Week 11 Shares

Finally some decent size leeks this year!  For shareholders that have been with us for the past couple of years, you will remember leeks that many times looked more like green onions, however this year with the combination of weed suppression, heat, and moisture, the crop sized up much better.  While they are a pain to harvest (dig, trim leaves & roots, wash, bundle), they have many favorable qualities.  One is that they make great potato and leek soup. http://dfo-recipes.weebly.com/roasted-leek-and-potato-soup.html.  The other is that they are excellent practical joke props.  Simply place a leek anywhere there is a water pipe (under the sink, in the basement, in the laundry room, etc) and shout in a distressed voice: "there's a leak in the (fill the blank)"

part of this year's leek harvest

The chickens are starting to fill out, they just completed week #4, so they are about at the half way point.  We have a couple of hawks that cruise past once and a while and everyone heads for cover under the coop.  One had just flow past and nobody wanted to come out for a picture...

We started harvesting onions this week, which like the leeks, are significantly larger than in the last couple of seasons.  They take about a week to dry and cure, so they should start appearing in shares next week.

As some of the fall crops begin, some of the summer ones are coming to an end.  This week will mark the last appearance of zucchini, summer squash, potatoes, and cucumbers

Another great shareholder provided recipe that uses green beans, cherry tomatoes and basil.  We made this on Monday and everyone approved.  http://dfo-recipes.weebly.com/green-beans-and-tomatoes.html

This week's shares will contain:

  • Leeks
  • Green Beans
  • Potatoes
  • Cucumber
  • Zucchini or Summer Squash
  • Tomatoes
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Bell Peppers
  • Jalapeno Peppers
  • Apples - McIntosh
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Written by Wade Decker On

Week 10 Shares

Welcome to September, hope everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend!  We did spend some time grilling and hanging around a bon fire, but we also spent part of Monday picking apples!  The kids were "thrilled" to spend part of their last day of summer vacation at the orchard :)

We also got the chickens moved out onto pasture on Monday, they are enjoying the extra space and wider variety of menu options other than just starter feed!

Cabbage harvest this morning!  A lot easier this year with the 100 gallon "harvest bin" and the new loader forks for the tractor, less carrying and lifting!! 

This weeks' shares will include:

  • Potatoes
  • Basil
  • Tomatoes
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Cabbage
  • Green Beans
  • Jalapeno Peppers
  • Cayenne Peppers
  • Apples - McIntosh

One of our shareholders shared the following pickled green bean recipe and included a couple of sample jars for us.  They were awesome and both jars were gone within a week.  http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/06/spicy-dilly-beans-recipe.html

Depending on your preference for heat, I'm sure you could could swap jalapenos and/or the cayennes for the red pepper flakes

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Week 9 Shares

A short update this week, we've spent a ton of time trying to catch up on the latest flush of weeds that emerged with all of the rain over the past two weeks and had started to take over almost all of the fields.  Due to the large amounts of rain, more than half our cherry tomato crop has split so we are back to pints for this week, hopefully we dry out and the next picking holds up better.  Crops liking all the rain:  green beans and green peppers, lots of them this week!  The orange tomatoes this week are Valencia, an heirloom variety that has great flavor! 

Valencia tomatoes

Part of the green bean harvest, 80 lbs this week!

This week's shares will include:

  • Potatoes
  • Garlic
  • Chives
  • Green Beans
  • Tomatoes
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Green Pepper
  • Jalapeno Peppers
  • Collard Greens

Hope everyone has an enjoyable Labor Day weekend!!

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Week 8 Shares

It's hard to believe another summer is coming to an end :(  Back to school shopping was high on the list of priorities this past week as the remaining days of summer vacation has entered single digits.  Best of luck to all of the students, teachers, and parents in the upcoming school year! 

Lots of farm and orchard related activities this week as well:

The new batch of chicks have settled in nicely and are starting to sport their white wing and tail feathers already

We have just about wrapped up our field strawberry planting project which has added 4 additional 100' beds.  It has been a dual purpose project, cleaning up and narrowing the rows in the hoop house and utilizing the excess space in the aisles of our young orchard.  We installed drip irrigation and weed block prior to planting so once they fill in, they should be relatively maintenance free (hopefully)

Our apples continue to make good progress, while still a bit smaller than normal at this point due to the dry conditions most of the summer, they have started to catch up some over the past week.  The Macs are usually ready just after Labor Day, we are starting to see a few drops so we'll keep a close eye, but hopefully they hang on a bit longer and continue to size up!

Fortunately not a lot of fruit set on this tree....

This week's shares will include:

  • Potatoes
  • Tomatoes
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Cucumber
  • Zucchini or Summer Squash
  • Beets
  • Swiss Chard
  • Red Romaine lettuce
  • Arugula - a bit dirty from rain splash but we didn't want to wash and pack it wet
  • Basil
  • Garlic
  • Jalapeno Peppers
  • Blackberries
  • And a final picking of sweet corn, not a lot of ears and they are pretty small but perfect to cut off the cob and use in this awesome foil packet recipe - http://dfo-recipes.weebly.com/grilled-shrimp-foil-packets.html
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Written by Wade Decker On