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.
(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!
