It’s been a little while since I posted to the farm blog, most of our updates and communication are sent out though email these days. But I feel like it’s time to come back to the blog and share a bit about how much our farm has changed and evolved over the last few years, and why.
Above you can see a moment for yesterday’s bulk carrot harvest. After a couple weeks of above normal temps and sunshine it felt really nice to have a couple clouds roll in and cool things off. We purchased an undercutter this summer to help with Garlic Harvest and we were excited to try it out on the carrots this week. Happy to report it worked beautifully and made carrot harvest a breeze.
Oh carrot harvest… such a seasonal task that is now so meshed into how I think about fall. The sweet smell of freshly dug carrots may be enough to encourage anybody to try growing their own… along with the simple and repetitive click of carrot tops getting snapped off to prep the crop for storage. It’s all such a sensory experience, but that is true for most tasks and days on the farm. The sights, sounds, smells… all so unique to each crop, I love it. I noticed and shared yesterday that while sitting in the field, topping carrots on an October afternoon, it felt so right and was a good reminder that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
The last couple weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind, filled with so many tasks and deliverables and so much beauty. Packing and shipping out The Grasshopper Collective Seed Garlic orders with our farm co-op members, harvesting Bulk Flower buckets for a wedding, veg and flower harvests for our farm stands in both Telluride and Mancos, creating Floral Garlic Braids, cleaning lots of Culinary Garlic, and so much more. It’s Fall… and the farm is keeping us on our toes.
We are taking a week of our farm stand schedule to tackle the bulk fall harvests, dry flowers and catch our breathe.
One of the new products our farm creates and offers are Floral Garlic Braids. I wanted to create these for years, but it took some time to get our garlic and flower production to the place where we had all the ingredients. They’re such a wonderful creative outlet for my brain… and it’s so fun to watch the various ingredients (garlic, herbs and flowers) come together to create these lovely pieces of artwork! And it’s extra satisfying knowing that all these ingredients are seeded/planted, irrigated, weeded, cared for and then harvested right here on our farm.
In the photo above you can see the ingredients being prepped for braiding, and below is the completed Floral Garlic Braid. I love them! And they make such wonderful gifts for family and friends for birthdays, weddings, house warming, etc.
We recommend hanging them in a location that doesn’t receive direct sunlight to help the flowers hold their colors. You can enjoy the Floral Garlic Braid for a couple months as artwork, and then slowly start cutting out a garlic bulb here and there for cooking. The garlic should hold until February (and maybe longer) depending on the temperature and humidity of your home.
We have Floral Garlic Braids instock at the moment and I am hoping to make 1-2 more rounds of these before a hard frost arrives. They’re currently available locally at our farm stands but we can also coordinate shipping within the continental US and/or orders for pickup at the farm in Mancos, CO. You can see some of the different options in our Farm Store. Please reach out to me via email for more information and to place your order: mindy@mountainrootsproduce.com
That’s all for now, but much more to come.
If you want our more regular updates, please join our Mailing List. During the main harvest season (June-September) we send out a weekly email with our harvest list, a couple farm updates and where to find us and our produce/flowers. It’s a great way to stay in the loop and to know when we’re harvesting.
Have a beautiful day!
Mindy