2012 CSA Newsletter – Week 5 – Harvest Mania

The Farmers Update

Time to pick the cucumbers!

Harvest is about all we can get to these days, with a bit of weeding when possible. The beans are coming in in full force now, lots more to come for a few weeks.Are you sick of beets yet? We will give you a break for a couple of weeks before getting into the second patch. remember, the topped beets store very well, put them in a bag in your produce drawer and you can use them all winter. Cucumbers are coming in  this week strongly, but still just from the hoop house – the early crop. the main crop is still a few weeks off.

Lots of cauliflower this week, plus plenty more broccoli coming next week. We also picked the first cabbage this week, a delicious ‘conehead; variety called “caraflex’ from johnny’s seeds –  here’s what they say: Inner leaves are tender and have an excellent, rich cabbage flavor. Perfect for summer salads, slaws, or cooked dishes. 

The irrigation water is only going to last a few more weeks. After that we will have the pond to irrigate about an acre of crops laid out with drip tape. Several crops may suffer this fall without monsoonal moisture: kale, chard, salad, broccoli and cauliflower. I will make up these weaknesses with other crops that should do fine: squash, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, beets, carrots and many herbs. Our sweet corn crop may not set – its late – but we will have at least a few weeks of local, natural/organic corn from either tuxedo corm or austin family farms (starting in 1-2 weeks).

This week’s peaches are from domingez canyon, and like all early peaches, they aren’t quite as spectacular as the main season peaches we will have in a few weeks. In a few weeks we will also have the earliest apples. I’m also expecting to get some plums, nectarines and peaches for the fruit members this season – its a good fruit year. we should have fruit thru the season.

We started picking the Gladioli this last week, if you want to brighten up your life buy a bundle of these for your kitchen on dining room. they are absolutely stunning and last for a week or more with proper care. Please pre-order and will deliver with the boxes or have them out at pickup.  $10 for a bundle of 7 stems for CSA members.

In the Box

Packing the boxes.

Most items are 1 each for Half, 2 each for Full. A few items are Full only. Boxes may vary slightly, we do our best to even out the distribution.

Beets
Onions  – one small early onion – many more to come!
Cucumbers – time for cucumber salad
Herbs – a bit for a sauce, one of the following: thyme, oregano, marjoram, cinnamon basil
Kale – lancinato this week, but varies – green curly, lancinato and red russian
Cauliflower – lots this week, a bit more next week
Lettuce – that was it – the head lettuce did relatively poorly this year in the heat; we may have one more week.
Salad Mix – still coming
Beans (green, yellow & purple)
Peppers – lots of little hot peppers, and the first bell peppers – these are thinning harvests –  encouraging the plants to produce & ripen larger peppers. in general the big blocky peppers are sweet the long peppers are semi hot and the smaller peppers are hot to very hot.
eggplant – we picked a few of these this week, expect many more in 1-2 weeks
Swiss Chard – plenty more until they dry up!
Carrots – bunches

Fruit

Peaches, from Domingez Canyon

Coming Soon

Broccoli – lots more
bulb fennel
summer squash
more of the same!

Pictures from the farm

Click to enlarge.

2012 CSA Newsletter – Week 4 – It’s summer now!

The Farmers Update

Just a quick note this week. lots of rain and overcast weather this week which is lovely. Everything appreciates it, and the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage seem especially happy. New this week – carrots, parsley, broccoli, onions and basil…

The peas are nearly done, and we started picking beans this week – we will have beans for the next several weeks. the broccoli is coming in and the cauliflower is starting. The peppers are very close and may start next week.

In the Box

Most items are 1 each for Half, 2 each for Full. A few items are Full only

Beets – we will take a break from beets soon, then have more later in the season
Onions  – one small early onion – many more to come!
Cucumbers – more coming in this week
Basil – a bit for a sauce, email for pesto quantities
Kale – three varieties – green curly, lancinato and red russian
Broccoli/Cauliflower – just starting, lots more in coming weeks
Lettuce – a couple more weeks of head lettuce left
Salad Mix
Parsley – flat leaf
Chois – the last of the chois, a little small but worth using for their crunchy stems.
Swiss Chard – full members, more for everyone next week
Dill (full members)
Carrots – early harvest, more to come

Fruit

Cherries, Bing from First Fruits
Apricots – from First Fruits

Coming Soon

Beans (green, yellow & purple)
bulb fennel
oregano & other herbs
peppers
squash

2012 CSA Newsletter – Week 3 – Peas please!

The Farmers Update

This week the peas peaked I hope! Everyone should have gotten a big bag of sugar snaps this week and fulls also got shelling peas this week. Only some of you have gotten the snow peas, we should have more of those this week.

This week we checked the potatoes and they just aren’t ready for new potatoes. The garlic is ready and we will be picking that over the next week, then drying and processing it – expect garlic in the boxes in about four weeks. I picked one tote of carrots, but they weren’t sweet enough yet, we should have them next week. Also broccoli and cauliflower are starting as well as the green beans. Even the cabbage is nearly ready.  In the onion department we have one more week of scallions, then we’ll start with early onions, and later in the season leeks.  The peppers, tomatoes and eggplant all look great and we should have a nice crop… although the peppers have started to trickle in, it will be a few weeks before we can really start giving you peppers, then eggplant, then finally tomatoes…

This early summer I’m being a bit unrelenting in loading you up on healthy kale and chard greens (and salad) because we may not have these greens long after our water is shut off in early august (rain helps!). If you can’t use all the greens consider cooking & freezing for winter use, or giving to a friend or neighbor.

If you have any questions, please give me a call or email me! Lots of pictures at the bottom of this post.

In the Box

Most items are 1 each for Half, 2 each for Full. A few items are Full only

Beets – still lots of beets to come, this week we picked the long cylinder shaped beets
Scallions  – perfect for cucumber salad
Cucumbers – our earliest cukes from the hoop house – many more to come as we move into our field cukes
Kale – three varieties – green curly, lancinato and red russian
Lettuce – crisp red heads – red seems less interesting to the grasshoppers this year which have been devouring the lettuce. we will have more, plus some baby romains next week
Radishes (full)
Salad Mix
Swiss Chard
Dill

Fruit

Cherries, Bing from First Fruits
Apricots – from First Fruits

Coming Soon

Beans (green, yellow & purple)
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Carrots
Early Onions
More Chois
bulb fennel
Basil, parsley, oregano & other herbs

A Recipe from Valerie

Curried Kale

 1 bag (or bunch) of kale, any variety
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 head baby garlic, minced or 2-3 cloves full sized garlic
1/2-1 can coconut milk
medium curry powder to taste (I used a rounded teaspoon)
salt to taste
ghee and/or olive oil for sautéing
  1. Rinse and chop kale, set aside.
  2. Heat 1-2 Tbs. ghee and/or oil, then add onion, garlic, curry powder and salt.
  3. Sauté until onions are clear, add kale and a bit of water (about 1/4 cup).
  4. Simmer kale a few minutes then add coconut milk and simmer covered for 5-10 minutes depending on how well done you like your kale.
  5. Adjust the salt and serve on a bed of rice. YUM!

 

Recent Farm Pictures

More pictures for your viewing pleasure. Click any image to enlarge.

 

2012 CSA Newsletter – Week 2 ~ Summer is on…

The Farmers Update

This week’s heat makes me want to curl up inside this bucket of peas.
Wow – the heat of summer hit hard tis year, with day after day of 100 degree plus. Fortunately, the water is plentiful at the moment and I keep the sprinklers running all day long most days, rotating from bed to bed, zone to zone, to keep everything cool and moist.  All the heat (and water) means lots of growth on the farm this week. The brassicas – broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and more, seem especially huge this week.
Payment reminder – July 1st I will be mailing every member with a balance a copy of their invoice. If you have a balance due, please send a payment on your account, ideally 50% of the balance due. If you would like to make a partial payment by credit card or paypal, please email me and i will help set that up.

In the Box

Most items are 1 each for Half, 2 each for Full. A few items are Full Only – chives, kale.

Beets – first of the season. delicious just boiled plain. we will have beets for several weeks.
Chives – tender
Cilantro – a spring treat – full members
Kale – bags
Lettuce – baby heads (full)
Radishes (full)
Salad Mix
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Dill

Fruit

Cherries, Bing from Delicious Orchards
Apricots – from First Fruits, Paonia
Raspberries – from our farm (some members)

Recent Farm Pictures

More pictures for your viewing pleasure. Click any image to enlarge.

2012 CSA Newsletter – Week 1 ~ Here we go VEGETABLES!

The Farmers Update

This year we are starting with a bang – we have many crops all coming in all at once, in part because we have had a hot strong spring and everything is a little early this year (about a week or two). Check below to see whats in the box, and enjoy the abundance of greens while we have them – I’m going to give you as much as I can while I have plenty of irrigation water. More on the water situation in upcoming emails, lets all hope for some monsoonal weather!

I forgot to mention in previous emails that this is going to be a great fruit year. we are starting this week with Bing cherries from Delicious Orchards, and Rainier cherries from First Fruits. We should have a solid showing of several more cherry types, apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines, apples and pears. Some of the later apples may be impacted by the shortened irrigation season, unless we get some rain! We even have some raspberries coming in to spread around. Not enough yet for everyone to get berries every week, but we will keep track and make sure every fruit member gets some farm grown berries this year.

 

In the Box

Most items are 1 each for Half, 2 each for Full. A few items are Full Only – chives, kale.

[wpcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””]Bok Choi  – yummy, crunchy
Chives – tender
Cilantro – a spring treat
Kale – just starting
Kohlrabi – more info on our recipe page: http://www.turkeyhillcsa.com.php53-27.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/csa-information/recipes
Lettuce – baby heads
[/wpcol_1half] [wpcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” style=””]Radishes, for a few weeks
Salad Mix
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Baby Garlic – we’ll have regular garlic in about a month

[/wpcol_1half_end]

Fruit

Cherries, Bing from Delicious Orchards
Cherries, Reinier from First Fruits
Raspberries – from our farm (only farm members got these this week, the rest of you will get them over the next few weeks)

Recent Farm Pictures

 

 

First Harvest Details & Open House – Updates!

First Harvest Pickup & Delivery Details

Early Bok Choi, nearly ready

What will be in the first few boxes: Bok Choi, Lettuce, Salad, Radishes, Chives, Green Garlic, Spinach, Chard, Kale, Peas, Cilantro & more…

The first harvest pickup and delivery dates will be as follows

  • Farm Pickup starts Friday June 22nd
  • Marble/Redstone pickups starts Saturday June 23rd
  • Gunnison delivery starts Saturday June 23rd
  • Crested Butte delivery starts Sunday June 24th
At the bottom are details for each pickup area – please read the section for your area below carefully so you understand the procedure before you arrive.

CSA Member Open House & Early Produce

We will be holding an open house for CSA members on Thursday June 14th  – members can come any time that day by RSVPing by phone at 872-4413.  I suggest visiting in the morning around 11am if you can make it. Visit the farm, tour the early fields and take home a bag of produce from our earliest harvest. That week we will be doing a ‘pre-harvest’ the week before the CSA starts to make sure we have everything we need for the first week.

On The Farm

Planting Crew

The early crops all look great. Nearly everything came up strong and everything is growing well. The planting is nearly complete – this week we will transplant our remaining starts and I will get my final big direct seeding in the ground. I have inserted a gallery at the bottom of the post that shows the crops progress and a few interesting details. We did have a late freeze in the valley Memorial day weekend, but fortunately we scraped by with very little damage. We did loose a few of our early transplanted squash, but these are easy to replace in my next direct seeding.

The next two weeks are our opportunity to get ahead of the weeds, thin all the crops that need thinning like carrots, beets, peas and beans, and get the harvest area ready for the harvest season. Once we start in with harvest, its hard to get back to the many projects on the farm.

What about your Water?

This year we experienced a very dry winter and spring, leaving us with little snowpack to feed the summer irrigation season. Still – it looks like we will have water for most of our usual season. We are carefully monitoring the snow melt to see when the irrigation system has to start drawing on the reservoir. The reservoir contains around 60 days of water, and our large pond contains another few weeks of irrigation water. If we get some more overcast days (which prolong the snowmelt) or any precipitation between now and then, the season will be extended.

If we do run out of water early some crops like fall greens may suffer. We’ll try to make up for this by giving you plenty of greens while we have plenty of water and you may be getting more winter squash, onions and potatoes that in past years. These crops will do fine even if the water ends sooner than usual.

Pickup Area Instructions

Please read carefully and call or email if you have any questions.

All Members –  please return any totes or boxes; the gray boxes collapse into a much smaller size, press two thumb locks to collapse. Please do not return bags, we cannot reuse them. Please reuse or accumulate and take to City Market for recycling.

  • Farm Pickup – The farm is located on Powell Mesa Rd.  outside Hotchkiss (new members please call for directions), pickups are Friday 3-7pm – read the board when you arrive, take a box and bags and take your produce. I will be around the first few weeks to get you oriented.; If you need to come earlier or later, please call the farm (872-4413) and we will box up your produce and put it in the walk-in, first door on our right – please close door hard until it clicks.
  • Gunnison – Mark from Thistle Whistle Farm will be bringing your boxes to the Montrose farmers market.   Please thank him and buy some of his yummy veggies.
  • Crested Butte – Hosted by Stacee Vanaremen at 421 White Rock. Deliveries are Sundays 11am-11:30am (the truck will be there by 11am and leave after 11:30am). If you can’t meet the truck we will leave your box on the shaded porch on the right of the building. Your produce needs refrigeration! if you can’t pick it up by 11:30, consider having a friend come and get it and put it in your fridge. Please help keep Stacee’s porch as neat as possible between pickups, thanks!
  •  Marble/Redstone – standard pickup time is Saturday mornings, your boxes will be inside the walk-in, first door on our right – please close door hard until it clicks. All boxes will be labeled with an [M] for Marble. If you know exactly when you are coming please email or call ahead so I can meet you. Contact Gina (ginacousino@gmail.com) to find out your pickup slots.

Plant Plant Plant – it’s that time of year!

happy transplants

Its that time of year – everything must get planted…  In go the many thousands of seedlings we have been nurturing in the greenhouse. In go the seeds, by the tens of thousands, in long neat rows as all the direct seeded crops go in the ground. And so, the greenhouse empties as everything moves out – first to the “hardening off” tables where they acclimate to being outside for a few days or weeks, then out to the field.

Nearly everything has been planted out at least once, and most have been planted more than once (lettuces – many types, kales, chards, broccoli, cauliflowers, cabbages including napas and savoy, celery, chois – bok choi, tat soi, parsley, oregano, chives, thyme. The direct seeding of around an acre has happened twice (peas, beans, salad, basil, cilantro, dill, scallions, spinach, carrots, beets, radishes). Last to go out will be those tender crops that can’t stand any cold weather – squash, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants and a few others.  Getting everything started is the hardest part of the season and its going great!

Are you getting Hungry Yet?

I hope I’m whetting your appetite with my long list of veggies we’ve already planted. Harvest starts in a short  6 weeks from now and we still have around ten spots we would like to fill for the season. If you were thinking of joining and haven’t called yet, please go online to send in your signup in. you can reserve a spot with a $150 check.

If are already a member, please help us promote the CSA by telling your friends or posting a link on your facebook page, let the world know how excited you are about the bounty approaching.  you can link to our website, or the new simple facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/turkeyhillcsa, or go post a message on our page and all your friends will see that activity.

On the Farm

Pictures (with captions) tell the story – click a thumbnail to enlarge and start the slide show.

Here Comes the Season!

Early Signup Discount Ends May 1st

The early signup discount is our way of saying thank you for taking the leap into this season with us. As we plant, prepare the fields and lay out the irrigation, harvest still seems a ways off – but we all know it will be here soon. If you can afford to pay up front and are planning to join the CSA this summer, NOW is the time to act – you’ll get 10% off your veggies for the season. Click Here to Sign Up!

Greenhouse Zone

The greenhouse has been rapidly filling up, and the earliest flats are bursting at their seems waiting to get out and into the field. Take a look at these pictures and you will see what I mean (click to enlarge & view slideshow):

Each one of the long black trays in the pictures holds 276 cells, and each cell has a single transplant. It takes just a few trays of say broccoli to fill an entire 300’x5′ bed in the field (about 750 plants). Its an amazing process watching the packed transplants spread out into a much larger area in the field, then grow to fill in this area. The 600 sq feet of heated space in the seed house turns into acres in the field.

Field Prep, Seeding & Irrigation

The irrigation water has arrived! That means its time to hook up the sprinklers and start making and planting beds. Earliest to go out will be the 1st crops we seeded – onions, leeks, artichokes, kale, chard, chois (joi choi, mei quin choi), broccoli, cabbage and lettuce. All these are now will be planted from transplants weathering out the current storms in the warm greenhouse.

Along with that I will be doing my first large direct seeding – usually about a third of an acre, mainly peas (sugar, snow and shelling), carrots, beets, cilantro, dill, salad mix & spinach. These crops grow fast and will be some of the 1st week pick in around two months – late June.  Did I mention something you love? I hope so, because there will be a lot of it this summer and we still need your signup!

More updates from  the field soon, stay tuned!

 

Spring on the Farm – 2012 Edition

Time for Greenhouse Seeding!

Spring is in the air, with warmer nights, sunny days and precipitation arriving as rain instead of snow. I started up the seed house last week – which involved lots of cleaning and getting the fans and heater going. This year my son Noah and I replaced the ‘inflation blower’ – a small fan in the greenhouse that inflates the space between the two layers of plastic covering the greenhouse. These pieces are sealed on all sides and the fan inflates the space between them, creating an insulating air pocket between the inside and outside. The old blower setup had become compromised because of the way we originally set it up and lots of air was leaking.

Inside the greenhouse I am keeping the air temperature to around 50 degrees minimum at night, but the newest flats of peppers, eggplants and early flowers sit on a heat mat set to 90 degrees and covered with plastic to form a mini-greenhouse inside the greenhouse. Early plantings are progressing bit by bit – I can’t be in too much of a hurry because of the upcoming planting timeline. Typically, our earliest plantings are transplanted into the field at the end of April after our main irrigation supply, Fire Mountain Canal, is turned on. Some years we have a supply of early water by the end of March, but without knowing if i will have this water I can’t grow transplants too early – instead I will direct seed early crops like beets, peas, carrots and salad if I have early water.

Into the Field…

The ideal scenario is to transplant into the field right when the plants have formed a nice root ball, but before they are root-bound – if I plant too early in the greenhouse, the transplants will wind up waiting to be put out and getting ‘root-bound’.  With a crop like lettuce or broccoli, this means greenhouse seeding around 6-8 weeks before transplanting – meaning March 1st is the earliest I want to start seeding these crops in the greenhouse.  Other crops like peppers, eggplant and tomatoes are slower growing and get transplanted into larger containers before eventually making it into the field in late May or early June after the danger of frost has passed.

What to Plant?

Figuring out exactly what to plant and just how much is part of the art of small scale farming. I look at last years records and go thru each crop on a spreadsheet, trying to decide what crops deserve more space, and which ones I had too much of. I mix this with a health helping of intuition about the season – what will work well, what I can wholesale, etc. Every year there are new varieties to try, and there are always new or developing projects. For example this year I’m planning on filling the new hoop house with melons – lots of small watermelons ant cantaloupes.  The larger field hoop house will be filled with lots of colored bell peppers, eggplant and tomatoes.

Whats Next?

The next few weeks on the farm are a whirlwind of activity – spreading manure and preparing the field for planting is the biggest job. This spring I have large field sections that were planted in cover crop last fall and these will be left until late spring or early summer when they will be mowed or tilled in. Many of this year’s veggies will be planted in the inner part of the field, among the old apple trees – last year this section of the field was fallow. The far field will get larger scale plantings like corn or beans.

Sign Up Early!

Your CSA signups have started to trickle in, and we appreciate that. Summer is still a ways off, but early signups do help us plan the season. If you can’t afford the pay in full option (with a 10% discount on veggies), you can just send $150 to hold your spot for the season. We really want people to sign up as soon as they can so we can best plan the season’s plantings. We usually receive a steady stream of signups, then a flurry just before the harvest season begins, but we would rather have the signups come in earlier.

Thank you! More farm updates will arrive as the season progresses. 

Announcing the 2012 Turkey Hill CSA Season

Time to Sign Up!

Does everyone remember the bounty of last summer? Think back, then think forward and sign up for this season’s box.

I have opened the signup for the 2012 CSA. As usual, the spots we are offering are limited, so sign up early to assure yourself a spot. Click here to sign up, it only takes a few minutes. Your $150 (non refundable) deposit reserves your spot – you can pay the balance thru the early season. This year’s price for membership is Half – $350, Full $575. Delivery is $120 for the season. the fruit option is $100/$200 (Half/Full) for the season.

I think you will find joining the Turkey Hill CSA is an excellent value, and there is no better way to get a huge variety of fresh veggies all season long for a very reasonable price. If you can pay in full by May 1st we offer a 10% discount (on the csa membership fee). We also accept all sorts of payment plans and work trade as well.

Remember, signing up early really helps the farm and is one of the best aspects of doing a CSA for the farmer. Your deposits & early payment helps fund our early expenses – seed, greenhouse heating, labor for field prep, seeding and planting, fuel for the tractor and more – all these expenses come well before any produce we have, and your early deposits help fund these so we can later reward you with the bounties of summer. Sign up here.

On the Farm

The season planning process is well underway – I’ve sorted thru all the seeds I have on hand, and I’ve started putting my orders together . Some interesting new varieties and as usual I’m thinking about what to do more or less of in the field this year. I keep an overall record of the quantities we grew, and I think I know what items we had too much of or too little of, so I’m trying to adjust accordingly.

Our new close in hoop house will be devoted to melons this year and I’m planning to grow quite a few of the yellow oblong icebox sized melons that were a big hit on the farm last year. The larger field hoop house will be devoted to peppers, eggplant and tomatoes. I’m also planning a large patch if the roma type canning tomatoes variety I have grown to love. The strong bush plants produce early crops of large meaty tomatoes that are almost juiceless. We made some sauce of these this year and the quality was fantastic. I’ll have these in the boxes mid season (makes great chunky salsa) and later in the season available by the case.

Its almost time to prune the trees in the orchard and thin the berries. I hope to include berries from the farm in this year’s fruit option. I’ll have more pictures of the berries this year on the berry research page.

On the Website

I’ve added a few fun links to the website – I posted a new photo album is a compendium of many photos from the 2011 season. I’ve also added a link to the entire list of 2011 weekly emails so you can scroll (backwards) thru the last season to remember what we had.

Dont forget, the CSA  spots we are offering are limited, so sign up early to assure yourself a spot.Click here to sign up