Delicious fruit abounds!

Good Morning Folks!
Hope you are all staying cool out there during this mid-August heat wave!  Although the light is changing and the fruits are coming in, it is still sweltering out there and your farmers are doing their best to keep both their spirits and plant's spirits high.  Ahhh august, the time to tube the river, visit your county fair, and pick fruits and vegetables until your back is sore.  The wild kingdom is really starting to close in on the farm these days.  So much so that we are starting to take prisoners.  Your gentle farmers are now true Americans, driving around in their pick ups with their shot gun...blanks only...in a desperate attempt to scare away the deer.  One audacious  individual has taken to bedding down, right in the middle of the day, in our tomato tunnel, snacking as she pleases on whatever ripe fruit is near by.  Mosquitoes and wasps abound.  There are baby rabbits everywhere we look, eating the bottoms of beans on the plant as well as stray ones that slipped through the wash cracks.  I see adults, meeting for a midnight rendezvous in the lettuce patch.  I can imagine what they are saying in rabbit-speak..."Oh Hey, you live here too?  Isn't this place great?  So much food and hardly any foxes...I know this great little hang out over in the beans, I'd love to see you again, maybe next week we meet up and, uh..."  Farmers wear many hats, I think it is time to find an Elmer Fudd model and take back the farm.

Delicious fruit abounds on the farm these days. The combinations seem endless (as does the picking).  Eggplant makes a great substitute for meat.  It's texture and innate ability to hold flavor will keep you feeling satisfied and packs a punch for any summer meal.  Not feeling up for Eggplant parm in the oven?  Try it on the grill.  We have chopped it fine and threw it in a skillet with some gyro spices.  Add some shredded carrot, tomato and tzatziki and serve with pita bread.  Baba ganoush is another favorite.  I like to char it whole on the grill and then scoop out the insides for a nice smokey flavor.  make a big batch, it freezes well and is a crowd pleaser in the winter.  Need a side for a pot luck?  Roasted tomato and barley salad has been our go to as of late.  Slice tomatoes and roast at 400 for 20 minutes with feta and olive oil.  Cook the barley and combine with roasted tomatoes, add diced cucumber, olives, artichoke hearts, basil or whatever herbs tickle your fancy.  Grilled caprese wrapped in a chard leaf is also a fun way to stay out of your kitchen.  Get rid of the chard stem and steam the leaves ever so slightly.  Lay them out and place a slice of tomato, a piece of good mozzarella, and a basil leaf in the center.  Roll them up, sprinkle with olive oil and salt and grill them until the cheese gets gooey.   Beer or yogurt battered beans are delicious when fried.  Just sayin.  Red Potatoes are being stubborn, taking longer than we would like but you can't rush perfection. sigh.

A few FYIs for mid-August!
1. Winter Shares are going fast!  If you would like one, please sign up within the next month.  I am starting a list of folks that are interested in splitting a share, so if you need a buddy, just email me and I will try to get folks connected.  You can sign up online or just bring the payment to the market.  They are $500 for 22 weeks, pick-ups are every-other-week at Equinox starting in early November.
2.  We will start to have bulk tomatoes here in the next few weeks.  Look for slicing tomatoes and heirlooms starting on Saturday with romas coming in hot in the next few weeks.  We will also have pickling cucumbers towards the end of the August, so be sure to get your canners ready!
3. Our awesome farm crew is sticking around for another year (hooray!) and our gal Grace wanted me to pass on some house-sitting credentials to you fine folks. If anyone needs some house or pet sitting services this winter, she is your gal. With over four years of pet sitting and house sitting experience, she cares for pets as if they were her own. She is accommodating to their specific needs, keep a clean house and can to provide references if needed. Feel free to contact her at graceeperry0004@gmail.com to chat more.

This week's Harvest
Kale
Chard
Head Lettuce
Carrots
Beets
Cucumbers (slicing and Lemon)
Summer Squash and Zucchini
Sweet Onion
Garlic
Cherry Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Eggplant Japanese and Italian
Peppers (hot and Bell)
Garlic
Basil
Beans

Cheers,
Katie
 

Middle of the Lake

A plentiful harvest at Native Hill Farm! (Photo by Claire Burnett)

Hello Folks,
And happy end-o-July!  Ok, if your a teacher, you are probably rather annoyed, but for a farmer, the end of July marks the middle of the lake.  After this week, we can stop pushing the rock up the hill and start the gentle decline of the rest of the season.  Not that the hard work stops here, au contrair, we still have A MASSIVE amount of food to get out of the fields but much of the babying, worrying, and heat waves will be seen from the review mirror of the tractor so to speak.  The last week in July has been busy with much of the late fall transplanting. The last of the fall broccoli, storage kohlrabi, napa cabbage, and chicories have gone into the ground and while there is still much seeding left, the fall beets and carrots have germinated, and much is as it should be this time of year.  If you are keeping score on the wildlife vs. NHF Olympic games, the current event is the tomato race and the score is tied. Once we covered the lettuce, the deer decided that the tomatoes were looking awfully enticing.  We have to get them out of the tomato tunnels before the deer can start nibbling on the ripe ones.  If I had to guess, they must be Russian deer (no offense to any decedents) as they cheat and have the audacity to stroll in the tunnels in broad daylight.  Need to make a call to the embassy.

Native Hill Farm Interns working hard to lay drip lines. (photo by Claire Burnett)

Here in Colorado, our season for fruits is so short that I feel like it is a race to see how much I can eat while it is here.  Mouth sores are ignored as acidic summer fruits are made part of every meal.  I have two lunches that I tend to obsess over this time of year.  They are practically identical except I tend to alternate between heirloom tomatoes and fresh peaches.  First is a bed of head lettuce.  Then add some lemon cucumber, a few slices of fatty heirloom tomatoes or delicious peaches.  Top with basil and some fresh mozzarella and drizzle with olive oil and sticky balsamic reduction glaze.  Some times I use goat cheese with the peaches...Green beans are here to stay for a while.  Lovely steamed until brilliant green and served with good salt.  Butter is optional. Purple potatoes are a fun and a treat this week. They might even make your kids squeal.  We don't have many, so don't procrastinate.  Cheery tomatoes are just starting.  Sun golds are sweet enough to get a scolding from your dentist, but maybe get an extra pint for her to ease the finger wagging. Don't store any tomatoes in the fridge, but don't store them long on  your counter either.  Just eat them quickly and often.

Join us for chicken and given at the Farm House this Sunday from 5-7!  The Poudre Valley Community Farms board will be the to share the table and enjoy the finger licking goodness.  Don't eat fried chicken?  You can order off the menu as well.  A portion of the proceeds goes to the Land Cooperative and it is the last July date, so come on down!

See you soon!

Katie

This Week's Harvest
Kale
Chard
Head Lettuce
Salad Mix
Beets
Carrots
Sweet Onions
Cucumbers
Summer Squash
New Potatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Green Bean
Bell Peppers
Eggplant
Basil
Garlic
 

Three Cheers for the Monsoons!

And...a new Celli spader! Viva Italia! (Photo by Farmer Nic)

Hello Friends,
Three cheers for the monsoons!  Although the forecast still looks hot, it has been so nice to have the afternoon rain showers back.  The smell of wet soil is a scent for sore noses (or something like that) and it really helps with the mid-July slog.  This week we discovered that our drip lines on many of our plants have slowly been clogging up, so we have spent a good part of the past week trying to fix the problem and get stuff watered.  We have also been trying to out smart the wildlife that has recently moved in on the farm...two young fawns have decided to snack on the head lettuce before bedding down in the onion patch for the evening.  Between them and the precipitously growing bunny population, we are a regular wild kingdom.  We have deployed some row cover to try to hide the lettuce with the hopes that they will not start wandering into the tomato tunnels...although the grass hoppers may have beat them to it.  Sharing this planet can be trying sometimes.  

Summer fruits are starting to appear, slow at first, but in earnest soon.  Bell peppers are lovely for all sorts of things. Fajitas automatically come to mind, sautéed with sweet onions and garlic and your favorite meat, you don't have to do much more for flavor.  Eggplant is better than many of you think.  Grilled with peppers and sweet onions, they make a wonderful filling for veggie melts.  Just toast some good bread, pile on the grilled veg, add some smoked gouda or swiss cheese and place under the broiler for a minute.   I like a good mustard with mine.   Asian eggplants are like mushrooms.  They soak up all the flavor of what you cook them in and take little prep. Pasta, curry, or pizza are all my favorites with these little gems, just slice and sauté.  New potatoes are just that...new.  They are uncured and have delicate thin skin.  They do not store well outside your fridge, so put them in a plastic bag in the cold chamber until you are ready to use them.  They make wonderful hash browns with the peppers and onions but are great for oven fries or potato salad.

See you all real soon!
Katie

This Week's Harvest
Kale
Rainbow Chard
Head Lettuce
Beets
Carrots
Slicing Cucumbers
Lemon Cucumbers
Zucchini and Summer Squash
New Potatoes
Bell Peppers
Italian and Asian Eggplant
Sweet Onions
Basil
 

The Crux of the Race

Native Hill greens (Photo by Claire Burnett)

Hello Folks!

I hope y'all are staying cool out there on these HOT summer days.  Needless to say it has been a challenge to keep things watered out here on the farm.  It seems like the plants will take every drop we can throw at them and then some.  There is nothing plants like more than a good rain and we could use it right about now.  Mid-July is a tough time for a Colorado vegetable farmer.  If you can imagine the farming season sorta like a big mountain bike race, one that you only get one shot at per year.  Every year you train and visualize, come up with new strategies, trying to learn from last years failures, hoping to optimize that perfect run.  Some new things work out, others don't and new challenges always arise.  Mid-July is hot and dry.  It is where early spring set backs come to haunt you and you have to just keep pushing through.  Its when you get your grit.  This year is no exception and although we have been having a great race so far, we are approaching the crux of the race.   Late spring produce is gone, fall goodness is still to come and we wait for fruit to ripen.  Ahhh July.

Head lettuce is back this week and not a moment too soon.  The gravitational pull toward salad in this town is like none other.  I get it.  No one wants to turn on their oven...or really eat anything warm.  Head lettuce is far superior to salad mix.  Its texture is more robust, its crunch is audible and lets face it, it holds more salad dressing.  The best way to get it from head to salad or sandwich is to invest in a salad spinner.  Chop off the bottom of the head and place leaves in the spinner basket.  Put the basket back into the plastic bowl, fill with water, lift the basket, dump out the water and repeat.  Then spin it dry and store in the spinner or plastic bag.  Sounds like a lot of work but only takes 1.5 minutes and it totally worth it.  Sweet onions are in.  There is not much better than sweet onions on the grill.  Except maybe onion rings.  Lemon cucumbers are not like a lemon at all...more like a cucumber but sweeter and juicier. Take a few for lunch and eat them like an apple...or slice thin and marinate with some vinegar, salt and water for a delicious quick pickle. Zucchini's are ready for bread.  Or muffins or bunt cake.  I've even made zucchini crust pizza (although that's a commitment). Green beans and new potatoes coming soon, believe me no one wants them more than me but alas the plants can't be rushed! yar!

In case you need to visualize some cold and snow to get you through this heat wave, now is the time to start thinking about winter CSA shares.  The winter shares run mid-November to late March and are a great way to keep eating seasonally all year long.  This is a traditional CSA that features root crops, alliums, winter sqaush and fresh greens from our cold frames.  Pick-ups are every-other week at Equinox Brewing....enjoy a beer (or two), meet some friends, and pick-up your vegetables all winter long.  Sign up on the website or download an application and bring a check to the market.  Shares usually sell out by the end of August, so don't miss out!  Also, there is still space on the farm tour on the 21st of July.  Please let me know if you would like to come check out the farm!

See you all real soon,
Katie

This Week's Harvest
Kale
Swiss Chard
Head Lettuce
Carrots
Beets
Sweet Onions
Slicing Cucumbers
Lemon Cucumbers
Summer Squash
Zucchini
Basil
 

Signs of Good Things to Come

(Photo by Claire Burnett)

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend and enjoyed some "independence" from the grocery store with all the tasty vegetables that have been coming off the farm.  This week finds your farmers hard at work getting garlic out of the ground, transplanting fall brassicas such as cabbage and cauliflower as well as our pickling cucumber crop.  We've been weeding fall celeriac and prepping ground for our big fall planting of beets and carrots.  There are tiny eggplants forming on beautiful purple plants, tomatoes starting to blush, and lemon cucumbers budding from their thick vines...all signs of good things to come. 

Although there is plenty to eat on the farm these days, we are sorta in a vegetable purgatory as we wait for new potatoes, sweet onions, and beans to come online.  Slicing cucumbers are finally in abundance and are great eaten with hummus, whirled into a thick cucumber yogurt sauce, or sliced into water with mint for a refreshing summer beverage.  Patty pan squash are like eating little bits of sunshine.  Put them whole on a kabab for the grill or lightly sauté with pasta, shelling peas, and  basil for a light summer fare. Last week for broccoli until the fall so don't miss out.

June Farm Tour! (Photo by Claire Burnett)

July's Thursday night farm tour will be July 21st at 5:30.  Please email me if you are interested in joining us.  We will have refreshing beverages and show you how your food is grown!  Also, if you like fried chicken, head out to The Farm House restaurant any Sunday evening in July for their Chicken and Given community night.  A portion of the proceeds from the dinner will be donated to the Land Cooperative, so don't miss out!  

See you all real soon!
Katie

This Week's Harvest
Kale
Collards
Chard
Cucumber
Sugar Loaf Radicchio
Summer Squash/Zucchini
Carrots
Beets
Radish
Kohlrabi
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Fennel
Shelling Peas
Basil