Eye on the Horizon
Making space for sustenance
It is hard to imagine summer’s unending bounty. As the garden peaks our crew is in harvest mode. Yesterday was a root day as they bunched our last spring planted bed of carrots, amounting to well over 100 bunches from 100 bed feet. Large, Danvers carrots make for meaty bunches to be sold over the next couple weeks. (Note to self, grow a later storage round of this variety next season.)
Summer squash and cucumber daily harvests barely keep up with the productive plants who vigorously put out flowers, signs of fruit to come. Shishito peppers fill buckets. Snap and pole beans receive their first harvest, welcoming a twice weekly chore for the next month. Flower bouquets are the cherry on top filling the remaining space in the walk in cooler.
There is barely enough space in our Farm Stand cooler to hold it all! Roasting chiles, sweet peppers, broccoli, and fall greens are right around the corner marking the peak of our productive wave.
While the crew harvests, I am preparing for winter. Yes, while the day’s temperature lingers in the 90s I am preparing ground to receive winter produce. The first crops to hit the soil are kale, chard, collards, and lettuce. Longer season, slower growing, greens that will hopefully be harvested into 2025.
“The summer garden feeds us for a couple months, the winter garden feeds us for six months”, Don Tipping of Siskiyou Seeds.
Storage carrots, beets, and turnips are gaining size to be harvested in September/October. Garlic is stored away and onions, now cured, and are ready to be cleaned. These crops keep the kitchen stocked. More so, a month from now marks the processor date for the 4 hogs we raised this season.
Living with four distinct seasons keeps me constantly looking forward while trying my best to enjoy the present. Winter crops need extra time to mature as day length shortens and temperatures drop. Soon we will be tearing out high tunnels full of tomato plants to make way for more winter growing space, a sad but necessary step.
I have come to appreciate the cyclical nature of this work. The simple noticing of changes in light. How the clouds become so clear and distinct in August, the sky a brilliant blue. Seeing crew members fill buckets with beans we have been growing on our farm for several years is like seeing an old friend return from a year away. Watching the garden take shape into its peak, only the descend onto our plates or back to the soil is a welcome reminder to enjoy now, and keep one eye on the horizon.
Farm News
Expanded Winter CSA! The CSA will run from November-March offering pre-packed veggie boxes complete with a range of delicious winter produce. This is made possible by a new EQIP funded high tunnel that will help us offer fresh, unheated, greens throughout the cold season. Don’t miss out on the unique and delicious flavors of cold sweetened produce.
Chilefest 2024, bringing it back! More information to come but we are cooking to host a Chile Roasting Festival Friday evening September 20th and open to the public. More information to come. If you are a vendor and would like to participate please reach out. Also, if you are a farmer who would like to roast chiles for winter we welcome you to come by and borrow the roaster!
Farm Stand Hours: 10-6pm Wed-Friday, 10-4pm Saturday and Sunday
Hopefully stocked this week:
Colorado Fruit: Organic Peaches, Pluots and Nectarines (this weekend)
Greens: Hearts and Souls Salad Mix, gem lettuce heads, summer head lettuce, chard, kale, arugula (BIG BAGS!), spicy mix, radicchio
Roots: Onions, shallots, beets, carrots, turnips, radishes and garlic
Veggies: Cherry Tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, field tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, shishito peppers, Salvatierra peppers (spicy poblano flavor), eggplant, sweet corn, dragon tongue and pole beans
Flowers: Large mixed bouquets, small single variety bunches
Herbs: Oregano, mint, thyme, sage, parsley, basil
Perennials: Gallons are $10 each. We currently have columbine, foxglove, sedum, elderberry, elecampane, daisy, goldenrod, gaillardia, lavender, mint, thyme, sage, mountain mint, lemon balm, and echinacea. We also have 4.5” perennials for $5 each! Now is the perfect time to plant for stunning blooms next year.
Lehi Ranch, High Point Bison, KREAM Kimchi, Jodar Farms Eggs, Rey Atelier Home Goods, Bread Chic Sourdough, Fox Den Coffee, Owl Tree Farm Worm Compost, Bee Squared Apiaries Honey, Abuelita’s Hot Sauce, Christie Leighton Jewelry, Life’s A Buch Kombucha
Nice