Fall CSA Harvest - Week #6

Hello Everyone, 

It's mid-November and looks like we may get our first winter blast of the year starting tonight. Seems a little bit overdue if you ask me... but that doesn't mean we are ready for it. Sure, a cold, windy, snowy day will give me the opportunity to spend a cozy day inside, build a fire, catch up on emails, and whip up some deliciousness in the kitchen... but it's also making me realize how many things are still unfinished! So that last few days have been pretty busy trying to wrap up loose ends around here.

We finally planted garlic on Monday and Tuesday afternoon, better late than never ;).  The beds were a little tough for planting and needed a quick run though with the S-tines to make planting easier on our hands. But we came to find out the tractor battery was dead... so after a quick charging the sweet Farmall was up and running and had the beds ready in no time and planting was a breeze. I love planting garlic. It's the moment in the Fall when you officially commit to growing again next season and now, the first crop for 2017 is planted. 

I weeded all the greens and removed the last of the T-posts and trellis from the hoophouse over the weekend, it feels so open and big now! We're going to cover crop the last couple beds and mulch heavy with leaves from our neighbors to feed the soil. 

The mild Fall weather has made the greens in the field grow like crazy. This week's share is loaded with some of the tender greens that I think we'll lose in the winter storm headed our way. They're calling for temps to drop down to 15 degrees on Thursday night, and I'm pretty sure we'll lose the arugula and salad mix at the minimum. So, savor those tender greens! I'm planning to double cover the kale and some other things with row cover in the hopes that they'll pull through.

Here are the details for Fall CSA Harvest - Week #6:
Salad Greens
Arugula
Spicy Mustard Mix
Kale
Tokoyo Bekana
4 Baby Bok Choy
Carrots
Beets
Purple Top Turnips
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic

I look forward to seeing you all this afternoon! 

Fall CSA Harvest - Week #5

Hello Everyone, 

Mother Nature showered the farm with beauty this week. So many incredible sunrises and sunsets... and the constant rain on Friday and Saturday has your farmers and the soil feeling pretty good. We should be able to finish putting the farm to rest in the coming week or so. Then bring on the snow and cold temps.

Taking a deep breathe here this morning. Lets focus on putting kindness and love into the world on a daily basis. 

Fall CSA Harvest - Week #5:
Salad Greens
Arugula
Kale
Collard Greens
2 Baby Bok Choy
Carrots
Turnips
Rutabaga
Delicata Squash
Garlic
Onions
Leeks?

Fall CSA Harvest - Week #4

Hello hello, 

It's November already and today marks the 4th Fall CSA pickup of the season. Wahoo! 

I have exciting news, we finished harvesting the roots this week! The last of the carrots, parsnip and rutabaga are now out of the ground in storage and once we get a little moisture we'll finish cover cropping the field. Things around here are incredibly dry at the moment. Come on rain, and snow in those mountains!

Fall harvests are my favorite. Spring harvests are exciting... Summer is nonstop but Fall harvests are just satisfying. Most of the fall crops are planted early in the Spring or sometime mid Summer, and tended to all season. So once it's time to harvest, its very gratifying. Not to mention the incredible colors and flavors the we're pulling out of the ground this time of the year... and their endless possibilities in the kitchen. 

It looks like a storm is headed our way later this week, keep your fingers crossed! I think we could all use some moisture... and a rainy day would give me a chance to finally weed the greenhouse. I'll be honest, for the last few weeks I've been worried that I seeded the greenhouse greens too late and with how slow things were growing I was getting worried they wouldn't size up before Thanksgiving. I seeded these beds on September 25th... now I know a few weeks earlier would have been more ideal and had your farmer less concerned. BUT, I'm happy to report that over the last few days they have really sized up and should be ready to harvest in a few weeks. 


Harvest details for Fall Week #4:
Salad Greens
Arugula
Kale
Napa Cabbage
Baby Bok Choy
Purple Carrots
Forono Beets
Hakurei Turnips
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Parsley

Fall CSA Harvest - Week #3

Hello there, 

The sky is clear and it's frosty and cold outside at the moment. But the sun will rise shortly and warm everything up in no time. 

We enjoyed a cool and cloudy harvest yesterday. A little bit of rain fell during the early hours on Tuesday but it didn't amount to much... I truly love the sunshine and warmth that have been the norm here for the last couple weeks, but something about harvesting on overcast and chilly mornings just feels right. 

The root crops and greens are growing sweeter by the day. I hope they're making your kitchen burst with flavor and inspiration! 

The cover crops Mike seeded earlier in the month are up and glowing green, especially at sunset. Here's the former winter squash patch now filled with triticale and hairy vetch. 

And, the garlic beds are prepped and we're planning to plant this weekend.

Fall CSA Harvest - Week #3:

Arugula

Napa Cabbage

Kale or Collards

Chard

2 Head Lettuce

Hakurei Turnips

Forono Beets

Carrots

Rutabaga

Delicata Squash

Onions

Garlic

I'll see you all this afternoon. Have a great day! 

Fall CSA Harvest - Week #2

Good morning, 

Fall is the best. We have had another week of perfect weather here and we're trying to savor every minute. 

Checking things off the harvest list one by one. This weekend we cleared the beet field, which feels awesome. And  we started on the rutabagas, which are huge and beautiful! I am discovering a love for rutabaga, it's incredibly sweet and versatile in the kitchen. These will be in the CSA shares next week along with a few more recipe ideas.

Tonight is going to be chilly, they're saying mid 20s so I will be leaving Telluride as soon as CSA pickup wraps up at 2pm and head home to cover the greens with row cover before it gets dark.

Please keep your fingers crossed for some moisture. Things are getting pretty dry around here with all this sunshine... and we need some rain before we can disc in any more of the field as well as prep garlic beds. Looks like there's a chance next Monday/Tuesday, come on rain!

Ok, harvest details for Fall CSA - Week #2:

Arugula
2 Head Lettuce
Kale
Napa Cabbage!
Carrots
Turnips
Celery
Leeks
Onions
Garlic
Potatoes
Parsley

Fall CSA Harvest - Week #1

Good morning! 

Thank you for joining the Fall CSA! I'm excited about the variety of produce we'll have to share with you til mid-December! 

The last few weeks have felt like a whirlwind around here... but this week feels different. The weather is perfect. I'm loving the crisp breeze, beautiful sunsets, leaves changing, and not feeling rushed. We're sleeping in a little, moving slower, baking pies... and it feels SO good. Yay Fall!

There are still many things that need to happen around here... Mike and a few friends are going to finish harvesting the potatoes today, and we still have beets, carrots, parsnips and rutabagas to harvest in the coming weeks. The green block that we planted mid-August and early September for the Fall CSA is looking beautiful. I'm surprised at how quickly some things grew, and I'm taking notes for next year of what I could seed earlier, later, or compliment with a second planting. And I'm curious to see how the different varieties of kale, collards, lettuce, etc. handle the cold in a few weeks...

But for now, I'm going to enjoy the lovely weather and slowly tackle projects. 

Fall CSA Harvest - Week #1
Head Lettuce
Red Russian Kale
Chard
Bok Choy
Carrots
Hakurei Turnips
Brussels Sprouts!
Celery
Delicata Squash
Onions
Garlic

Have a  beautiful day!

CSA Harvest - Week #18

Good morning!

Here we are... it's already October 5th and the last CSA pickup of the 2016 'Summer' CSA. Thank you so much for joining us this season! I hope you have enjoyed having freshly harvested produce in your kitchen for the past several months! We have truly loved seeding, growing and harvesting produce for you all, sharing recipes and seeing your excitement each week.

Yesterday morning (Tuesday) was so COLD. It caught me off guard... I knew it might freeze but was not expecting it to dip into the mid twenties. Brrr. I freaked out a little bit, errr a lot,  in the morning once I realized just how cold it had been and when I peaked under the row cover to think about harvesting greens, they were icy. And even though I know most of the greens can thaw out and be just fine later in the day, I was still anxious and paranoid that they might not be OK to harvest for this week's CSA share. But... after a few hours of worry, sunshine and warmer temps everything thawed out just fine and I was harvesting greens for you all (a bit later than expected) in the Mancos wind. Oh my! It looks like another cold snap is scheduled for Thursday night and I'll be a little more prepared and expecting it :). 


Potato harvest has been the main focus around here for the past couple days and with the help of our friends and this beautiful potato digger that Mike is borrowing from a gentlemen up the road, were able to get quite a few beds out, bagged and in a root cellar. Success! 

The original brassica block has been cleared and the remains have been disced in to feed the soil for garlic planting later this month. It was exciting to harvest the last green 
cabbages of the season as well as the Brussels sprouts! I think these beauties will find their way into the Fall CSA next week. 

We finished clearing the last two greenhouse beds on Monday morning. So the plants are out, I just need to take down the trellis and pull the t-posts so we can prep and seed the last green beds tomorrow. I was hoping to get these seeded before 10/1 but it's been a little busy around here and the days just keep getting shorter.

I think we still have a few busy weeks around here and then things will start to slow down. And when they do... this girl is spending a day inside, probably drinking coffee and making cinnamon buns. Mmm hmmm. 

Ok, onto the harvest details for CSA Week #18:

Salad Greens
Kale
Bok Choy or Cabbage
Carrots
Forono Beets
Hakurei Turnips
Rutabaga
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Leeks
Dill
Green Tomatoes

I will see you all this afternoon. Enjoy the sunshine and crisp Fall air! 

CSA Harvest - Week #17

Good morning! 

Wow. Where did September go? I feel like Labor Day Weekend just happened... Mmmm, savor these last few days of September, the perfect weather and those incredible colors. I'm excited to see how much the trees have changed since I drove up last week... 

It has been nonstop harvest around here. The end of last week was cold and wet and very windy. We received a lot of rain Thursday night and Friday morning, which made everything around here pretty muddy. We had planned a big potato harvest for Sunday but after that storm the soil was too wet so we harvested turnips and carrots instead. 

The soil is still a little damp but we were able to pull more potatoes out of the ground yesterday and they'll be in your CSA Shares today. Woohoo! 

And... I should let you all know that at our farm, tomato season is over. The evenings have been getting cold, the plants were tired and about out of fruit so I decided to pull them over the weekend. Make way for December greens! By Sunday afternoon we had 5 of the 7 beds cleared, tilled and reseeded with greens. Salad, spinach, kale and mustard greens are all seeded and will be up in no time. These should be ready to harvest and be in the Fall CSA Shares by Thanksgiving... 

While we are harvesting we are analyzing and discussing how we can make things more efficient at our farm. Efficiency is key! And taking care of our bodies, as we demand so much from them on a daily basis. So we're discussing adding a new tractor to the mix along with a few smart implements... mostly to help with our weeding game. Work smarter not harder! I love these brainstorm sessions, they get me very excited about the possibilities and next year. Stay tuned! 

OK, onto the harvest details for CSA Week #17:
Salad Greens
Mustard Greens
Carrots
Beets
Potatoes
Parsley
Scallions
Garlic
Onions
Peppers (Sweet and Hot!)
Green Tomatoes

I look forward to seeing you all this afternoon! 

CSA Harvest - Week #16

Good morning,

Well, my prediction last week was right... We have had a few frosts this week, the first one during the early morning hours on Friday. It was a fairly light frost at our place but still took down the zucchini, beans, cucumbers and winter squash plants. But that's ok, it was time! The dahlias sit in a higher part of the farm and are still hanging on but I need to cut them all before the end of the week as it's supposed to get cold on Friday night. 

The evenings cool off so quickly now. As soon as the sunsets the temps drops quick, which feels good but you better have a layer or two closer by to throw on. 

We have been tackling one harvest task after another around here and enjoying the perfect weather. On Saturday we pulled the rest of the Walla Walla onions and then had an evening winter squash harvest. The Hubbards are gorgeous and there were a lot more in the field than I thought. And who doesn't love Delicata. They're all set up outside on pallets and will be curing for the next couple weeks before they find their way into the CSA Shares. 


Potatoes! Mike dug a few more beds on Sunday and with the help of a friend we sifted, sorted and got them bagged right before dark. Woohoo! 

What else... I think we got most of the red and green cabbages out of the field, cleared the collard greens, etc... and now we're (err Mike is) starting to turn the field and will be seeding cover crops in the coming week(s). Mmmm, it feels good to start closing out sections of the farm for the season. 

I'm obsessed with how good the Fall green block is looking! Kale, Collards, Chard, Bok Choy, Napa Cabbage, Head Lettuce, Mustards, Salad, Spinach and Arugula. Grow beauties! They're ready for a good weeding, which I'm hoping to get to this weekend... fingers crossed. Reminder, there are a few Fall CSA Shares remaining, sign up now to enjoy these greens and all of our storage crops til mid-December. 

Harvest details for Week #16:
Salad Greens
Mustard Greens
Kale
Tomatoes
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers 
Cucumber
Carrots
Turnips
Bok Choy
Herbs
Walla Walla Onion
Garlic

See you all this afternoon, have a beautiful day!

CSA Harvest - Week #15

Hello there, 

It's cool and windy this morning and I need to layer up before heading outside to finish the harvest. Mmm, the Autumnal Equinox is a week away and there is definitely a feeling of Fall in the air. We're welcoming it around here, the shorter and cooler days feel incredible and my drive to Telluride with your CSA shares is becoming more beautiful each week as the leaves begin to change. 

We harvested a few beds of potatoes this week and you'll find them in the CSA share today! A lovely mix of Yukons, Reds and Purples. And Mike spent Monday mowing the remaining potato beds so the potatoes will cure and be ready to harvest in a couple weeks. So. Many. Potatoes! 

We cleaned and bagged up all the red onions on Saturday and harvested the yellow storage onions, which sized up beautifully! It's a new variety we're trying this season so we'll see how it cures and stores. 

I made a quick trip back to Ridgway over the weekend and spent time with my family and an incredible friend. Aaahhh, so wonderful to play with my nephew, laugh with my brother and just sit, sip coffee and catch up with my parents. Home sweet home. With farming there are always endless to-do lists, which I love, but I need to be better about stopping and spending time with loved ones.

The Summer crops know Fall's a comin' and are slowing down and dying back. This week mark's the last week of beans and zucchini, and maybe cucumbers too. I have a sneaky suspicion that we could see a light frost on Thursday or Friday night... they're calling for temps in the high 30's but with the Full Moon I think it could get a little colder than predicted. We'll see?

I cannot stop checking on the Fall green block... they're growing SO fast and are ready for another weeding. I love Wednesdays and seeing all your sweet faces, but Thursday mornings are the best. I wake up and have a few days to tackle projects before I need to think about harvesting again... and this week weeding all the green beds is what I'm hoping to tackle. Wish me luck!


CSA Harvest - Week #15 includes:

Salad Greens
Kale
Heirloom Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Peppers
Beans
Beets
Potatoes
Walla Walla Onion
Garlic
Herbs

Have a beautiful day!