I hope you have all enjoyed the abundance this summer. While we got off to a late start, most  crops still produced an abundant supply for the CSA boxes.

Here are the final pickup/delivery dates -

Crested Butte – last delivery Sunday October 9th – this will be a big delivery, watch for items outside the box like pumpkins!
Marble & Gunnison – last pickup Saturday October 8th - - this will be a big delivery, watch for items outside the box like pumpkins!
Farm pickup  - last pickup Friday October 14th

The farm has slowed its output and the pace of work has slowed as well. Fall project loom – uncompleted spring projects, thinning the berries, discing the fields and planting cover crops and more await as the harvest winds down. Send me an email about the season – what did you like or feel overwhelmed by.

Whats in the Box?

Lots of the same crops continue until it freezes. Week 15 featured some 18 items, but some are done – most of the things in your box store very well, so keep them for weeks to come!

Cabbage
Carrots
Corn
Eggplant
Cucumbers
Kale
Sweet/Colored Bell Peppers
Anaheim peppers (semi-hot)
Tomatoes
Garlic
Onions
Potatoes
Summer Squash
Winter Squash
Celery

Fruit – red & green bartletts, gala apples, honeycrisp apples – last week we will have some d’anjou pears, golden delicious & jonathan apples.

Get a Winter Box

We have a limited number of winter boxes available this year for $45/box. the boxes include a mix of potatoes, winter squash, onions and – all of which will store for several months. please email me with your order, and let me know if you want more or less of one item, or a certain type of winter squash.  These boxes will be delivered with the final box (see above) and will be labeled with your name!

Watch this space this fall for a signup/renewal offer for the 2012 Harvest Season.

 The Last Slideshow of the Season

Click any image to start

On the Farm

Fall has settled in to a beautiful September on the farm; many afternoons are drizzly or rainy, with a window of clear morning time to get out in the field and harvest.

Last week I finished the mowing and switched the tractor to shovels. I finished hilling up the potatoes and worked on hilling up the celery – we have a nice looking crop we will pick for the last weeks. I then switched to digging and we dug the first row of potatoes. This week everyone got some of the huge fingerling potatoes called  ’Kipfel’ – they were amazingly productive… slice in two, coat with olive oil and bake! We also dug purple vikings and yellow finns which we will have next week.

This week we dug the first Shallots – these aren’t quite ‘finished’ or cured for storage, but they are still delicious. We will have more in the final weeks. Next week we will have leeks for everyone, so look up a potato leek soup recipe. We will also pick more winter squash this week and for the final weeks – since we may not have a freeze before the final delivery, the winter squash we pick may not be completely ripe – in any case, winter squash is best after storing for a few weeks in a cool spot – a kitchen counter or pantry shelf.

The fall carrots look great, and the Delectable sweet corn is finally ready this week! We picked some this week and will have even more next week, then possibly some the following week. Eggplants, peppers and tomatoes continue coming in strong.

This week we picked salad mix, but the remaining patch is looking a little rough with spots on some of the leaves – meaning this may be the last of the salad mix. We should have cucumbers, carrots and tomatoes for a while still.

In The Box

This week:

Salad Mix
Artichokes
Carrots
Beets
Corn
Eggplant
Cucumbers
Sweet/Colored Bell Peppers
HOT Cayenne peppers (full)
Kale (full)
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Squash
Shallots
Savoy Cabbage (farm members next week)

Fruit: Gala & Honeycrisp Apples, Peaches

Last Week:

carrots, red onions, romanesco, broccoli, eggplant, artichokes, cucumbers, squash, chard, kale, tomatoes, peppers – green bartlett pears, akami apples

Also new this week is bulb fennel. This delicious vegetable is tasty raw sliced thin in a salad or cooked – in a savory soup. the leaves can be used for a sauce or dressing. or, if you can’t use i right away, dry it and store in a jar. This is the only time we will have this unusual vegetable, so enjoy. Also new this week – red onions, not fully size up, but we knew you wanted them for their fresh onion sweetness.

With only six more weeks to go its time to talk about the final weeks! We took a salad break this week, but a fresh crop or two is coming so we expect another month of salads. We picked the biggest red onions we had, but plenty more, plus more yellow and white onions. All our onions will store for 2-4 weeks, and most that you get later in the season will store for 2-4 months, so if we are giving you more than you can use in a given week, save them up for the post-CSA dry times! The same applies for garlic.

We started picking the new crop of carrots this week and we will have carrots of increasing sizes for the next month. If you get too many, make sure they are clean and top well, then store ina  bag in your produce drawer – stored properly they should last 2-3 months. We will also have some more beets which store well. We have a nice crop of leeks that will be ready in 3-4 weeks, and a giant crop of shallots that will be ready for the last few weeks of the season. Also due for the last few weeks – potatoes – several varieties, winter squash, and celery – yes celery! We have plenty of basil if you want to make some pesto, please email or call to special order.

We had artichokes this week, will take a break for a week, then have more for several weeks. we will take a kale/chard break next week for 1-2 weeks, but will have cooking greens again for the last few weeks of the season. I know I’ve been inundating you all with cucumbers, but they are finally starting to diminish, expect a little less as time goes on. We had lots of eggplant this week for farm members, everyone else expect eggplant next week – eggplant and peppers should last for a while, they are under plastic and protected from a freeze.

We have a few more surprises in store for you, but I’m not saying what! We have lots of yummy fruit for fruit members – plums next week, more local peaches and lots of apples and pears for the next six weeks.

Please note that my newsletters will become more sporadic in the next few weeks, i’ll post irregular updates; feel free to email me any questions!

In The Box

Artichokes
Beans
Red Cabbage
Bulb Fennel
Baby Carrots
Red Onions
Romanesco
Broccoli
Eggplant
Artichokes
Cucumbers
Squash – summer
Squash  - winter
Chard
Kale
Tomatoes
Peppers

Fruit

Peaches from First Fruits, Paonia – two varieties (mixed in each bag) – very close to ripe, these are dripping juicy sweet delicious. enjoy!

Fall has settled in on the farm and a stead rhythm of harvesting has set in. Its week 10 and that means the long descent into the fall crops has begun.

Over the next few weeks you will see a few new crops that we haven’t at all or much of… The earliest winter squash – delacata, acron and festival are nearly ready. although we can start picking these next week, you will want to hold off for a week or two – or more –  before eating the winter squash, to let them develop their full flavor. towards the last few weeks we will have some of the longer storage winter squash as well – hubbards, spaghetti, butternet etc.

We’ve got a nice crop of potatoes to harvest, more onions (including red onions), shallots, leeks, bulb fennel, more cabbage and lots more salad to come. Plus, we finally started picking tomatoes this week (just a few members who didn’t get salad got them this week) and the farm corn has tasseled up and is 2 weeks away from harvest. We also have a nice fall carrot crop, plus some more scallions.

The field in pictures

Click any picture to enlarge

In The Box

Artichokes
Basil - call or email for perto quantities
Pearl Onions (some members)
Corn  - from Austin Family Farms
Cauliflower –  lots more – white, orange, green and purple
Cucumber -  yum, even more this week
Squash, summer - lots this week
Baby Salad Mix – still more coming, we may take one week off but then should have salad until the end
Beans –  purple – last week (still available by special order for canning)
Kale & Swiss Chard -  we will take a break again soon
Onions - big ones, fresh and delicious, red coming soon
Broccoli – A bit more, almost done
Romanesco – Crazy fractal broco-flowers – more coming
Napa Cabbage  – the end of the napa

Coming soon 
more Eggplant – we are just letting them size up
more Peppers – bells, etc.
potatoes, shallots, bulb fennel, leeks, scallions, carrots , winter squash

Fruit - no fruit for fruit member this week – good thing we had some melons… We are in a gap between Palisade and the north fork valley – The valley’s first peaches are just beginning to come in – around a month later than their reglar timing. We should have delicious First Fruits north fork valley peaches for the next 5 weeks. next week I also hope to get some plums from Austin Family Farms. the first apples (after those pristines) will be the galas, coming in this week or next, several other varieties will follow and apples will last thru the season. we will also have several varieties of pears some time in september. i haven’t heard anything about nectaries, we usually have these for 1-2 weeks, but I haven’t been able to find any yet!

New this week is Sweet Corn, from the Olathe fields of Austin Family Farms – I think you will agree its delicious! We will have more corn over the next few weeks.

Also new this week – Artichokes! These are a smaller variety than what you get int he super market. Steam until the the choke falls away if you list it up from a leaf (30-40 min). Most of these have little or no ‘hairs’ in the middle heart area to avoid. Enjoy these rare treats, we should have them again at least once or twice!

Also new this week – parsley and chives; we rotate the herbs each week for you to enjoy all the flavors of the garden – if you cant use something up, remember that drying is usually a good option! we will have more of these herbs again, plus thyme, oregano and some other surprises.

Where are the tomatoes? Thats what everyone wants to know! We have a relatively small tomato crop this year, but once it starts coming in we should have plenty for the CSA boxes – we have started to see a few ripe tomatoes, expect them in your boxes in a few weeks. In the mean time, use all the money you saved on produce by joining a CSA this summer to go down to your local farmers market and buy some local tomatoes!

In The Box

Carrots
Artichokes
Parsley
Chives
Pearl Onions
Corn
Cauliflower
Cucumber -  yum
Squash, summer -
Baby Salad Mix – still more coming
Beans – green, yellow, purple
Kale & Swiss Chard -  we will take a break again soon
Onions - big ones, fresh and delicious
Broccoli – A bit more
Beets – new crop, a bit
Eggplant – some members
Peppers – several varieties coming in
 

Fruit this week, the earliest apples – pristine, and the first peaches from the valley – from First Fruits in Paonia.

The Farm in Pictures

Here are some recent shots! Click any image to enlarge. Panoramas below.

The farm has really reached its stride; everything is looking vibrant, and the produce is coming in so fast we can hardly keep up with harvesting it all.

This week we have several crew transitions going on.  Maura, our intern who started working with us this spring, is heading back to her teaching job; Sabina and Isabel (my god-daughter and daughter), our crack of dawn teenager team, are heading back to high school. Thanks to them, we’ve grown and picked a lot of produce so far this summer. To make up the shortfall, some of us will add days, and in the cooling days of fall harvest will go later into the early afternoons. Also as other farm tasks like planting, mowing and weeding fall away (we give up!), we are left with harvest as the main task.

In the Field

The cauliflower really started coming in this week, so everyone got some. I gave everyone cabbage again. I realize you probably still have a cabbage from last week, so its time to make some cole slaw or cabbage rolls.  See my note below about overflowing fridges. We finished harvesting the 1st of our two early carrot beds this week. Farm members got some FUNKY carrots this week, sorry about that – I mis-calculated the number of bunches and all I had left on friday was the ‘funny’ carrots with all kinds of splits and swirls. These strange shaped carrots are usually caused by nematodes (tiny worms) that attach to roots as they grow. The flavor of the carrot isn’t affected! It looks like we will have one or two more weeks of carrots, then possibly a brief gap or some baby carrots before we begin harvesting our even larger fall planting.

The broccoli tapered off this week after an initial flush, but we should have more in a few weeks as the side-shoot crop develops. We dug a few new potatoes this week because we ALL love potatoes, and the fresh new ones are delicious. We dug up a section of mixed varieties planted from last years leftovers. We may have new potatoes one more time, then a few weeks off, then several varieties and larger quantities for the last few weeks. We have a nice crop of leeks for fall so you make potato leek soup.

The field cucumbers started producing this week, and there will be even more cucumbers over the next few weeks. Please email or call if you would like some picking cukes, we have plenty and pick them at a tiny size. The field summer squash is also coming on so expect more squash over the next few weeks. The beans are finally coming in, so everyone got a bag of green beans, fulls got more, everyone will get beans again for at least two more weeks. we have green, yellow, purple, and a red specked fresh bean and will try to rotate the varieties so you can try them all.

The artichokes are looking great – we started picking a few last week; I hope to have enough for at least some members boxes next week. as these trickle in, a different group of members will get them each week, for example farm members one week, crested butte members one week, etc. The onions have really sized up, you can expect a steady supply for a while.

A Word on Overflowing Fridges

I know that the produce quantities can be a bit overwhelming, so here are some tips… I suggest trying to store as much as you can, but also consider cooking extra and freezing. Many vegetables can be frozen by simply blanching (brief partial cooking) putting in a bag and dropping int he freezer. Beans are a good candidate for freezing! Some veggies don;t need the fridge – onions, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes; also cucumbers, peppers and eggplant store best at around 50 degrees, so find a cool, shady, critter free spot and store them there.

In The Box

Cabbage – red, green, flat and cone shaped. half boxes got smaller sizes
Cauliflower – even more to come
Cucumber -  yum
Squash, summer -
Carrots – 
Basil -
Baby Salad Mix – still more coming
Beans – green, yellow, purple, red speckled
Kale & Chard -  we will take a break again soon
Onions - big ones, fresh and delicious
Garlic  - all dried and curing, we will have garlic on and off for the rest of the season.
Eggplant – some members
Peppers – several varieties coming in
Potatoes – new potatoes, freshly dug by hand for your eating pleasure.

Fruit

Peaches from the domingez canyon this week; a note to fruit members – I’ve been holding back a little on fruit because the variety has been limited. We should start to see North Fork peaches and early apples (Galas and Akami first) soon.

Coming soon

Tomatoes – starts in next few weeks, just a few ripening so far
Olathe Sweet Organic Sweet Corn – should start next week

Fruit coming soon

North Fork Valley Peaches from First Fruits, Apples

More Pictures from the Farm coming soon!

This week lots of new crops are coming in from the field – we started picking tomatoes peppers and eggplants from the hoop house.  There isn;t quite enough to go around, so some members will get peppers, some will get eggplant. Plenty more to come in the next few weeks. Lots of cucumbers, and the squash is also picking up this week. We harvested the rest of the garlic from the field  this week. We also started processing the garlic we had harvested previously. All of the garlic from the fields was placed in the seed house to dry.

This week the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage started going crazy. We harvested hundreds of pounds of cabbage and broccoli. The cauliflower is just starting, but some escaped notice and went past its prime before we got to picking it. Although these cauliflower heads don’t look perfect, they still taste great– look in your box look for assorted colored cauliflowers starting this week and next. We grow white cauliflower, and also orange “cheddar” cauliflower, and purple cauliflower.

This week we picked the last of the peas. Look for shelling peas in your box this week. The green beans are nearly ready, and we will start picking these for the boxes next week. We have green, yellow and purple beans, several varieties that should last for around a month. New this year is a bush sized plan producing long slender green fillet beans. This week we harvested  cucumbers and summer squash mostly from the hoop house, but the field cucumbers are just starting to come in; once everything is coming in you will get several cucumbers every week. If you are interested in doing any pickling, we grow several varieties of cucumbers specifically for making pickles–and we pick these at a smaller size. Please email or call ahead to special order at $1/lb.

We picked the 1st bed of scallions this week (and some perl onions), and are taking a break from the regular onions while they size up. We have another bed coming in later. We also picked basil this week, but there weren;t enough bags for everyone, so some of you will get it next week. If you would like to make pesto and need a larger quantity, please call or email (basil wholesales for $12/lb). We also picked dill and everyone got a bunch this week; if you want dill again, please send me an email and i will throw some in your box, we probably won;t have it in the boxes again, but we will have parsley and other herbs coming up.

Sweet corn is still about two weeks off, and we expect Paonia peaches and early apples around the same time.

In The Box

Cabbage – red, green, flat and cone shaped. half boxes got smaller sizes
Broccoli  -  LOTS this week
Cauliflower – a bit
Scallions  - great in soup
Cucumber -  a bit more, more coming
Squash, summer -  zucchini, patty pan,yellow straight-neck, etc, more coming
Carrots –  full sized carrots!
Dill – new crop
Basil - (some boxes) more coming soon, order for pesto
Baby Salad Mix – still more coming
Peas – last week, (farm missed this week, you got them 1 week earlier than the rest)- beans start soon.
Kale & Chard -  more again this week
Head Lettuce - This is the last week for head lettuce!

Fruit

Peaches from the Palisade Peach Company  – new variety

Coming soon

Carrots – larger sizes
Onions – larger yellow walla wallas & whites
Summer Squash – more coming in next week
Tomatoes – starts in next few weeks
Cabbage – more napa soon;
Cauliflower – more next week
Olathe Sweet Organic Sweet Corn – mid august
Fruit coming soon

North Fork Valley Peaches from First Fruits

The Farm in Pictures

Click any picture to enlarge, then navigate with next/back

Just a quick note this week – I’m writing quickly because we are heading off to the Rio Chama for a family float, slipping away between harvests! The field looks just fantastic this year, its really exceptional. Come visit and take a walk thru the field any time!

Lots more coming in from the field – lots of broccoli this week and some larger onions. Three varieties of onions are coming in so far – walla walla, candy and sierra blanca. they are starting to size up. The carrots this week are a bit larger as well… and the napa cabbages a bit denser. Lots more to come… The basil is starting this week, its muddy because its short and getting splattered with dirt. We can’t wash the basil or it will turn black, but you can was it just before using, and pinch the leaves off the tougher stems.

A word on storing and using excess veggies

As the season progresses, you may find yourself unable to keep up with all the produce. Most things will store very well for several weeks in your fridge. many items can be cooked or frozen, and you can also consider giving away extra veggies to neighbors or friends (head lettuce anyone?)…  Soon enough you will be missing the bounty of summer, so enjoy it as much as you can!

In The Box

Napa Cabbage – deliciously crunchy – great in stir fry! Check out the stir fry pictured below, Valerie made it with all CSA box veggies – napa, broccoli, peas, carrots, onions, garlic, YUM!
Broccoli  -  more this week
Onions  - small early white and yellow onions
Cucumber -  a bit more
Squash, summer -  zucchini, patty pan,yellow straight-neck, etc
Carrots –  more carrots!
Cilantro – new crop, one more week of this cilantro
Basil - (some boxes) more coming soon 
Baby Salad Mix 
Peas – last week, (farm missed this week, you got them 1 week earlier than the rest)- beans start soon.
Kale & Chard - back this week, more coming
Head Lettuce - even more lettuce! more to come!
Garlic – not fully cured, but a little to keep you garlic lovers going!

Fruit

Peaches from the Palisade Peach Company  – less qty – in between crops. more next week

Coming soon

Carrots – larger sizes
Onions – larger yellow walla wallas & whites
Scallions and Cipollini flat small onions in a few weeks
Summer Squash – lots of varieties coming in over the next 3 weeks and thru the season
Cucumbers – starts in next few weeks
Broccoli – lots just budding up, we will have a flush starting in 1-2 weeks, but the best crop comes later in the season, in september
more lettuce varieties – next week – more green romain, green butters, and more!
More Kohlrabi
Cabbage – chinese first, then red & green;
Cauliflower – a few weeks off
Olathe Sweet Organic Sweet Corn – mid august
Fruit coming soon

North Fork Valley Peaches from First Fruits

More pictures…

Harvest has begun to take over all our time on the farm. This week we started picking the garlic in earnest (pictures below) – we will process and dry this (great!) crop and start putting it in your box in around 2 weeks. For now we have more green garlic. Lots more starting to come in this week – the early squash and cucumbers from the hoop house, the earliest broccoli, and the first cabbages – napa types; a new crop of cilantro and lots more peas; more large beautiful beets (i promise to give you a beet break next week!), and the first baby carrots – we have more carrots coming, but we will wait a 2-3 weeks until they size up before we pick many more of them. The onions this week are the very first of the season and are very small, but I wanted you to have some onion to cook with. We have 2,000 planted (& weeded!), plus shallots, leeks and other late onions – so expect more onions! Only fulls getting kale this week – everyone gets chard and kale again next week.

The Farm in Pictures

click any image to enlarge

In The Box

Napa Cabbage – deliciously crunchy – great in stir fry!
Broccoli  - just a bit, plenty more coming
Onions  - small early white and yellow onions – we’ll have these on and off throughout the season, these are still very small but will get larger as the season progresses.
Cucumber - some boxes – just starting
Squash, summer - some boxes – just starting - zucchini, patty pan,yellow straight-neck, etc
Carrots – babies, we’ll take a break, then have lots more carrots
Cilantro – new crop, one more week of this cilantro
Basil - (some boxes) more coming soon 
Beets – red, full sized
Baby Salad Mix - we should have this all summer -yum
Peas – more shelling and sugar snaps this week. also a few snow peas.
Kale - full only
Head Lettuce - even more lettuce! more to come!
Green Garlic – use just like garlic

Fruit

Peaches from the Palisade Peach Company  – leave these out for a day or two to ripen, then refrigerate.

Coming soon

Carrots – larger size in 2 weeks
Onions – larger yellow walla wallas & whites
Scallions and Cipollini flat small onions in a few weeks
Summer Squash – lots of varieties coming in over the next 3 weeks and thru the season
Cucumbers – starts in next few weeks
Broccoli – lots just budding up, we will have a flush starting in 1-2 weeks, but the best crop comes later in the season, in september
more lettuce varieties – next week – more green romain, green butters, and more!
More Kohlrabi
Cabbage – chinese first, then red & green;
Cauliflower – a few weeks off
Olathe Sweet Organic Sweet Corn – mid august
Fruit coming soon

North Fork Valley Peaches from First Fruits

Please call if you have questions. Please mail your check if you owe the farm money!

This week from the field

More head lettuce types coming in this week. I hope you enjoyed the red butter last week, this week we have a green butter crunch, a delicious, watery, crunchy lettuce bordering on iceberg territory, as well as a red summer crisp with good tender flavor.  These lettuce are coming from the second planting and are completely free of the pest damage from the earlier lettuces. Eat lots of salad for the next few weeks while we have it, because the head lettuce doesn’t last forever and once its gone the only salad will be our baby salad greens!

Lots or golden beets this week, and a few more of the pablo baby beets. next week we start into full sized scarlet beets.

The lateness of the season continues with crops like shelling peas just starting. We also picked our first summer squash and cucumbers this week. we have fairly large plantings of these crops so expect to see these in your box in the next few weeks in growing quantities.

Our early onion crop got weeded this week and is finally sizing up – we will start picking the largest onions for CSA members next week – just a little bit so you onion lovers have something to cook with – our first type will be walla-walla sweet onions. These can grow to be softball sized (!), but we will start picking them much smaller than that.

I picked a few carrots this week and they just weren’t quite big enough for harvesting. the rainy weather lately has been slowing things down a bit – without the intense, day-long sun everything just slows down! We will have carrots next week.

Recipes!

The internet is a treasure trove of recipes – just try a google search for something like Kohlrabi recipe to see what I mean! I also have a dedicated recipe page on the turkey hill csa website with (from farmer john at angelic organics). These are full page  And yes, there is a recipe page for kohlrabi.

In The Box

Beets – lots of goldens and a few more pablo, lots more beets coming
Baby Salad Mix - we should have this all summer -yum
Peas – shelling and sugar snaps this week. also a few snow peas, but we have a weak snow pea crop this year
Kale - Bagged leaves –
Chard  - Bagged leaves – fulls get 2
Head Lettuce - more lettuce! i hope you like salad
Green Garlic – use just like garlic

Fruit

New variety of Apricots from Domingez Canyon
1st of the season Peaches from the Palisade Peach Company  – leave these out for a day or two to ripen, then refrigerate.

Coming soon

Cilantro, second wave
Carrots – next week!
Onions – small walla wallas & others
Scallions and Cipollini flat small onions in a few weeks
Summer Squash – lots of varieties coming in over the next 3 weeks and thru the season
Cucumbers – starts in next few weeks
Broccoli – lots just budding up, we will have a flush starting in 1-2 weeks, but the best crop comes later in the season, in september
more lettuce varieties – next week – more green romain, green butters, and more!
More Kohlrabi
Cabbage – chinese first, then red & green;
Cauliflower – a few weeks off
Olathe Sweet Organic Sweet Corn – mid august
Fruit coming soon

North Fork Valley Peaches from First Fruits

Farm Pictures