Good Morning Folks,
And what a beautiful morning it is here in our high desert home. Evenings are getting cooler, trees are starting to flag and the smells of late summer are everywhere. Walking around the market the smell of melons and roasted chilies makes my mouth water and it makes me smile to see folks stocking up on summer's goodies to put away for the colder months. Your farmers are gearing up for fall projects starting this week which includes harvesting and roasting the first batches of green chilies, harvesting and curing our fall onions and winter squash, and seeding cover crops while we still have ditch water. There are greens to get in the ground for the winter CSA, tunnels to rearrange and fall roots to weed. Oh and food, lots of food to harvest!

The red and yellow storage onion crop is late this year; however, your allium of the week is the beautiful and mysterious shallot. To be completely honest, I have a hard time describing the flavor difference of a shallot and an onion. Milder for sure, but oddly enough, more tasty. When I ask other avid shallot fans how to describe it, they are equally as baffled, but the consensus is that they just make everything more delicious. I like to put them in everything, but shallot butter or a roasted shallot champagne vinaigrette might be up there with my favorites. Shishito peppers are all the rage these days. When harvested small, they are mild and delicious when blistered in a cast iron skillet and served with oil and salt, When harvested larger and prepared this way, they might kill your family...which was recently the claim by one CSA member and so we apologize to those of you to whom we sold hot peppers to. As the steward of the pepper patch, farmer Nic says he will do better and hopes we can all look back at the blooper and laugh. And as an aside, we think the member was mostly kidding about the death part. Its time to put food away! With a full harvest of peaches from the western slope this year, its certainly time to make some peach salsa. Heirlooms tomatoes pair well with peaches and make a wonderful sweet and savory treat for fish, eggs or tortilla chips. Pickling cucumbers are starting to appear, reserve your box today as I saw dill at the market last weekend...hard to get them both at the same time, email me! Romas will be prolific by the end of August. Less juicy than slicers means more tomato goodness for your winter pantry. We will start roasting chilies for winter soon. Rather than bringing them to market this year, we are going to sell them by the case. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to order time.

Finally, mark your calendars, Native Hill is finally doing a farm dinner! September 25th we are partnering with Jax Fish House for a harvest moon Salmon bake at the 50 acres that the Land Coop has been working to purchase over the past year. The dinner will benefit Poudre Valley Community Farms and we are excited to be able to share a meal on the land that many of you have been working to preserve for local food. Tickets can be purchased Here, don't delay...they will go fast!

See you all real soon!
Katie

This Week's Harvest
Kale
Chard
Head Lettuce
Carrots
Beets
Eggplant, Italian and Asian
Peppers, hot and bell
Zucchini and Summer squash
Cucumbers, slicing and lemon
Cherry Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Beans
New Red Potatoes (small harvest this year, sad tiger)
Basil
Shallots

Farmer's Journal

It's time to put food away!