Back in the Swing of Things

Greetings Folks,

This week finds us already 4 weeks into the summer program and we finally feel like we are back in the swing of things.  With most of our summer crops planted out, it is time to fight back the jungle of grass and weeds that always threatens to engulf the farm in June.  As organic farmers, we like to create habitat for native beneficial insects along our roadways, ditches and field edges so that we can encourage the good bugs to compete with the bad ones.  This is often a blessing and a curse as we only have a few tools we can use to try to tame the habitat when it starts encroaching on our fields.  We do a lot of "grounds keeping", meaning mowing and weed whacking as well as flame weeding (which is basically what it sounds like, walking around with a propane tank on our back and a burning back the smaller weeds, and yes we feel like a bada**).  It is also time to start trellising tomatoes...a seemingly relentless task in June as by the time you get to the end of the row, the tomatoes have grown so much its time to start again (only exaggerating a little).  

With mother's day, graduation, and summer vacations out of the way, June is here and its time to open the windows, pull out the grill and settle into that luxurious pace of summer (although technically it doesn't start for another 2 weeks).  Green salads are always a fast and easy way to pack in the vegetables, but I'm partial to branching out a bit this time of year. Massaging heartier greens like kale and chard in your favorite dressing will leave you feeling oh so satisfied and make you something of a standout at your next bbq. I like to use a lemon and honey based dressing for mine and combine it with some fruit, nuts and delicious cheese.  Pasta salads are also a nice change and can absorb most vegetables well.  Blanched greens blend well with sliced kohlrabi and turnips in an early summer pasta salad.  Speaking of Kohlrabi, I love to eat it raw but it is great combined with radishes in spring rolls or Asian dumplings or even just sliced and grilled. Sugar snap peas and zucchini will be trickling into the market over the next week.  Our peas took a bit of a beating with late snow storm and some early deer pressure, so we are expecting loweryields.  I know they are a favorite of everyone, so we apologize if they are a bit sporadic at the markets.  Can't win them all every year.

Looking forward to seeing many of you soon,

Katie

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This Week's Harvest

Kale

Collards

Chard

Radishes

Turnips

Salad Mix

Spicy Mix

Spinach

Baby Bok Choy

Broccoli Rabe

Kohlrabi

Zucchini (just starting, will have more soon)

Sugar Snap Peas

Moving into "June Mode"

Hi Folks!

The town seems to have transitioned over night to happy folks in their vacation garb...flip-flops, sunnies, and fancy hats...everyone is ready for summer.  Things are also heating up on the farm with highs this week in the low to mid-80s and we are cranking up the irrigation for the heat wave.  In addition to extra watering, this week we move the farm into "June" mode, meaning it is time to multitask.  Plants take advantage of the long day length and warmer evenings to do A LOT of growing and it is often hard for a vegetable farm to keep up not only with the plants' needs, but also all the weeding!  Another round of beans have been planted along with fall celeriac, parsnips, and pop-corn.  June also keeps us busy scouting and protecting the farm from pests both big and small.  We are imprisoning our head lettuce in a maximum security facility in hopes of keeping out our four hoofed foes while we are also calculating "degree days" to help us know when to look for cucumber beetles and the next round of cabbage moths. Oh June!

Still enjoying greens this week and we are adding to the arsenal of verde at the market.  Baby bok choy is a spring favorite at our house.  We enjoyed a 30 minute meal of steamed bok choy and pea shoots with glazed mushrooms over rice last evening which was both delicious, healthy, and quick. I also love to grill bok choy with some delicious garlic chili glaze or saute it with turnip greens and add it to a stir fry with turnips from the said greens.  Speaking of turnips, they are back for the spring and ready for your indulgence.  Always a crowd pleaser, these little dudes can be eaten raw in a salad, steamed, or roasted.  I love to dip them in pea shoot or arugula pesto or glaze them in a skillet as a nice side.  The greens are oh so nutritious and delicious, so be sure to work them into your meal plan somewhere. Finally, broccoli rabe is back.  Strangely bitter but juicy and satisfying, this green is actually in the mustard family.  Italians pare it with spicy sausage and pasta and they are right, it is awesome that way.  I love to pile it high on pizza or steam it with salt and a little bit of malt vinegar.  It is very delicate, so don't overcook to maintain optimum flavor and texture.

Looking forward to seeing you all very soon!
Katie

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This Week's Harvest

Kale

Collards

Chard

Salad Mix

Spinach

Arugula

Spicy Mix

Radishes

Salad Turnips

Pea Shoots

Baby Bok Choy

Broccoli Rabe

Getting Creative on the Farm

Hello Friends,

Your farmers are in a tizzy to get some stuff in the ground before the next storm and there is much to do while the sun shines.  We have late tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, peppers, and celeriac to get in the ground, as well as seeding July beans, cultivating garlic, potatoes, onions and mixed greens. We have peas to trellis and of course lots of food to get out of the ground, wash, and bring you good folks at the market this week.  Diversified vegetable farming is tricky business in Colorado when it rains.  We are perhaps the only farmers on our ditch system that need water in the ditch right now to keep planting and watering but no one else is calling for water...so we have to get creative as to how to move forward in our planting windows.  Good thing we have a farmer/engineer on the team that can rig up water to come from almost anything....a neighbor's well, a 250 gallon tote, a city tap with a really long hose...you would be surprised what we do on our farm for that life sustaining element that is water!

Due to the snow, we do not have any salad mix for the market today.  We should be back up and running either this weekend or next, depending on how fast we have some regrowth.  We have some arugula that we will be selling at a discount because it is from last week's harvest.  We do not normally do that, but we also don't normally have snow in late May!  Other than that, we should have a good variety of greens for you folks this week, although we may come up a bit short on volume due to the storm.  Please be patient with us while the plants recover.

Native Hill Farm Stand is open every day from 8am-6pm. Come on by!

Just a quick FYI, Beaver's market is a little challenging to get to right now as Shields Ave is closed from Laporte to Vine.  If you are trying to get there from the North, just get over to mountain from Laporte before you get to shields.

See ya soon!

Katie

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This Week's Harvest

Spinach

Spicy Mix

Discounted (but still delicious) Arugula

Radishes

Kale

Collard Greens

Rainbow Chard

Green Garlic

A New Season Begins!

It was great to see many of you at our first Wednesday market and we hope to see many more at the Saturday markets. As all springs, this one has been uniquely the same as all the other springs....or at least that is what we decided yesterday while harvesting your kale.  You never know what the weather or the season is going to do, but you are always prepared to for the chaos.  This spring has been a bit of a roller coaster.  Just when you think it is taking a turn toward stability, it changes its mind and decides to snow.  We haven't had a frost in weeks and now...snow!  Spring 1, farm 0.

For those of you who have been with us for some time, you know how the season always starts with leaves!  As much as we might want to do something different, maybe start with tomatoes or carrots, we are at the mercy of plant biology and will always have to start with leaves.  Lucky for us, the leaf portion of our season is quite delicious and in case you are still looking to slim down for that summer swim suit season that is right around the corner (supposedly), mother nature will oblige you in those goals. 

Pasta or pizza with wilted arugula and green garlic, spicy salad mix with pea shoots, dried figs, and a green garlic dressing, tahini herbed butter served with radishes and sea salt...yes please.  Tip on the green garlic: it is young, undivided garlic cloves.  It is more mild than cured garlic and you can use all of the garlic up to where the first leaves branch off.  Just chop it up and add it to the pan towards the end of the cooking process to ensure the most flavor.

See you soon!

Katie

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This Week's Harvest

Kale

Collards

Chard

Spicy Salad Mix

Salad Mix

Arugula

Radishes

Pea shoots (reduced yields due to deer pressure)

Green garlic

Happy CSA Day!

Thank you for supporting Native Hill Farm and community-supported agriculture by eating local! We are proud to provide the Northern Colorado community with fresh, organic, and delicious food. Our farm has thrived because of your commitment to eating local. Thank you for your love and support!