Farm Photos August 18th, 2013

I was wandering around the Farm at 63rd and Oxford Road yesterday. Walking the fields is so humbling to me. I am always in awe of the the beauty of the crops and also, the huge amount of food we pull from the fields year after year.

I thought instead of blogging on cooking and recipes as usual, I would post some pictures of the farm.

This is Rubio keeping an eye on the Farm Stand

rubio

Do you recognize these crops?
basil

edamame

They are basil and edemame

We grow tomatoes both in hoop houses and in the field. These are the hoop house tomatoes.

tomatoes

hoop house

tomatoes

heirloom tomatoes

Every year Wyatt grows some trial crops. He grows a small amount of the trial crops to see how they grow under our conditions and care, and also to see if we even like the new crop.

These are Asian long beans, a trial crop for us this year. I thought these were so pretty lingering next to the tomatoes in one of the hoop houses.

long beans

long beans

long beans

That is a very small taste of what is happening at the Farm. I hope you enjoyed it.
Have a great week.

Posted in 2013, Farm | Comments Off on Farm Photos August 18th, 2013

Visit our Farm Stand

Our Farm Stand is open at 63rd and Oxford Road and in full summer swing!

63rd and oxford

farm stand

farm stand

We have TONS of vegetables available from our farm if you want to stock your freezer, or do some canning. Hopefully CSA provides enough for your immediate needs, but I know lots of you like to ‘save the harvest’ for the winter months.
Now is the time to can or freeze tomatoes or make pickles or can some beets. It’s peak season for canning and freezing.

Every year in late September and October people ask if we have pickling cucumbers and sadly the answer is no.

Cucumbers are a Summer crop and will be done by mid-September. If you want to make pickles, NOW is the time!

We get peaches, apples (later in the season) and corn, and sometimes other vegetables that we buy in from other farms and sell those at the Farm Stand.

You might want to check out our Facebook page, sometimes we have second of peaches or tomatoes and post that information there.

All the vegetables you get from us at CSA, and vegetables we sell at the Farmer’s Market are grown by us.

The Farm Stand provides a little more variety because we don’t grow tree fruit or corn.

Lots of times farms out in Eastern Colorado, or on the Western Slope grow more than they can sell in their area, so selling these crops in Boulder provides a win-win situation for Farmer’s and Boulder fresh food lovers alike!

corn

peaches

You are getting roasted chilies as a choice this week in your CSA share. Roasted chilies freeze GREAT so if you want to stock up on those we’ve got them!

roasted chiles

And lots more.

eggplant

garlic and shallots

beets

melons

We hope to see you at the Farm Stand soon!

Posted in 2013, Farm | 2 Comments

CSA Week 14

Chili

Week 14, and we have alot of choices for you!

Regular Share
Choice: Zukes, Cukes, OR Fennel
Choice: Beets OR Carrots
Japanese Eggplant
Choice: Melon OR Cherry Tomatoes
Potatoes (Purple OR Fingerling)
Choice: Green Beans OR Roasted Chilis

Large Share Additions
Beets AND Carrots
Green Beans AND Roasted Chilis
Onions

Posted in 2013, Newsletter | Comments Off on CSA Week 14

Watermelon Waldorf Salad

happy watermelon

I don’t think anything takes me back to my childhood more than Waldorf salad or melon balls. I thought it would be fun to combine the two.

watermelon waldorf salad

Watermelon Waldorf Salad

The flesh of one watermelon diced or use your melonball tool
1 cucumber diced. I used 2 lemon cucumbers since they are small
3 stalks of celery diced
1 jalapeno diced (optional)
Dressing
2 or 3 tablespoons of mayo
Juice of one lemon or lime, I used lime
Salt, pepper and honey to taste.
A handful of basil or mint minced (optional).

A handful or two of toasted nuts, I used pecans.

Combine the melon and vegetables and make the dressing. Just before serving add the dressing to the melon and vegetables.
Top with the nuts.

You can make more dressing if you like. I tend to like my salads very lightly dressed.

Have a great week.

Posted in 2013, Melon, Recipes, Salads-Spring-Summer | Comments Off on Watermelon Waldorf Salad

Storing and Handling Melons

August 12, 2016: This is a re-post of a blog from August 2013. Melons are coming in strong right now. Soon to be followed my winter squash and more fruit, yay! Sometimes it is easy to forgot that, though we are organic, we still need to wash melons, and all produce from ANY Market or vendor before eating.

August, 2013 repost; The most important thing to know about melons, any melons, is that you need to wash the melon before you cut into it. Even though you don’t eat the outer rind of the melon, any pathogens on the outside of the melon can be transmitted to the flesh when you cut into the melon.
You don’t need to wash it if you are storing it. Wash the melon before you cut into it.

Watermelons won’t ripen after they are picked. We are very careful to pick only ripe melons so rest assured the melon you get from us will be at it’s best. It will be heavy for its size and usually have a yellow spot on it’s ‘tummy’ where it was sitting growing on the field.

Cantaloupe, honeydew, and musk melon will continue to slightly ripen after being picked. If you get a really firm melon with no fragrance leave it on the counter for a day or two, it will ripen.
When perfectly ripe, the melon will be firm, the blossom end should smell fragrant and fruity, and the stem end shouldn’t smell like anything. If the stem end smells musky or moldy it is over ripe.

Watermelons whole will keep in the refrigerator for at least two or three weeks. If you have a cool room, 55 to 65 degrees it will keep for 3 or 4 weeks. I don’t have anywhere this time of year that stays that cool, maybe you do.
A watermelon cut up will keep in an airtight container for 3 or 4 days.

Ripe melons, cantaloupe, honeydew, and musk melons will keep in the refrigerator 7-15 days depending on the variety. They will be good and safe to eat but they might be a little over ripe if you leave them a couple weeks.

You can freeze any melon in an airtight container and use them in smoothies or fruit soups.

Posted in 2013, Melon, Recipes, Storage and Preparation | Comments Off on Storing and Handling Melons

CSA Week 13

Hooray, Tomatoes are coming!
For week 13 we hope to bring you:
Cherry Tomatoes
Regular Share
Cherry Tomatoes
Choice: Onions OR Dill
Choice of Peppers: Jalapenos OR Anahiems OR Bells
Choice: Cucumbers OR Zucchini
Choice: Beets OR Carrots
Choice: Kale OR Chard OR Collards
Potatoes

Large Share Additions
Extra Choice of Peppers
Fennel
Green Beans

Posted in 2013, Newsletter | Comments Off on CSA Week 13

Collecting clothes for farm worker kids

Two of our farm workers are having babies in September. I’m collecting clothes and other baby items for them. And while I’m at it, I’m collecting clothes for other farm worker children at our farm. Below is a list of specific items that people have requested. But we’ll gladly take clothing for kids of any age (boy & girl). If none of our farm worker kids can use them, we will pass the items on to other farms or make sure they get donated.

Newborn girl (there will be 2 baby girls in September)
–clothes
–shoes
–blankets
–diapers
–I’m sure any other items for a newborn would be helpful, too!

1 year old girl
–clothes (size 24 months)
–shoes (size 4 1/2)

7 year old girl
–clothes (size 8)
–shoes (size 3)

You can bring items to CSA pickup or drop them off at our farm stand on 63rd St. Or we can make other arrangements if neither of these options work for you. Thank you so much for your help! I know our farm workers really appreciate it!

Amy

Posted in 2013, Farm | Comments Off on Collecting clothes for farm worker kids

Glazed Carrots

Here is another picture recipe. This is a simple really way to cook your carrots, one notch up from steaming. It’s probably my favorite way to eat cooked carrots.

Start with some great carrots.

Hello gorgeous. red wagon carrots

Wash and cut the carrots into bite size pieces and cut an orange in 1/2 and juice both 1/2’s. I just took a picture of one 1/2 so it looks confusing, sorry. You can use apple juice or cider if you don’t like orange. I just had an orange today. You need at least a couple tablespoons and up to 1/4 cup of juice for one bunch of carrots.

cut into pieces

Steam the carrots in lightly salted water, use enough water to just cover the bottom of your pan and cook the carrots for 4 or 5 minutes. Cover the pan with a lid while they are cooking. cooking in pan

My Mum told me to cook vegetables that grow under ground with a lid on and vegetables that grow above ground without a lid. So, that is what I do, and you probably should too.

Drain the just cooked carrots.

drain

I like to toast some nuts to go with the glazed carrots. You can skip this step if you like. Just toast any kind of nut in the pan you cooked the carrots in until your nuts smell toasty.

toast nuts

Take the nuts out and set them aside for a minute while you finish the dish.
Whack a knob of butter into the same pan you have been using. How much you use is between you and your waistline.

melt butter

Add the steamed and drained carrots and the juice from the orange. It will spatter so beware of the steam, it all comes together quickly. See the top right bubbly stuff in the pan? That is the juice caramelizing I was taking pictures and not stirring so this probably won’t happen to your carrots.

add carrots back in

Stir everything together adding the nuts, if you used them, back to the pan.

mix it all together

…and serve.
serve with garnish

If you look really closely at the last two photos you can see little bits of orange that is glazed and caramelized. The next time I do this I think I will cut 1/2 the orange up and juice 1/2. The cooked, glazed orange bits were delicious. Oh! Gack! I forgot to zest the orange and add that in with the nuts!

Dang…if you do this, use your orange zest.

Enjoy your vegetables this week.

Posted in 2013, Carrots, Recipes | Comments Off on Glazed Carrots

Shishito Peppers (again)

Oh Shishito peppers, how do I love thee?

This is pretty much a re-post of the blog I did last year. Is that bad?

In my defense, I did it because I don’t think enough can be said, or blogged, or consumed when it comes to these peppers. I also wanted to blog again, in case some of you don’t look back at the recipes.

Shishito’s are possibly one of my top 5 favorite vegetables. Oh, wait, it is a fruit isn’t it? It doesn’t matter, it is complex, smokey, deep flavor is like the best part of every pepper and chili you have ever had in one delightful bite.

Most pepper seeds are bitter or very spicy and you discard them, but not these. They add a creamy taste and texture and add to the overall experience.

I like Shishito’s best roasted or grilled. Put a little olive oil and salt on them and cook them on a hot grill.

shishito peppers

Keep turning them every few minutes. They will pop and steam as the inside of the pepper cooks and as the outsides char.

on the grill
Almost done.
nicely charred

Done.

blistered and ready

This isn’t a great picture, but it shows how the peppers collapse down after you take them off the grill.

with new potatoes

I made an omelette with Shishito’s and some shallot, it was so good.

shishito omelette

Again, not a great picture. I ate it all before I realized I didn’t get a good photo. I never do that. I always check to make sure I get a decent picture but got lost in my omelette…that how good these peppers are.

I hope you like them too.

Posted in 2013, Peppers Sweet, Recipes | 4 Comments

CSA week 12

Shishito Peppers

We are entering week 12 of CSA, we are also entering into pepper season! The Shishito Peppers pictured will be a choice in your share this week!

Regular Share
-Beets
-Carrots
-Garlic
-Cucumbers
-Zucchini
-Choice: Kale, Chard, or Eggplant
-Choice: Shishito or Bell Peppers

Large Share Additions
-Extra Garlic
-New Potatoes
-Large Onion

Posted in 2013, Newsletter | 2 Comments