Week 25
(November 2)
Carrots
Chinese/Napa Cabbage
Spinach
Head Lettuce
Celeriac/Celery Root
Cooking Onions
White Onions
Shallots
Garlic
Spinach
Salad Mix
Hakurei Turnips
Poblanos
Thank you for a wonderful year!
(November 2)
Carrots
Chinese/Napa Cabbage
Spinach
Head Lettuce
Celeriac/Celery Root
Cooking Onions
White Onions
Shallots
Garlic
Spinach
Salad Mix
Hakurei Turnips
Poblanos
Thank you for a wonderful year!
Week 24
(October 26)
Spinach
Collard Greens
Cooking Onions
Rutabaga
Leeks
Baby Red Beets
Arugula
Mixed Potatoes
Green Cabbage
Garlic
We are so thankful for the last four days of sunny weather that helped to push some of the crops that had just been sitting through the past few weeks of cool, cloudy weather. The spinach, second cutting of arugula, and the baby beets this week wouldn't have gotten to harvestable size without those warm temperatures and sunny weather. We're also happy for fall spinach that has been frosted and sweetened up and the hardy collards to stew this week as the temperature drops.
Besides cleaning up some of the last hoophouses and tilling in some residue from already harvested field crops we are nearing the end of the season with one more week of Farm Boxes after this one. One of the final jobs on the farm in the fall is planting garlic. We have spent the past few weeks breaking apart our largest bulbs into cloves and are now getting ready to start planting 3,500-4000 that will be harvested in mid-July. It feels great when those are tucked in, the farm gets cleaned up, and we can start plotting and planning for the 2023. One more week to go to celebrate the 2022 season.
(October 26)
Spinach
Collard Greens
Cooking Onions
Rutabaga
Leeks
Baby Red Beets
Arugula
Mixed Potatoes
Green Cabbage
Garlic
We are so thankful for the last four days of sunny weather that helped to push some of the crops that had just been sitting through the past few weeks of cool, cloudy weather. The spinach, second cutting of arugula, and the baby beets this week wouldn't have gotten to harvestable size without those warm temperatures and sunny weather. We're also happy for fall spinach that has been frosted and sweetened up and the hardy collards to stew this week as the temperature drops.
Besides cleaning up some of the last hoophouses and tilling in some residue from already harvested field crops we are nearing the end of the season with one more week of Farm Boxes after this one. One of the final jobs on the farm in the fall is planting garlic. We have spent the past few weeks breaking apart our largest bulbs into cloves and are now getting ready to start planting 3,500-4000 that will be harvested in mid-July. It feels great when those are tucked in, the farm gets cleaned up, and we can start plotting and planning for the 2023. One more week to go to celebrate the 2022 season.
Week 23
(October 19)
Hakurei Turnips
Carrots
Adirondack Red Potatoes
Curly Kale
Red Onions
Shallots
Garlic
Poblanos
Parsley
Green Frying Peppers
Hakurei turnips are back! These are our favorite crop to grow in the fall because all the pests that go after them earlier in the year, especially cabbage root flies, are long gone. These pure white, crisp, slightly sweet and mildly spicy roots can be cooked in stews or roasted in the oven with potatoes and onions, but our favorite way to enjoy them is sliced thin and eaten raw. The greens are great sautéed too. We should have them again for the final week of the Farm Box season so if you love them as much as we do you'll have another chance to enjoy them. Late carrots fall into the one-of-our-favorites category also since they continue to get sweeter the colder it gets outside. These ones are delicious and we have another planting in that should be ready for the last week as well. We really enjoy sautéed kale when we grill, but this time of year when we make more stews and soups we love to make Portuguese sausage and kale soup. There are a lot of recipes out there for that, so find one you like, try it out and definitely add red pepper flakes if you like it spicy.
(October 19)
Hakurei Turnips
Carrots
Adirondack Red Potatoes
Curly Kale
Red Onions
Shallots
Garlic
Poblanos
Parsley
Green Frying Peppers
Hakurei turnips are back! These are our favorite crop to grow in the fall because all the pests that go after them earlier in the year, especially cabbage root flies, are long gone. These pure white, crisp, slightly sweet and mildly spicy roots can be cooked in stews or roasted in the oven with potatoes and onions, but our favorite way to enjoy them is sliced thin and eaten raw. The greens are great sautéed too. We should have them again for the final week of the Farm Box season so if you love them as much as we do you'll have another chance to enjoy them. Late carrots fall into the one-of-our-favorites category also since they continue to get sweeter the colder it gets outside. These ones are delicious and we have another planting in that should be ready for the last week as well. We really enjoy sautéed kale when we grill, but this time of year when we make more stews and soups we love to make Portuguese sausage and kale soup. There are a lot of recipes out there for that, so find one you like, try it out and definitely add red pepper flakes if you like it spicy.
Week 22
(October 12)
Brussels Sprouts
Sweet Potatoes
Lettuce Mix
Mizuna
Baby Boy Choi
Tomatillos
Swiss Chard
White Onions
Cooking Onions
Garlic
Leeks
Purple Potatoes
Brussels sprouts are one of the most rewarding crops for us to harvest because they are fun to cut down with a pair of tree loppers. They look super cool when left on the stalk and also take around 120 days from seed to harvest so are one of the earliest field crops that we plant. While the spring and summer crops come and go and the fall crops get planted (and sometimes harvested before them) they just keep growing away all season. We were not expecting tomatillos this week but, just like the bonus cucumber a few weeks ago, with the warmer temperatures the plants pushed out and ripened a few more despite the fact that they have been lightly frosted a few times. The sweet potatoes are a little small this year (we battled some weeds in them and lost somewhere around peak tomato harvest time) but we're happy that we were able to harvest enough for this week's boxes. This is only the second year we have grown those so are learning a lot and it's back to the drawing board for next year's crop of those. The baby choi is such a great crop this time of year and we can almost see it grow when the nights are cool and the days are warm and sunny.
(October 12)
Brussels Sprouts
Sweet Potatoes
Lettuce Mix
Mizuna
Baby Boy Choi
Tomatillos
Swiss Chard
White Onions
Cooking Onions
Garlic
Leeks
Purple Potatoes
Brussels sprouts are one of the most rewarding crops for us to harvest because they are fun to cut down with a pair of tree loppers. They look super cool when left on the stalk and also take around 120 days from seed to harvest so are one of the earliest field crops that we plant. While the spring and summer crops come and go and the fall crops get planted (and sometimes harvested before them) they just keep growing away all season. We were not expecting tomatillos this week but, just like the bonus cucumber a few weeks ago, with the warmer temperatures the plants pushed out and ripened a few more despite the fact that they have been lightly frosted a few times. The sweet potatoes are a little small this year (we battled some weeds in them and lost somewhere around peak tomato harvest time) but we're happy that we were able to harvest enough for this week's boxes. This is only the second year we have grown those so are learning a lot and it's back to the drawing board for next year's crop of those. The baby choi is such a great crop this time of year and we can almost see it grow when the nights are cool and the days are warm and sunny.
Week 21
(October 5)
Acorn Squash
Baby Arugula
Collard Greens
Fennel
Red Onion
Shallots
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Lunchbox Peppers
Bell Peppers
Red-Veined Chicory
Garlic
Green Cabbage
Mmmmm, baby arugula.
When the timing is right and it has seen just a kiss of frost in the fall, baby arugula is one of our absolute favorite crops to eat. It still has the pepperiness, but also delivers a touch of sweetness that the crops in this family, including the collards and cabbage in this week's share, start to show when the temperatures drop near freezing. We were surprised by all the email feedback we got from the fennel five weeks ago saying how much so many of you like it so we've included two smaller heads (as compared to the larger one in Week 16). These ones are a bit more tender and would love to be shaved thin and dressed with lemon juice and salt. We usually make cole slaw when we have cabbage but tonight as part of dinner we are going to chop it and sauté it with the red onion, garlic, and finish with some vinegar and red pepper flakes. The red-veined chicory is a new crop for us. We purchase a few types of seeds we've never grown before every year from Seeds from Italy, a seed company that a retired farming friend from Kansas owns. There are so many different types of bitter greens in their catalog so we usually choose 2-3 of the more beautiful ones to try. If you're looking for recipes search for ones for radicchio as it seems red-veined chicory can also mean dandelion greens (which these are not). We are hanging onto the peppers, which are the last of the warm season crops that are still producing through these cold mornings. They aren't the largest or the prettiest, but they are still delicious and are finding their way into chili this weekend in our kitchen.
(October 5)
Acorn Squash
Baby Arugula
Collard Greens
Fennel
Red Onion
Shallots
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Lunchbox Peppers
Bell Peppers
Red-Veined Chicory
Garlic
Green Cabbage
Mmmmm, baby arugula.
When the timing is right and it has seen just a kiss of frost in the fall, baby arugula is one of our absolute favorite crops to eat. It still has the pepperiness, but also delivers a touch of sweetness that the crops in this family, including the collards and cabbage in this week's share, start to show when the temperatures drop near freezing. We were surprised by all the email feedback we got from the fennel five weeks ago saying how much so many of you like it so we've included two smaller heads (as compared to the larger one in Week 16). These ones are a bit more tender and would love to be shaved thin and dressed with lemon juice and salt. We usually make cole slaw when we have cabbage but tonight as part of dinner we are going to chop it and sauté it with the red onion, garlic, and finish with some vinegar and red pepper flakes. The red-veined chicory is a new crop for us. We purchase a few types of seeds we've never grown before every year from Seeds from Italy, a seed company that a retired farming friend from Kansas owns. There are so many different types of bitter greens in their catalog so we usually choose 2-3 of the more beautiful ones to try. If you're looking for recipes search for ones for radicchio as it seems red-veined chicory can also mean dandelion greens (which these are not). We are hanging onto the peppers, which are the last of the warm season crops that are still producing through these cold mornings. They aren't the largest or the prettiest, but they are still delicious and are finding their way into chili this weekend in our kitchen.
Week 20
(September 28)
Butternut Squash
Mizuna
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Green Cabbage Leaves
Leeks
Green Tomatoes
Garlic
Cooking Onions
Poblanos
Curly Kale
Green Frying Peppers
Adirondack Red Potatoes
Parsley
There's a little less summer in the Farm Boxes this week and a lot more fall. We're embracing the cooler weather in the kitchen with more salads of mizuna, sautéed kale, and cabbage rolls this week. We are roasting garlic bulbs whole and meeting up around the island a little earlier in the evenings than we have since the spring. Even though there are more greens we are still holding onto the last summer flavors with some slower ripening red tomatoes and some green ones that we are combining with the frying peppers, onions, and some of the cabbage leaves (cabbage heads coming soon) to make chow chow.
On the farm we are starting to clean out a few of the hoop houses so we can get them ready for spring planting. Those first plantings may be six+ months away but we're already planning what will go where and know that the work we put in cleaning and prepping them over the next three to four weeks will make everything faster and easier come March. Our last plantings of the year, radishes and various lettuces, are going in this week and as soon as the soil dries out a bit we'll be harvesting the remaining potatoes and getting them into storage in our walk-in cooler.
Week 19
(September 21)
Carrots
Rutabaga
Red Beets
Swiss Chard
Cucumber
Delicata Squash
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Purple Potatoes
Tomatillos
Cilantro
Garlic
Roma Tomatoes
Red Onion
The colors keep coming this year! One of the goals we set for ourselves over the winter was to really fill the shares with color, especially later into the season when there can be so much green. We'll definitely be packing leafy crops into each week through the end of the season, but are so happy about the variety that we're currently harvesting along with what is still growing in the fields and hoophouses. This week's farm box has rutabaga, a crop we have never grown, and one that we learned quite a bit about this growing season. We have some big ones (that we would like all of them to be like), a lot of medium ones, and some small ones that we didn't thin down to one plant (which we will be sure to do next year). Thinned or not, we're happy to have them this year. As we head into the fall, we have more and more root crops like these bright carrots and earthy beets. When those start to show up that usually means that tomatoes, cucumbers, and other warm season crops are winding down. This is the last week for the cucumbers. The second planting this year has been wonderful, but it's time to clean them up and get that space ready for spring planting. The tomatoes have a few more weeks, although the projected 38F on Friday morning is going to give them a hit. Another goal we set was to grow a variety of winter squash, which we have also never done. This will be the last Delicata of the season, but the Acorn and Butternut are just around the corner. We can't wait to share those out!
Week 18
(September 14)
Arugula
Peashoots
Baby Lettuce Mix
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Poblano Peppers
Cucumber
Parsley
Lunchbox Peppers
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Shallots
Cherry Tomatoes
Garlic
We have been watching and weeding the arugula for the past three weeks and harvest day is here! Even though it's a fast crop from seed to harvest, the close spacing and small leaves mean we have to keep it regularly weeded or else purslane, galinsoga, and various grass weeds end up being harvested along with it (which we definitely don't want). It's so different from the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers that we weed a few times when they are small but then mostly let go because they outcompete any weeds growing near them by that time. September arugula is also a sure sign of fall around the farm. It means the flea beetles that like to eat small holes in the leaves during the summer months are gone (or nearly gone) and more fall crops will soon replace the summer ones. Fall is our favorite time around the farm. Spring is full of excitement and potential for what the growing season holds, summer is a scramble and blur of plant/weed/harvest/repeat, and fall is mostly perfect warm summer days that feel like we could work forever and not get tired and cool nights with earlier and earlier sunsets which force us to stop working outside when it gets dark. The plants slow down and while we are still going fast it feels like the to-do lists start to lean towards clean-up jobs with less tight deadlines. While we are still planting some of the hoop houses will fall/winter crops, we aren't trying to get a bed or hoophouse cleaned out as soon as it's empty because something else in the greenhouse needs to be planted. We start to think about next season, make lists of the crops and varieties we would like to try and the ones we will drop for next year, and reflect on what we did well along with what we need to improve upon for next year.
Week 18
(September 14)
Arugula
Peashoots
Baby Lettuce Mix
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Poblano Peppers
Cucumber
Parsley
Lunchbox Peppers
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Shallots
Cherry Tomatoes
Garlic
We have been watching and weeding the arugula for the past three weeks and harvest day is here! Even though it's a fast crop from seed to harvest, the close spacing and small leaves mean we have to keep it regularly weeded or else purslane, galinsoga, and various grass weeds end up being harvested along with it (which we definitely don't want). It's so different from the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers that we weed a few times when they are small but then mostly let go because they outcompete any weeds growing near them by that time. September arugula is also a sure sign of fall around the farm. It means the flea beetles that like to eat small holes in the leaves during the summer months are gone (or nearly gone) and more fall crops will soon replace the summer ones. Fall is our favorite time around the farm. Spring is full of excitement and potential for what the growing season holds, summer is a scramble and blur of plant/weed/harvest/repeat, and fall is mostly perfect warm summer days that feel like we could work forever and not get tired and cool nights with earlier and earlier sunsets which force us to stop working outside when it gets dark. The plants slow down and while we are still going fast it feels like the to-do lists start to lean towards clean-up jobs with less tight deadlines. While we are still planting some of the hoop houses will fall/winter crops, we aren't trying to get a bed or hoophouse cleaned out as soon as it's empty because something else in the greenhouse needs to be planted. We start to think about next season, make lists of the crops and varieties we would like to try and the ones we will drop for next year, and reflect on what we did well along with what we need to improve upon for next year.
Week 17
(September 7)
Red Bell Pepper
Italian Eggplant (1 medium or 2 small)
Arugula Microgreens
Shishito Peppers
White Onion
Garlic
Green Buttercrunch Lettuce
Cherry Tomatoes
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Adirondack Red Potatoes
Cucumbers
Escamillo Peppers
Happy September! Our eggplant took so long to flower this year but we finally have some fruits to harvest on those plants as well as some nice red bell peppers turning brilliant fall color. Microgreens are back on as well with a nice peppery arugula bite! We can grow them in the summer months but the trays dry out very quickly in the July and August heat, so we usually take a break while we're occupied with the summer crops. The tomatoes are continuing to grow but the plants are definitely slowing down and the green fruit that has already set is slow to ripen in these 50 degree nights. That always happens around this time as the days shorten and the intensity of the sun decreases and we never know how to feel about it. It is such a short season full of color and flavor that sometimes it seems like it has just started. At the same time, we remember all the hours we have put into seeding (the tomatoes were started in the greenhouse back in March), growing, planting, pruning, trellising, harvesting, and packing them and we start to feel like we look forward to them winding down and more fall crops like squash and leafy greens coming back into the Farm Boxes. There are still a few more weeks of them, at least, but they stop being the stars as we start to crave more hearty and filling meals.
Week 16
(August 31)
Cilantro
Lettuce Mix
Red Leaf Lettuce
Plum Tomatoes
Carmen Peppers
Cooking Onions
Heirloom Tomatoes
Garlic
Cucumbers
Adirondack Blue Potatoes
Fennel
Cherry Tomatoes
Basil
Lettuce last week and now baby lettuce mix this week! It's nice to be seeing, harvesting, and eating baby salad again. We were able to get another two plantings of it in the ground this week and seeded more in the greenhouse to go into the fall/winter tunnels. The arugula we mentioned last week is weeded, growing well, and looking very happy right now. Be on the lookout for that along with some mizuna and other baby greens in 2-4 weeks. The shift to those crops (and the cilantro this week - we're making fajitas for dinner tonight because of that!) and the shift in morning temperatures has us feeling like fall even as we soak in this week's classic late summer days. We love that the high temperatures and strong sun of July move all the summer crops along, but you will never find us complaining when the 80 degree days and 55 degree nights start coming along.
We've included a good amount of the Carmen peppers and the plum tomatoes again in each share this week because of the fennel. We sometimes struggle with what to do with fennel (which is why we only include it the Farm Boxes two times each season), but we recently had it at SheWolf in Detroit with some friends where it was shaved very thin, dressed with olive oil and salt, and served on top of Romesco sauce. WHOA! They had it with pickled shrimp and grilled octopus, but it would be great with just the sauce. You can roast the peppers and all the tomatoes and find a number of recipes online. If you give it a try that way let us know how it turns out!
Week 15
(August 24)
Delicata Squash
Green Buttercrunch Lettuce
Tomatillos
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Jalapeños
Sweet Bullhorn Peppers
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Lunchbox Peppers
Garlic
Red Onion
Cherry Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Heirloom Tomatoes
Lettuce is back! It doesn't love the heat but we have a number of different types growing and are ecstatic to be harvesting it in August. It's green buttercrunch this week. Be on the lookout for red loose leaf, baby mix, and possibly iceberg (if it will form a head in the heat) in the upcoming weeks. The wildnesses of this season continues with Delicata squash being ready in August. We were talking with a friend that used to farm in Michigan and Virginia (and is now farming in Maine) and he said now is when they expected to harvest it in Virginia, definitely not in Michigan. But, we'll take it this year. You can roast it, but our favorite way to eat it is in risotto with bacon and onion. That is definitely on our menu for an upcoming evening. The Yukon Gold potatoes are absolutely beautiful this year and we are getting the highest yields we have ever gotten on them. We expect them to keep coming rotate through the remaining 10 weeks of the Farm Box season with the reds and blues you have had the past few weeks. our favorite combination is mashed with sweet corn. The new crops and the colors keep coming this time of year, even as we are seeding more fall crops daily. Psst, last Friday we seeded the first fall crop of arugula and it is up and growing as of this morning. Spinach is being seeded tomorrow, and hakurei turnips are going in by the end of the week. The Brussels Sprouts are also standing tall and proud and should be perfectly timed to harvest mid to late-fall.
Week 14
(August 17)
Watermelon
Red Bell Pepper
Leeks
Shallots
Adirondack Red Potatoes
Cucumbers
Garlic
Poblano Peppers
Plum Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Purple Kale
Parsley
It's watermelon time! We've been watching these since they first set fruit back in late June and they are finally here. I just finished a short break sitting on the deck after a long day of harvesting to eat half a watermelon with a spoon using the rind as a bowl. It was sweet, juicy, delicious, and a treat before updating this site, sending the weekly email, and then heading back out to finish up a few more farm tasks before the sun goes down. August on the farm is full of these long days and it's amazing how just ten minutes of sitting down with a watermelon can really re-energize for a final push in the day. The green bell peppers have turned red and found their way into your boxes this week along side the (Farm Box member favorite) poblano peppers. We have really enjoyed the emails and comments at pick-up from many of your about the poblanos as they are one of our favorites too! We had Adirondack Blue potatoes last week and this week we have a red version from the same breeding program. Both the red and blue ones have been a nice switch up for us this year as varieties we have never grown. They are producing great and their are plenty still in the field for future weeks. The 'Plum Regal' tomatoes are also a new one for us and they really came into production this week. Much like the onions, our shallots this year are some of the best we have ever grown. We're very proud of them and love cooking with their delicate flavor, especially when they are big enough that it doesn't take 8 or 9 of them to get what we need for a recipe.
You have probably noticed it in the mornings and evenings as well, but we can feel the brisk early hours while harvesting at the beginning of our days and the sun setting earlier each night. Spinach, lettuce, arugula, and more fall crops are getting seeded this week in the greenhouse while some of the hoop houses are starting to fill with final plantings of kale, collards, parsley, beets, and more. There are plenty of weeks of tomatoes, peppers, and other summer crops still to come, but you'll start to see some of the traditional fall ones start to make their appearances too like the leeks and purple kale this week, reminding us that fall is not as distant as it felt just a few weeks ago.
(August 17)
Watermelon
Red Bell Pepper
Leeks
Shallots
Adirondack Red Potatoes
Cucumbers
Garlic
Poblano Peppers
Plum Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Purple Kale
Parsley
It's watermelon time! We've been watching these since they first set fruit back in late June and they are finally here. I just finished a short break sitting on the deck after a long day of harvesting to eat half a watermelon with a spoon using the rind as a bowl. It was sweet, juicy, delicious, and a treat before updating this site, sending the weekly email, and then heading back out to finish up a few more farm tasks before the sun goes down. August on the farm is full of these long days and it's amazing how just ten minutes of sitting down with a watermelon can really re-energize for a final push in the day. The green bell peppers have turned red and found their way into your boxes this week along side the (Farm Box member favorite) poblano peppers. We have really enjoyed the emails and comments at pick-up from many of your about the poblanos as they are one of our favorites too! We had Adirondack Blue potatoes last week and this week we have a red version from the same breeding program. Both the red and blue ones have been a nice switch up for us this year as varieties we have never grown. They are producing great and their are plenty still in the field for future weeks. The 'Plum Regal' tomatoes are also a new one for us and they really came into production this week. Much like the onions, our shallots this year are some of the best we have ever grown. We're very proud of them and love cooking with their delicate flavor, especially when they are big enough that it doesn't take 8 or 9 of them to get what we need for a recipe.
You have probably noticed it in the mornings and evenings as well, but we can feel the brisk early hours while harvesting at the beginning of our days and the sun setting earlier each night. Spinach, lettuce, arugula, and more fall crops are getting seeded this week in the greenhouse while some of the hoop houses are starting to fill with final plantings of kale, collards, parsley, beets, and more. There are plenty of weeks of tomatoes, peppers, and other summer crops still to come, but you'll start to see some of the traditional fall ones start to make their appearances too like the leeks and purple kale this week, reminding us that fall is not as distant as it felt just a few weeks ago.
Week 13
(August 10)
Cantaloupe
Carmen Pepper (Sweet)
Escamillo Pepper (Sweet)
Walla Walla Sweet Onions
Adirondack Blue Potatoes
Cucumbers
Shishito Peppers
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Romaine Lettuce
Basil
Lunchbox Peppers
Garlic
Sometimes it feels like you give everything to the farm all season long
and, in return, some weeks the farm simply outdoes itself.
This might be my favorite share ever.
Week 12
(August 3)
Tomatillos
Bullhorn Pepper (Yellow OR Red)
Yellow Beans
Cucumbers
Poblano Peppers
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomato
White Onions
Jalapeños
Fresh Garlic
Happy August! The colored peppers are starting to turn and the second planting of cucumbers is hitting its stride with the first big harvest this week. Usually our first planting takes off more than our second, but with as warm as it was in the late spring the cucumber beetles and squash bugs came early. We are much happier with this planting and are excited for all the near-flawless cucumbers that it's starting to produce.
Thanks to all of you who made it out for the tour and social last week and also to those of you who gave a quick hello and wave on the way through if you couldn't stay. It was great to spend some time walking around the farm and to relax a little bit in late July (which doesn't happen enough for us). For those of you that came out and ate the salsa verde, this week's Farm Box is set up for you to make that at home. You can do it on the grill or in the oven (we did it on the grill). It's straight forward and fairly easy and you can adjust the heat level to your liking with the jalapeños. We peel the husk off the tomatillos, slice the white onion to about 1/2 inch think slabs, and then char those along with the poblanos and jalapeños until they are soft. After that we put everything in a food processor/blender with salt and lime juice. We have different levels of heat-loving in our family so we usually make a mild batch and pull some of that out, then add a jalapeños or two for a medium batch and pull some of that out, then add the rest of the jalapeños to make a hot batch. It goes great on the porch or deck with a margarita or with our favorite summer cocktail, a Paloma. We're also very excited about the yellow beans. They are tender and crisp and worth the time it takes to harvest them. Enjoy those and make sure to snack on a few of them raw while you wait for the water or steamer to come up to temperature.
Week 11
(July 27)
Beefsteak Tomato
Cherry Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomato
Shishito Peppers
Okra
Collard Greens
Fresh Red Onions
Zucchini
Fresh Garlic
Parsley
The Beefsteaks are finally ripening! It feels like they have been taking their own sweet time, but the first ones are here! Our plants are looking happy, they are loaded with tomatoes, and they are enjoying the cooler weather this week too. It gets hot in the hoophouses, even too hot for tomatoes to ripen evenly sometimes. These 70s and 80s make for much better ripening and much happier tomatoes (and farmers picking and thinking about tomatoes too). It looks like we picked a good summer to try our first planting of okra since it likes it hot. We're going back and forth this week on either breading it with cornmeal and frying it or making gumbo. We recently learned from the show "High on the Hog" that "ki ngombo" (often shortened to "Gombo") is the word for okra in many parts of West Africa. Besides the okra, this week is full of first of the year items like the shishito peppers and collard greens too. The shishitos are mild, with an occasional spicy one, and we love to char them on the grill then dip them in soy sauce while still hot for a quick one bite appetizer. You can do the same thing in a hot skillet. The collards are for stewing, especially with some ham or bacon if you are a pork eater. Their thicker leaves take longer to soften than some of the other greens like chard and kale. We cook them low and slow and hit them with some vinegar right before they are finished.
(July 27)
Beefsteak Tomato
Cherry Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomato
Shishito Peppers
Okra
Collard Greens
Fresh Red Onions
Zucchini
Fresh Garlic
Parsley
The Beefsteaks are finally ripening! It feels like they have been taking their own sweet time, but the first ones are here! Our plants are looking happy, they are loaded with tomatoes, and they are enjoying the cooler weather this week too. It gets hot in the hoophouses, even too hot for tomatoes to ripen evenly sometimes. These 70s and 80s make for much better ripening and much happier tomatoes (and farmers picking and thinking about tomatoes too). It looks like we picked a good summer to try our first planting of okra since it likes it hot. We're going back and forth this week on either breading it with cornmeal and frying it or making gumbo. We recently learned from the show "High on the Hog" that "ki ngombo" (often shortened to "Gombo") is the word for okra in many parts of West Africa. Besides the okra, this week is full of first of the year items like the shishito peppers and collard greens too. The shishitos are mild, with an occasional spicy one, and we love to char them on the grill then dip them in soy sauce while still hot for a quick one bite appetizer. You can do the same thing in a hot skillet. The collards are for stewing, especially with some ham or bacon if you are a pork eater. Their thicker leaves take longer to soften than some of the other greens like chard and kale. We cook them low and slow and hit them with some vinegar right before they are finished.
Week 10
(July 20)
Cherry Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Green Beans
Fresh Shallots
Poblano Peppers
Fresh Yellow Onions
Green Pepper
Jalapeños
Zucchini
Basil
Fresh Garlic
Tomatoes! Yeah for tomatoes! This week we have a couple heirlooms and a pint of cherries and can't hold back on including basil with them for those summer Caprese salads. The first red beefsteaks are just starting to show a little color so, while they are on the way, they are still a few weeks out.
As of 6pm today all of the approximately 5,000 garlic bulbs are officially out of the ground and curing in our shade covered greenhouse. It will be in there for 3-4 weeks so you should still keep your garlic in the fridge until we give the all clear to store it somewhere cool and dry.
We put in some extra weeding effort on the onions and shallots early in the season and we couldn't be happier with the results. The weeds are starting to overrun them a bit as we have switched our time and energy to tomatoes, peppers, and more summer crops, they continue to bulb up and be happy. At this point they are good size and the only downside of the weeds coming in is that we will have to make sure we stay on top of them early next year in those spaces. The poblanos are one of our favorite peppers with more smokey flavor than heat and when we have them our kids request white bean chicken chili weekly. We are starting to see the first signs of color on our red bell peppers, orange lunchbox peppers, and red and yellow-orange bullhorn Italian frying peppers.
Week 9
(July 13)
Green Beans!
Purple Carrots
Fresh White Onions
Green Pepper
Cucumbers
Radishes
Zucchini
Parsley
Fresh Garlic
Green Head Lettuce
Beans are here! Green beans might not be everyone's (anyone's?) favorite crop to harvest by hand, but it is in nearly everyone's top five favorite summer vegetables to eat. They are time consuming to harvest but oh-so-worth-it. We have been eating them for the past week as we waited to have enough on the plants for all your shares, and no matter what else we were eating everyone in the family ate their pile of beans first. These ones are growing nearby some yellow ones that are just about to flower and will be finding their way into the weekly shares around the last week of July/first week of August. The peppers are starting to come in as well with our first green pepper this week. We'll harvest some of the first peppers from these plants and then let many of them stay on the plants to ripen to sweet red bells. The jalapeños keep setting more fruit and the poblanos, shishitos, sweet carmens, and sweet escamillos are looking like a bumper crop this season as well. We're excited for these purple carrots as we have never grown this variety before and are happy with how they are coming along. There are more in this planting and we're going to leave them for a few weeks to see just how big they can get. The white onions are fresh so can be topped and stored in your fridge. Like the red ones, the ones we still have in the field will continue to get bigger over the next few weeks.
This week has us making one big push on the weeding end before everything starts to be ready to harvest. That doesn't mean we won't be weeding any more this season (it never really ends), but many of the crops are big enough now to out compete any of the weeds that may come in near them. All the garlic is coming out and getting moved to the greenhouse where we have a shade cloth to prevent sunburn and where they will cure over the next 3-4 weeks. We'll be sure to let you know when it is good to store outside of your refrigerator, but until then keep it refrigerated until it's used up.
We are starting to harvest some cherry tomatoes now (1-2 off each plant) from the orange, pink, and red varieties (still waiting for the yellow and purple to start) and it's looking like the first pints will be in boxes next week. We can't wait for enough of those to send your way!
Week 8
(July 6)
Jalapeños
Fresh Red Onions
Cucumbers
Shiso (Parilla/Beefsteak Plant)
Shelling Peas
Zucchini
Fresh Garlic
Green Head Lettuce
Purple Kale
Basil
This week brings the first of the never-have-we-grown crops for this season (there's a long list of these that we are having a lot of fun with so far this year). The Shiso (pronounced "She-so") is a member of the mint family and is also known as Parilla or Beefsteak Plant. It doesn't taste like mint, or beef for that matter, but is unlike anything we've tasted before with a bit of cinnamon and a lot of umami flavor. It is used often in Japanese and other Asian cuisine while pairing perfectly with rice or included in a spring roll. There are a lot of recipes online from cocktails, teas, salads, and sauces (plus more). We would love to hear and see what you do with it this week either on a direct email or tagging us on your social media cooking posts.
We're also incredibly excited about the fresh red onions. Like the garlic, these haven't been cured, so they should go in your refrigerator. All the onions are still growing and bulbing up so they will be larger than this later in the year, but we just can't resist the beautiful color and delicious taste of these early red ones.
We are growing a number of different peppers this year that include green to red bells, shishitos, poblanos, carmen (sweet bullhorn red), escamillo (sweet bullhorn yellow/orange), orange minis, and the jalapeños that are in this week's box. All the plants of all the types are loaded down with growing fruit and blooming flowers. You'll be seeing all these plus more summer crops coming on strong in the wonderful bounty of peak season over the next few months.
Week 7
(June 29)
Shelling Peas
Zucchini
Fresh Garlic
Baby Carrots
Purple Kohlrabi
Golden Beets
Lettuce Mix
Radishes
Squash Blossoms
Buttercrunch Lettuce (Red OR Green)
Yea for shelling peas! Some, but not all, of you know that Dru's family's love language is shelling peas. We only grow 'Green Arrow' which is the same variety that her great grandma Lydia grew. I (Adam) had never had a fresh shelling pea before I met Dru and let's just say I've never looked back. They have a short season, don't love the heat, take forever to harvest in larger amounts, but they are a labor of love. When they are ready I can't come in the house without a handful for Dru and we can find our kids and their friends picking and eating them in the few weeks we have them. These are ones that you have to take the shell off of to eat so remember to shell them. If you really want to cook them you can do it quickly in some boiling water and add butter while they are hot. But, our favorite way is raw, preferably standing in the yard or sitting on the porch with either your own thoughts or with someone you want to share something special with. They obviously mean a lot to us so we are always incredibly happy to share one of our loves with all of you.
The other thing to make sure to do this week is store the fresh garlic in the refrigerator. It hasn't been cured so has a very high moisture content and will mold if left out. We'll cure them after the full harvest around July 15th and will let you know when they can be stored outside of the fridge (around early-mid August). You'll also notice that you can't crack these open like the cured bulbs so will have to shallowly (and carefully) cut into them to peel back the layers. There is also an extra layer on each clove that has to be removed. All of those will dry down after curing, but for now the extra work is worth the amazing fresh garlic flavor. Don't be afraid to eat it all this week as from here until the end of the season (or until we run out of garlic) there will be a bulb in each week's bag.
Lastly, those baby carrots...you'll never go back to the shaved down ones formed from the broken pieces of larger ones ever again.
Week 6
(June 22)
Red Looseleaf Lettuce
Cucumbers
Dill (with flowers)
Cutting Celery
Garlic Scapes (last of the season)
Scallions
Green Buttercrunch lettuce
Basil
Baby Fennel
Swiss Chard
Happy Summer Solstice! We always get excited on the longest day of the year because all of the onions we grow are triggered to start bulbing when daylight gets shorter. We have had some good onion years, and also some challenging ones where we didn't keep them weeded enough and the yields were less and size was smaller than we would like. With their small root zone, they are notoriously bad at competing with weeds for nutrients and water. This year we really stayed on top of the weeds, have kept them watered well, and are happy to report that all of our onions (red, yellow, and white) plus our shallots and leeks are standing tall. They look great and we are very much looking forward to watching them bulb up. Before we know it fresh onions will start to find their way into each week's share. Since this marks the last week of garlic scapes that also means that fresh garlic will be available soon. We usually harvest around July 15 but they might be a little bit ahead of that this year. Watch for garlic bulbs in the bags soon too.
Most of the time on the farm we feel like we are always thinking a season ahead. In the Winter, we are thinking about and planning for spring and now that it is summer, we've begun to think about fall. This week we will seed a number of crops that will be ready for fall harvests. Broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage are all being seeded in the greenhouse this week and we are shifting the carrots we are planting to ones that grow better in the fall and store longer in the cooler than the spring and early summer varieties we grow. The two hoop houses that held most of the early Farm Box crops are starting to clear out and we are planning what will be going in those that we will harvest in the final few weeks of the season. Some of those late season crops grow all summer long and now is when they really put on their growth. The sweet potatoes are perking up and unfurling new leaves after being transplanted about 10 days ago, the Brussels sprouts are chugging along, and we just ordered some parsnips that, although it's a little late for planting, we think we can get them planted and through the 100+ days it takes them to reach harvest for the last week or two. In the meantime, all the summer crops are setting fruit including the tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos.
Week 5
(June 15)
Carrots
Iceberg Lettuce
Green Cabbage
Cilantro
Garlic Scapes
Scallions
Red Buttercrunch lettuce
Spinach
Parsley
Cucumbers
This recent rain and the warm (read HOT on Wednesday) weather has really made all of the warm season crops take off this week. We are working on keeping the weeds to a minimum around them as they love this weather for growing too. Some of the new to us crops we are growing this season are getting us excited now that they are growing and some are even starting to flower. The first flowers opened on cantaloupe while the okra is growing taller by the day. There are no flowers on that yet, but we will be sure to post a picture as soon as the first one forms and opens as they are beautiful. We are working on staying hydrated and hope that you are too. Take it easy this week in the heat, do some grilling, or cool down with a red butter crunch salad. We have been growing iceberg for a few seasons now and love the crunch (and flavor) that is so much different than the store bought iceberg. We have been tending the personal sized cabbages since very early in the season. Onions (and their cousins leeks and shallots) are always the first crops we seed since they take the longest to germinate and grow, but the cabbage were one of the first crops we seeded in the greenhouse after the onions. They were also part of the first plantings that went into one of the hoop houses. We are glad to say they have formed nice, tight heads and are ready to be made it delicious cole slaw with those carrots and scallions.
Week 4
(June 8)
Carrots
Dill
Radicchio
Romaine Head
Lettuce Mix
Basil
Garlic Scapes
Spinach
Cucumber
Purple Kale
This week marks the shift to most of the leafy greens and lettuces coming from the fields instead of our early plantings in the hoophouses. The spinach, romaine, lettuce mix, and dill are all from outside, and will be until we head back into the fall months. We have been trying for years to get carrots before June 10th and everything came together in terms of planting at the right time, getting warm enough temperatures, and prioritizing weeding in a notoriously slow-growing crop that doesn't complete with weeds very well. Needless to say, we're ecstatic about having carrots right now, have a few more plantings in (one of which really needs to be weeded in the next few days), and are planning to seed them throughout the season. There are always farm production goals, and then there are farm carrot goals. We're glad to have hit our first carrot goal of the season! You have a taste of the first cucumbers of the year, and, even though there is only one of them in the the box this week, the plants are loaded with beautiful little cukes that will soon be finding their way to your plates. The basil is in the same boat as the cucumbers as we are just harvesting the first few pinchings off the plants with much more to come. And, for those of you that have been asking about (and waiting patiently since last year for) the garlic scapes they are here! We will have these for the next few weeks before we start pulling fresh bulb garlic in mid-July. For those of you who haven't used them before, you can chop them and use just like you would garlic (similar to the green garlic from the past two weeks). They are the immature flower stalk of hard neck garlic and are tender, delicious, mild, and keep forever in your refrigerator.
Week 3
(June 1)
Lettuce Mix
Kohlrabi
Golden Beets
Arugula Microgreens
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Cilantro
Endive
Cabbage Leaves
Green Garlic
This week felt like the first "Oh My" week on the farm this year. It usually happens around this time and means that at least a few times throughout each day we stumble onto something we hadn't noticed yet or something that is really surprising. Occasionally it's a "Oh My that spinach sure need to be weeded" but more often than not it's something really exciting. This week our "Oh My" moments have been discovering some small cucumbers developing that we had to taste test for quality control (coming your way soon!), carrots that grew exponentially in the last week (also headed your way soon-ish), and (very) small tomatoes forming on some of the cherries along with the beefsteaks and heirlooms too (coming in the future). We had all kinds of animal "Oh My" moments this week too that included a pair of Sandhill Cranes and their just born colt, two blue herons hunting in the marsh between home and our rented land that we spotted from the tractor, two just born baby fawns with wobbly legs in the brush near our Big Hoophouse, and a painted turtle that was cruising it's way through the cucumber house headed for somewhere else just this afternoon!
New items this week include kohlrabi (a fun white variety that we have never grown before), swiss chard, endive (a bitter green in the chicory family similar to radicchio - which is coming in next week's share), and arugula microgreens that really pack a peppery punch. We're off to move irrigation, which is clearly the theme today, and make sure all the just planted watermelon, cantaloupe, winter squash, zucchini, tomatillos, and okra are getting the water they need in this heat.
(June 1)
Lettuce Mix
Kohlrabi
Golden Beets
Arugula Microgreens
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Cilantro
Endive
Cabbage Leaves
Green Garlic
This week felt like the first "Oh My" week on the farm this year. It usually happens around this time and means that at least a few times throughout each day we stumble onto something we hadn't noticed yet or something that is really surprising. Occasionally it's a "Oh My that spinach sure need to be weeded" but more often than not it's something really exciting. This week our "Oh My" moments have been discovering some small cucumbers developing that we had to taste test for quality control (coming your way soon!), carrots that grew exponentially in the last week (also headed your way soon-ish), and (very) small tomatoes forming on some of the cherries along with the beefsteaks and heirlooms too (coming in the future). We had all kinds of animal "Oh My" moments this week too that included a pair of Sandhill Cranes and their just born colt, two blue herons hunting in the marsh between home and our rented land that we spotted from the tractor, two just born baby fawns with wobbly legs in the brush near our Big Hoophouse, and a painted turtle that was cruising it's way through the cucumber house headed for somewhere else just this afternoon!
New items this week include kohlrabi (a fun white variety that we have never grown before), swiss chard, endive (a bitter green in the chicory family similar to radicchio - which is coming in next week's share), and arugula microgreens that really pack a peppery punch. We're off to move irrigation, which is clearly the theme today, and make sure all the just planted watermelon, cantaloupe, winter squash, zucchini, tomatillos, and okra are getting the water they need in this heat.
Week 2
(May 25)
Lettuce Mix
Green Garlic
Mizuna Microgreens
Red Beets
Radishes
Purple Kale
Arugula
Green Buttercrunch Lettuce
Red Spring Onions
Zucchini Blossoms
Week 2 and the colors are starting to show up around the farm. This week's box is full of reds along with the greens from last week and even has a touch of yellow-orange from the zucchini blossoms. Having those in the share means that fresh zucchini (and cucumbers too!) is only a few weeks away! Our favorite way to eat these is the traditional stuff with ricotta, batter with a tempura-style batter and deep fry them, but they are also amazing, and beautiful, pressed into a fresh tortilla or even just simply sautéed instead of fried. The microgreens are mizuna this week, which you had as larger leaves last week. It's always fun for us to have different sizes/ages of the same crop in back to back weeks so that you can see and taste the difference (spoiler alert: the micros next week will be arugula). This week on the farm we have been spending our time planting, weeding, and potting up plants in the greenhouse to larger containers. The tomatoes are starting to flower and we'll start pruning their leaves and suckers by the end of this week, the peppers have their first support string up and have tiny buds that aren't quite open yet, and we are battling with our first groundhog of the year. It may have got a jump on us when we weren't expecting it but we're onto it now and have traps set to make sure it doesn't get a chance to eat any more of our delicious, tender crops.
Week 1
(May 18)
Asparagus
Spinach
Peashoots
Arugula
Spring Onions
Cilantro
Chinese Cabbage Microgreens
Mizuna
Chive Flowers
Japanese Salad (Hakurei) Turnips
Welcome to Week 1 of the 2022 Ten Hens Farm Box!
We've missed all of you returning members since the final 2021 Farm Box and are so happy to welcome all you new ones this year too! The past few weeks have ranged from cold and flooding through hot and (very) dry, but it feels like this week we are finally settling into a bit of spring. One of the reasons we pushed the season ahead a few weeks was so we could share more of the early greens that a June start date doesn't allow for (since most of them like cool temperatures). So, this week we have plenty of greens for you and, for the first time ever in Farm Box, Asparagus!
Most of you know we love to cook and can never get enough pesto (the first basil was just planted in one of the hoophouses yesterday) but before the basil and garlic is ready for harvesting we make ours with arugula. You can blanch it if you'd like, but we are planning to just toss it in the food processor as is with some of the spring onions, a bit of the chive flowers (a little goes a long way with those), olive oil, salt, pepper, and parmesan. We've been picking asparagus for about two weeks and have been charring it in a pan or tossing it with olive oil and grilling it on the evenings where the light stretches past 9pm (which feels so great!).
We are looking forward to seeing all your faces tomorrow and hearing how you enjoy these first tastes of the year!
