost. If we don’t have a frost before the last delivery, some of these squash may arrive a little green – fresh off the vine – and you will need to cure them. To cure your squash, place in a warm sunny window and rotate occasionally. Move to a cool, well ventilated & dark storage area after a few weeks.  To test a winter squash for ripeness, poke the skin with your fingernail – when the skin is tough like leather, the squash is ripe – if you can poke your nail in, let the squash ripen.

We picked the celery today – it didn’t do very well this year, but there is enough to add to a soup. We also have rutabagas for next week. We will have one more round of salad the last week, and we have more italian herbs – thyme, oregano, rosemary, marjoram and sage. We have lots of beautiful cabbage, purple and green – including the pointed green cone-head type.  We also have a little more broccoli this week and lots of cauliflower – white, orange and purple.

Fruit

This week will be the last for fruit and we will have a nice selection of varieties – honeycrisp, gala & jonagold apples, plus bartlett pears. The fruit was all a little late this year and there is some damage on the jonagolds, but the flavor is fantastic. Enjoy!

The Winter Box

The winter box will be a large box full of storage crops: primarily winter squash, storage onions, potatoes and some garlic. The cost per box is a flat $40 and we will fill the boxes based on what we have available in early October. Please call or email by next Tuesday  - October 5th to reserve your box (or more than one box).

Thank you for your support this year!

If you loved the produce this year, consider sending me a testimonial for promoting the CSA next year. Just email me your comments!

See you next year!!!

Farmer Adam

The end of  the farm season, that is! The air is chilly in the mornings and i’ve noticed a few pockets of frost in the field the last few days. Even without a real freeze, everything is in decline. The winter squash are all ripening and the canopy of leaves is yellowing and thinning. The basil – one of the most freeze sensitive crops – looks chilled – not quite as vibrantly green as even a week ago.

Here is a recent panoramic view of the main field from the ditch road:

What to expect for the next few weeks

As I mentioned, the variety and quantity of produce is in decline. My emailing/posts will also become a little more irregular, but I will have a few more fall posts and photos. Here is a summary of what produce I expect… Salad mix may take a one week break, then we will have salad for several more weeks. We have a little more broccoli, and some purple cauliflower, plus green pointed cabbage (they look like coneheads) and romanesco – the green heads that look like detailed fractals. Carrots continue for a few more weeks, beets until the end of the season. We will have more onions, leeks and lots more winter squash – spaghetti squash, butternut, more acorn, red kuri and others, plus some orange pumpkins.  We have some more eggplant, peppers and tomatoes – at least until it freezes, which ends these crops! We will have more potatoes at the end, probably the last 2-3 weeks. kale should continue, but chard is nearly finished. I think thats it, although there may still be a surprise in there somewhere! For fruit, peaches are ending, but we will have pears and several varieties of apples including honeycrisp, gala, jonathan and jonagold.

When is the last week?

Since this (was) week 13, I expect to have just 4 more weeks of CSA boxes! Here is the schedule for final delivery: The last farm pickup and the last marble/redstone/carbondale delivery will be Friday October 8th. The last Crested Butte delivery will be Sunday October 11th. Delivery customers, please bring any and all totes and boxes to the pickup or leave beforehand!

On the final day we will also be offering a ‘winter box’…

The Winter Box

The winter box will be a large box full of storage crops: primarily winter squash, storage onions, potatoes and some garlic. The cost per box is a flat $40 and we will fill the boxes based on what we have available in early October. Many of these crops will store well for several months, but you need to make sure they are stored in the right conditions… here is an article from the Colorado University Extionsion outlining Winter Squash (and pumpkin) Storage Techniques: http://www.extension.org/pages/How_to_Store_Winter_Squash_and_Pumpkins and here is one on storing onions: http://www.extension.org/pages/How_to_Cure_and_Store_Garden_Onions

Please reserve soon – there will be a limited number of boxes available. We are offering the box to make it easy, but if you prefer to special order a specific storage crop, like 40 lb. of butternut squash or 25 lb. of red onions, please call or email for availability.

In this weeks box

Kale – bunched, multiple types- 1bu / full 2 bu
Chard – bunched & colorful – 1bu
Salad Mix – 1 bag (sorry farm was a little short, if you did not get salad you can take an extra bag the next time we have it, this week or next)
Basil – last of the season!
Carrots – sweet orange types, topped – new crop – half 1lb./full 2 lb.;
Leeks – large sized, time for potato leek soup!
Beets – 1lb/2lb. – these store extremely well in the produce bin if you can’t use them right away. we have a strong beet crop this year!
Cucumbers – last week!
Tomatoes – ends soon!
Winter Squash – more soon
Summer Squash – done!
Peppers – Ancho, yellow, jalapeno, bell  -still more coming in
Potatoes, new – delicious, more in a couple of weeks
Purple Cauliflower starts next week. Farm pickup ran short, we’ll have plenty next week.
Red Cabbage
Garlic – 1/4 lb /1/2lb.

Fruit

First Fruits – the best Paonia peaches continue.
Peaches – the end – Gala apples

Box Value

Half – $40.25. Full – $69.00.

On The Farm

The heat kicked in this week and the tomatoes are responding. both the hoop house and the field tomatoes are in full production & ripening well. One large section has a disease that is causing poor quality fruit (nearly all the tomatoes in this section are ‘seconds’), these can still be used for sauce but don’t work well for eating. The other tomatoes look great and have minimal damage. you will see some ripe tomatoes in your box, but mostly we try to pick most of the tomatoes at the pink stage when they are still firm enough to take some handling. Avoid refrigerating these pink fruit, just let them sit out until they ripen.

It was the apex, now its the long decline. You will see some decrease in the box content variety and quantities as the season wanes. Don’t be surprised or disappointed, its all part of the natural progression of the year! We do have lots of yummy winter squash and potatoes still to come.

In The Box

Tomatoes – everyone gets at least one nice slicer, fulls get two, plus look for lots of #2 quality tomatoes in your box or in the pickup area – cut off the bad parts and make a sauce with what you have left. look for extras at delivery locations.
Scallions – delicious, tender, mild
Flavored Basils – Lime, Cinnamon & Thai Basil (you get one)
Olathe Sweet Organic – new crop, tender ears – possibly the last corn this season!
Salad Mix – an especially flavorful (and a little spicy) mix this week.
Yellow Fresh Beans -half – 1 bag (1/2lb.)/ 2 bags for full – second bag green beans
Squash – still a few more weeks of squash… 2/4lb. email me if you want a stuffing sized squash!
Beets – half  1lb, full 2lb.
Eggplant or Peppers – look for some hot Jalapenos coming in, plus very dark green sweet Ancho chilies, and lots more of the hungarian hot yellow peppers (not really that hot). i have to rotate these crops around.

Cucumbers – an over-abundance this week – please make some cucumber salad – 3lb. half/ 6 lb. full – look for extras in the pickup area
Chard – bunched & colorful – 1bu half/ 2 bu full – blanch and freeze if its too much!
Kale – bunched, multiple types- 1bu / 2bu – lots of dino kale this week – blanch and freeze if its too much!
Carrots – bunched – 1bu / 2bu – bigger sizes

Fruit

First Fruits – the best  Paonia peaches continue.

This week we have Red Globes – expect greatness!  I don’t think the nectarines will be ready until next week.
Early apples and hopefully plums coming soon.

The Box Value

Half – $34. Full – $61.50.

Most of the time is filled with harvest, but in the other time available a few things are getting done. I planted what I think will be the last salad mix last week. The last patch always lasts a few weeks as the cooler days of late september slow the growth down. We are also tackling some final weeding projects – the salad beds, and the giant pigweed! Soon we will shift into fall cleanup and projects – cleaning up the leftover planting trays from the greenhouse, mowing & weeding the berries & orchard & setting up the berry trellising.

What’s Coming Up

As we head into the last 7 weeks of the season, I wanted to let you know what the expect!

Many of the crops we have now IN ABUNDANCE will continue for several or many more weeks: salad, carrots, beets, kale, chard, onions, squash, cucumbers & broccoli. Leeks a few more times, plus some scallions soon. Tomatoes are ripening very slowly in this cool summer, I will have some for you in the next few weeks, but  the supply will be limited. Eggplant look great, I will have more, plus more peppers.

Potatoes look good and we will start digging some next week. We will have more green cabbage, plus red cabbage and crinkly leafed ‘savoy’ cabbage (i think), plus white, orange and purple cauliflower. Beans are almost done, but winter squash is almost ready – delacata comes in first, there will be plenty, then acorn squash and small blue hubbards. the rest of the larger squash – spaghetti, butternut, buttercup come in at the very end of the season, usually at the end of september or the beginning of october. We also have a fall beet crop, and we should be able to get sweet corn one or two more times.

Fruit is limited this year, but early apples and nectarines are in so we will have those next week, then plums, pears and fall apples – we will have more peaches, several different varieties over the next month.

A Winter Box

It looks like we will have an abundant enough harvest to offer a winter box to members, full of onions, garlic & a variety of winter squash – you get all these things during the season, but the winter box will be a stockpile to store and use over the winter. It will cost a little more but still represent a great deal for what you will get. More details in an upcoming newsletter.

In The Box

Leeks – delicious, tender, mild
Onions – more of the early crop, half 1/full 2
Salad Mix – more to come
Green Beans -half – 1 bag (1/2lb.)/ 2 bags for full – french filet beans, slightly oversized but yummy!
Cabbage – 1 head
Beets – .75lb half / 1.5lb full

Squash – more and more… 2/4lb. email me if you want a stuffing sized squash!
Cucumbers – lots, 3lb. half/ 6 lb. full
Chard – bunched & colorful – 1bu half/ 2 bu full
Kale – bunched, multiple types- 1bu / 2bu – lots of dino kale this week
Parsley  (some of ou got peppers) – use fresh or hang and dry for later.

Carrots – bunched – 1bu / 2bu – big ones in 2-3 weeks
Broccoli – 1.5lb half/3lb. full – lots coming in now!

Fruit

First Fruits – the best  Paonia peaches continue. new varieties of peaches soon.
Early apples and nectarines coming soon.

The Box Value

Half – $31. Full – $52.50.

On The Farm

Still no ripe tomatoes to speak of, but we are getting some more heat in the last few days, so hopefully that will change.

New boxes: we are introducing a new box for half sizes this week – the boxes were a little crammed, please let me know if everything transfered intact.  please be a little careful when opening these boxes, they are still brand new and the edges are a little sharp.also, please remember to return all your totes and these new boxes to the delivery point each week. thanks!

In The Box

Olathe Sweet Corn – Certified Organic – more yummy, local, organic corn – half/full -5 ears/10 ears
Onions – more of the early crop, half 1/full 2
Salad Mix – its back for another run (limited to fill boxes)
Romaine heads – last head lettuce of the season

Green Beans -half – 1 bag (1/2lb.)/ 2 bags for full
Squash – more and more… 2/4lb. email me if you want a stuffing sized squash!
Cucumbers – lots, 2lb. hals/ 4 lb. full
Chard – bunched & colorful – 1bu
Kale – bunched, multiple types- 1bu / 2bu – lots of dino kale this week
Italian Herbs – Sage, Oregano, Thyme, Marjoram in mixed bundles – perfect for sauce or dressings – use fresh or hang and dry for later.

Carrots – bunched – 1bu / 2bu – big ones in 2-3 weeks
Broccoli – 1.5lb half/3lb. full – lots coming in now!

Peppers/Eggplant 1lb/2lb.

Fruit

New this week – Paonia peaches from First Fruits, delicious picked very close to ripe.
Early apples coming soon.

Veggies Coming Soon

There are still a few things we haven’t started picking, and lots more of what we have had. The green and red cabbages look great, the greens will be first in a week or two. the cauliflower crop looks good, but is still a few weeks off. the melons are setting fruit but who knows if many will ripen, it all depends on the weather! lots of eggplant and peppers coming in soon, also the potato crop is looking good – we hope to pick a little bit for the csa in the next week or two.

Not in the Box (but available for special order, call or email)

Basil – special order at $12/lb. for pesto – plenty available now
#2 peaches for canning
Gladioli – stunning beauty for your home – $10 for 5 – email to request

The Box Value

Half  $30.00. Full $54.00.

Click image to enlarge and see if you can make out the turkey in the grass! When I took this picture there were a group of twenty wild turkeys winding their way thru the grass.

On The Farm

Big shifts at the farm as we enter the thick of the harvest season. Our crew has changed – Leonie returned to France, Jeane returned to Denver and Charlie crashed on his bike and is missing in action (but recovering). The crops are shifting as we pick the last of the head lettuce, and peas and shift to beans, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplant. Also the sweet corn is coming in and the Paonia peaches are almost ready.

It must be summer!

In The Box

Olathe Sweet Corn – Certified Organic – yummy, local, organic – half/full -6 ears/12 ears
Leeks – early crop, many more to come
Salad Mix – its back for another run, romaine heads next week will be the last of the season’s head lettuce
Peas – last of the shelling peas, yum, eat them and remember spring -half – 1 bag (1/2lb.)/ 2 bags for full
Squash – lots of varieties coming in, more and more over the next few weeks. 2/4lb. email me if you want a stuffing sized squash!
Cucumbers – lots more coming in, still more to arrive soon. limited this week, 1-3lb. each
Chard – bunched & colorful – 1bu / 2bu – plenty!
Kale – bunched, multiple types- 1bu / 2bu – more and more…
Carrots – bunched – 1bu / 2bu – big ones coming soon.
Beets – bulk 1lb/2lb. – we are topping these now, i figure you have enough greens!
Broccoli or Eggplant 1lb/2lb. not enough of both to go around so you will get one or the other this week, hopefully the opposite of last week!

Fruit

Redhaven early peaches from Domingez Canyon – these are a little firm and need to be left out for a day or two until soft, then eaten or refrigerated.

Not in the Box (but available for special order, call or email)

Basil – special order at $12/lb. for pesto
#2 peaches for canning
Gladioli – stunning beauty for your home – $10 for 5 – email to request

The Box Value

Half  $34.60. Full $58.20.

Harvest season is in full force at the farm and everything is coming in! Some beds still need weeding, and I still have a couple more salad plantings to go, but really harvest has taken over our free time. We are starting to pick squash, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant and more. Here is a slide show that tells the story in pictures:

All the Crops, A-Z

In The Box

Basil – Farm boxes get these this week, we didn’t get them in the cooler last week.

Beets – Lots more coming in, this is the last week of bunched beets, we will switch to topped beets next week, fulls 2 bunches

Broccoli – starting to come in this week, everybody gets a little bit, lots more to come

Chard – last week of bagged chard, fulls get 2 bags

Cilantro – still tender, this is the end for Cilantro!

Kale, fulls get 2 bags

Lettuce, head – no salad mix this week, but lots of yummy head lettuce – green & red butter, red romaine, green leaf & more

Garlic – almost fully cured now, this is our standard ‘early while’ soft-neck garlic

Cucumbers – Just starting, we will have TONS of cucumbers this year, pickling cukes available, please order ahead.

Summer Squash – Just starting, we have a nice looking crop and will have lots by next week.

Peas – shelling peas this week, one more week as we transition to BEANS!

Spinach – full shares got the last of what we picked last week – use 1st!

Fruit

Apricots – last of the season

Cherries, Rainier – just a bit, all I could get from Paonia

It was a bad cherry season, but I will make it up in Peaches – starting next week with Early Glohavens from the Palisaide Peach Company (Certified Organic)

The Box Value

Full Box – $53, Half Box $30

On The Farm

Lots more coming in this week on the farm. The summer squash are starting to fruit and we picked a handful this week, we’ll have squash for the boxes in 1-2 weeks. We also picked a few early eggplant and peppers, these will show up soon too. The main weeding is now complete, and all thats left is a little more weeding on long season crops like carrots and onions, plus a little more salad planting, and a LOT of harvesting. Harvest is a busy, slightly chaotic activity on the farm.  Everything has to get out of the heat and the field by around 10am, then everything needs to be washed, bunched and bagged, orders and CSA boxes need to be packed etc. Its always a bit crazy in the harvest area, but we make it enjoyable with a team spirit. As I like to say, “many hands make light work”.

Delivery Notes

A Word on #2 Fruit

Last week included some #2 cherries in the boxes. I usually pack only  the best #1 fruit, but in this case I thought this might be my only chance to get Rainier cherries for the year. This week, plus more apricots from Domingez Canyon, a new, larger type called ‘Supreme’

Special Orders

We have a few items available for special order, this week we have #1 and #2 cherries or apricots by the box, please call for pricing and availability. We will have shelling peas available in bulk for freezing in the next few weeks, and basil for pesto later in the season.

In the Box

Chard & Kale –Half 1, Full 2
Parsley, 1 bunch
Lettuce –  speckled romaine, red crisp, red butter, green butter,  – halfs 1 head, fulls 2 heads
Peas – shelling, snow & sugar snap, some shelling (new) – 1 bag (1/3 lb.) Full, add 1 1/2lb bag snow peas
Salad – 1 bag – new crop
Radishes –  1 bunch
Beets – continuing to size up – half 1 bunch, full 2 bunches
Bok Choi – full box
Scallions – full box
basil, bagged -= lime, cimmaron or thai basil

Friut

Half/Full amount
Apricots 2lb/4lb.

Coming Soon

Green Beans
Cucumbers
Summer Squash
Broccoli
Carrots, baby
Soft Neck Garlic
Organic Olathe Sweet Corn

The Box Value

Half – $21.50, Full  $36.75 – fruit is usually right at the cost: this week half $6.00, full $12.00

The salad requires constant weeding to remain pickable!

This week it really feels like summer on the farm. We are in full-on harvest mode, with planting, weeding and other farm tasks falling to minimal levels. Harvest starts early in the day – I’m usually in the field by 6am on harvest days, picking my favorite crops and setting out the tasks for the day. Ideally, everything is out of the field by 10 am when the heat really sets in. Salad mix is one of the first crops picked for the day, and 20lb. is a typical amount. Once the salad is out of the field, the washing begins – someone leaves the field at this point to start processing the salad, which we triple rinse with 5 min soaks and then drip, then spin dry. As more crops come in from the field, we begin falling back to the harvest shed where everything gets washed, cleaned of bad parts, bunched or bagged, then stored in the cooler. In addition to preparing portions for the CSA we are busy packing wholesale orders – its a bit chaotic, but after 18 years we have systems in place to keep the work flowing!

Come Visit the Farm!

Please feel free to visit the farm, just let us know when you plan to come and we will give you a tour of the fields. Farm pickup customers, feel free to walk out into the fields when you pick up your produce.

Special Orders

Winter squash in the orchard...

We have a few items available for special order, this week we have #1 and #2 cherries or apricots by the box, please call for pricing and availability. We will have shelling peas available in bulk for freezing in the next few weeks, and basil for pesto later in the season.

Oh the Fruit!

This week we have more Cherries – Bings & some Rainiers from Domingez Canyon, the Reiniers are yellow and more watery than the bings. These are #2s with some bruises – eat them quickly! Also we have Apricots from the same organic orchards – this is a rare treat, many years there are none –  these will last two weeks, then we’ll have the first Paonia cherries.

In the Box

NEW: Hardneck Garlic – bunches of hardneck garlic, these have scapes (flowers) on them, try adding those to a dish for a more mild green garlic flavor)  Half &  Full 1 bu.
Chard & Kale – in short supply, don’t worry, we’ll have these for the rest of the season!
Spinach - new crop baby plants, yum
note: halfs get 1 bag spinach, kale or chard; fulls get 2 bags
Lettuce –   green romaine, red crisp, red butter, green butter, and some showey leaf lettuces like red speckled romaine – halfs 1 head, fulls 2 heads
Peas – snow & sugar snap, some shelling (new) – 1 bag (1/3 lb.)
Salad – 1 bag – still more coming!
Radishes – 1 bunch – last week?
Beets – continuing to size up – half 1 bunch, full 2 bunches

Remember, we sometimes substitute one item for another – but if you think you missed something please email or call – we can usually make it up the following week.

Friut

Half/Full amount

Bing Cherries 1.5lb/3lb
Apricots 1.5lb/3lb.
Rainier Cherries .5lb, 1lb.

Coming Soon

Shelling Peas
Napa Cabbage
Green Beans
Cucumbers
Summer Squash
Broccoli
Carrots, baby
Soft Neck Garlic
Organic Olathe Sweet Corn

The Box Value

Half – $22.50, Full  $35.25 – fruit is usually right at the cost: this week half $7.00, full $14.00

Recently weeded lettuce, chard, kale and broccoli. Click to enlarge.

So much happens all at once in June, that once July arrives everything at the farm is going full tilt. I’ve got a few more plantings of salad and fall crops, but for the most part we are done planting for the year. Weeding still needs attention for a few more weeks, but the initial push is over and nearly everything looks great! Mostly its just harvest time!

Someone is eating the Shelling Peas!

A sad sight awaited me when we went to harvest the shelling peas this week – for the entire length of the row (250′) on both shelling pea varieties, the peas had been eaten out of the pods! At first I blamed the rabbits, which love to much on lettuce, carrots and beets in the garden, but when I came down to chase the rabbits away that evening I discovered it was birds! A small group of Robins (?) were making their way down the row, eating all the peas!

Whats a farmer to do? I think not much! Partially its too late to do much – with the peas removed and the pods still on the plants, the plants will mostly just stop producing. we may try picking off these pods and possibly covering the row with a row cover, but I’m worried that doing that will just push the birds to the next row, the snow & sugar snap peas which they have so far left un-touched. So, I may just have to let the birds have these first rows of peas, while we focus of the much larger patch of shelling peas that are about to come in the main field (shhh… don’t tell the birds). This type of damage is to be expected in our fields, and those of you who have visited know that the farm is teeming with wildlife – turkeys, rabbits, snakes, frogs, insects, foxes and an occasional mountain lion or bear, to say nothing of the hundreds of deer and elk that move through in the winter. If we lose just a few peas, we are lucky!

Holes in the leaves!

Some of you may notice the bok choi leaves this week have tiny holes in them. This is caused by an early season pest – the flea beetle. I do my best to keep them off the soft crops they love, but some usually manage to do some damage anyway. You will see some similar holes in the salad mix spicy components like arugula and red kale, and in soft leafy crops like napa cabbage – the damage will go away later in the season. Son’t worry about these holes! Just rinse the leaves thoroughly, chop & cook – the holes disappear with cooking!

In The Box

NEW: Garlic – early purple – very spicy, still curing Half 1/4lb. Full 1/2 lb.
NEW: Bok Choi – tender, crunchy stems, mustardy leaves – yum! this is the ONLY time we will have bok choi this summer, enjoy! everyone gets a bundle.
Chard – still picking baby leaves – demand is high so the leaves haven’t had a chance to get to bunching size.
Kale – more baby leaves.
Spinach - new crop baby leaves
note: halfs get 1 bag spinach, kale or chard; fulls get 2 bags
Lettuce – more green romaine, plus red crisp, red butter, green butter, and some showey leaf lettuces like red speckled romaine – halfs 1 head, fulls 2 heads
Peas – snow & sugar snap – 1 bag
Salad – 1 bag
NEW: Parsley – 1 bunch
Radishes – 1 bunch
Beets – continuing to size up – i hope you LOVE beets because we will have them for several more weeks, we haven’t even finished harvesting the 1st bed ad several more beds await picking – half 1 bunch, full 2 bunches

Fruit:

First cherries of the season, certified organic from Domingez Canyon half 2.4 lb, full 4.8 lb. Paonia cherries soon.

Coming Soon:

Squash, cucumbers, beans, carrots, shelling peas, broccoli, napa cabbage & more….

The Box Value

Farm Prices: Spinach #3.50, Salad $3.50, Radishes $1.25, Beets $3, Parsley $1.5, Peas $4, Chard/Kale $3.50, Lettuce $2.25, Garlic $10/lb., Bok Choi, $3. Half Box Value: $24.50, Full Box Value: $37.25!