Turkey Hill CSA Blog

New Website & Blog Launched

2010-02-04T11:34:00.001-07:00

Please visit our new website at TurkeyHillCSA.com - the new website features an integrated blog, so I will no longer be posting this blogspot page!

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 15-, 2009

2009-09-20T13:00:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 15-end

Notes From the Farm

The long grass in this week's box is lemon grass, excellent in thai soup, or dried as a tea. Int he small herb bundles are roasemary and thyme.

As things wind down in the field the box has grown a lot smaller. This week's box was a bit small, but please try to remember to bounty of just a few weeks ago when you gauge the value of the CSA!

We still had a good variety of items in the box this week, but less overall quantity. We'll have more qty. of potatoes as well as leeks next week, plus more onions and garlic. The carrots are still coming in and we may have more cukes and squash this week. We should have more broccoli and cabbage as well, plus some parsley this week and still more chard and kale.

The salad is done, the tomatoes have stopped ripening. Peaches are done for the season. The beans are done. The eggplant are nearly done.

Lots of fruit varieties coming in - we had asian pears, bosc pears and red & green bartletts this week, as well as gala and some jonathan apples.

How many more weeks?

This is a quick fall and we are trying to finish up the season in early October. The last week will be week 17 - the last farm pickup day will be Oct 2, the last delivery date for cb/gunnison will be Sun Oct. 4th. The last Marble delivery will be Saturday Oct. 3rd. This will be an extra huger box, with extra greens, potatoes, carrots, etc - all stuff that can last for several weeks or more in storage.

Returning the totes

If possible, meet the truck and return your totes the day of the final delivery. If not, you can leave your totes at the delivery location (please collapse 1st) and we will come back the following week for a final tote pickup. Once we have your totes back we will send a check for the deposit money, or we can just hold your totes if you plan to join next year.

Questions and Answers

Please send me your questions, let me know what you want to know!

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

The next few Week's Boxs

Parsley

Cucumbers - until it freezes

Broccoli - until the end.

Carrots - lots more

Rainbow Chard, Collards or Kale - still look good

Salad Mix - last week

Eggplant - until it freezes

Peppers - until it freezes

Tomatoes - if they ripen

Garlic - for the last few weeks

Onions - at the end

Leeks - at the end

Zucchini - second planting now coming in - won't last long

Fruit

pears & apples

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 13/14, 2009

2009-09-08T07:25:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 13/14

Notes From the Farm

As things wind down this fall on the farm, my newsletters will become less frequent. This one covers last week (13) and this week (14). I'll send another in a week or two. The boxes are packed full these days, but will diminsh over the next few weeks, my box summary at the end covers the next few weeks.

Last delivery day coming soon: the last farm pickup day will be Oct 2, the last delivery date for cb/gunnison will be Sun Oct. 4th. This last week we will deliver a big box, enough to last several weeks. Its possible that if the freeze holds off long enough we may go one extra week, watch this newsletter for details!

Trouble on the road

Last week (week 12) was a tough one for our delivery! The farm truck died outside crested butte with a dead transmission, and the produce arrived late to the delivery spot. One box was lost during the transfer to a new vehicle, and we wound up towing the truck to the shop for repairs. At least nobody was hurt and it looks like the truck will be ready in time for this weeks delivery, thanks to Lara for covering the last delivery in her own vehicle.

Questions and Answers

Please send me your questions, let me know what you want to know!

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

The next few Week's Boxs

Cucumbers - until it freezes

Beans - last week

Broccoli - until the end.

Carrots - lots more

Rainbow Chard, Collards or Kale - still look good

Salad Mix - last week

Eggplant - until it freezes

Peppers - until it freezes

Tomatoes - until it freezes

Garlic - for the last few weeks

Onions - at the end

Leeks - at the end

Zucchini - second planting now coming in - won't last long

Fruit

last week we had blackberries and raspberries from Austin Family Farms and some very ripe peaches from First Fruits. Plus the rest of the nectarines, some pears and small early gala apples.

this week we start into apples and pears, and the end of the peaches. we'll have a variety of types of apples and pears until the end of the season.

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Potatoes - started digging this week

Parsley - still picking this, some boxes get it each week.

Beyond 3 weeks
Fall Onions, Leeks
Winter Squash - if i can find some!

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 12, 2009

2009-08-30T11:20:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 12

Notes From the Farm

This is Valentin and Lizzie's last week at the farm, a big thanks for all their help this summer!

We have lots of summer crops coming in now and everything really looks great. The beans are past their peak, but the cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes are really just starting to produce. If the frost holds off for a few weeks we should have plenty more of these crops.

We added up the value of this weeks full box (may vary slightly from what you got, this was the farm box) and got to $45! The full share cost is $500/year for an average of around $26/week. While some of the early and late boxes may be closer to $25 in value, the average is certainly higher. Here is what we added up for this weeks box, these are our farm prices (if we were selling these items at the crested butte or gunnison farmers market we would charge about 20-30% higher prices, which offsets the delivery fee you pay):

Salad - $3.75; Beans - $3; Thyme - $1.50; Chard - $2.50; Kale - $2.50; Collards - $2.50; Artichokes - $3; Tomatoes - $7; Corn - $3; Cucumber - $1.25; Broccoli & Cauliflower - $6; Bulb Fennel - $1.50; Carrots - $2.50; Eggplant - $2; Peppers - $1.5; Parsley - $1.5

I hope this helps illustrate the value you are getting with the CSA, and I want to let you know that the farm appreciates your financial support and the fact that you are taking and using all our produce. We hope you enjoy the last upcoming seven final weeks of the season. Box sizes will begin to decline over the next few weeks as cooler weather prevails and the days shorten

More Notes:

Last chance to reply to Valentin's CSA survey. You can fill it out online.

Questions and Answers

Please send me your questions, let me know what you want to know!

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

Cucumbers - still more to come - call or email for special orders pickling cukes

Bulb Fennel - we harvested the rest of the crop this week- great sliced thinly in a salad

Corn - Olathe Sweet Corn, Certified Organic
Beans - Green, Yellow & Purple -

Cauliflower - more coming in.

Broccoli - lots more to come.

Carrots - more coming in now

Collards - slight damage, trim the edges if it looks bad.

Rainbow Chard, Collards or Kale - still look good

Salad Mix - a high quality crop at the moment - a few more weeks of salad left

Eggplant - some boxes, more to come

Peppers - still producing

Tomatoes - from the hoop house and from Thistle Whistle

Thyme, Parsley or Savory;

Fruit

A bit of a lull qty wise in fruit this week, plenty more coming!

Peaches - outstanding, nectarines and pears - First Fruits, Paonia

leave pears out for a day or two to ripen

coming soon: Apples, many varieties

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Potatoes - we will start digging these for the boxes over the next few weeks, but leave most of the patch for the last few weeks of the season.

Parsley - Starting to be large enough to pick

Tomatoes - starting to really ripen in the hoop house

Beyond 3 weeks
Fall Onions, Leeks
Winter Squash - if i can find some!

2009 Round Earth / Turkey Hill CSA Farm Festival

2009-08-17T14:06:00.011-06:00

Schedule of Events

Please call ahead at 970-872-4413 to reserve a spot for the following events - space is limited.

8 am-10 am - Early Tour/Harvest - Tour the fields at Round Earth with farmer Adam Silverstein. We will explore the vegetables, and flowers, learn about interplanting and witness a real pest - grasshoppers! We will sample veggies as we go, and also harvest crops for the day's meals; We will harvest salad, cucumbers, potatoes, beans and whatever else is needed and ready. Learn how we harvest the veggies at their ripest and see where and how we wash and process produce from the field. Plan on getting muddy (at least your shoes). $10/person, limited to 20 participants, reservations required.
11 am-2 pm - Cooking workshop with Valentin & brunch - We'll prepare the food we harvest and then enjoy a light brunch - we will transform the morning's harvest into lunch and have some pre-prepared dishes as well. $15/person, limited to 2 0 participants, reservations required.
1 - 4 pm - Regular farm tours through the fields - learn about the farm, the crops, the season and plans for the future. Free, drop ins welcome!
4 pm - 8:30 pm - Cooking workshop with Valentin & Dinner - We will continue to prepare and process produce from the morning and previous harvests and prepare dishes for the dinner, which will also be accompanied by dishes prepared in advance. $25/person + drinks - limited to 20 participants, reservations required.
Please leave your dogs at home!

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 10

2009-08-16T18:19:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 10

Notes From the Farm

This weeks newsletter is going out very late - sorry for that. I am just returning from a short river trip (gates of Lodore) and Valentin filled the CSA boxes. As you can tell from the boxes, summer has hit - lots of everything is coming in.

The website recipe page was just updated with new recipe sheets including bulb fennel. Are you missing something? Remember, if we run short on something, we sometimes substitute a different vegetable. If you didn't get a certain vegetable or item and are missing it please let me know!

More Notes:

Valentin and Lizzy leave for france in two weeks! As we head into fall, we will have to fill the gaps in our harvest crew. Please come down and visit the farm next Saturday to meet them and at least tour the farm. We are offering several workshops in harvesting and cooking throughout the day, as well as lunch and dinner. I will be posting complete details on the farm festival activities on the website soon and I will email you again then. Bring your friends or family, but please let me know as soon as possible if you plan to attend (how many and for what part of the day). (Also, please leave your dogs at home).

Please don't forget to reply to Valentin's CSA survey. You can return the printed survey, or you can fill it out online.

Questions and Answers

Please send me your questions, let me know what you want to know!

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

Cucumbers - just beginning this week, lots more next week.

Corn - Olathe Sweet Certified Organic - our corn is still weeks away
Scallions - purple and green, the last of these for the season
Beans - Green, Yellow & Purple - really starting to come in, we will have even more next week.
Cauliflower - just starting to come in.
Romanesco - this green, fractal/spiral vegetable is in the same family as cauliflower and cabbage, but has its own unique appearance and flavor.

Broccoli - a little bit coming in now, the big crop arrives in september.
Cabbage - purple and green now coming in.
Carrots - some got artichokes instead - more carrots for everyone in the next few weeks - and more artichokes!

Rainbow Chard, Collards or Kale - its good for you! if you can't use it all, just prep, boil briefly, cool, bag and freeze! You can use it in December and remember the summer.

Salad Mix - more coming

Onions - more varieties coming in over the next few weeks

Basil - A small bag each, call or email about pesto qty. NOW available.

Eggplant - a bit more coming in now, lots more setting fruit

Peppers - hot peppers trickling it now, lots of variety, some are hotter than others. the bell peppers are sill a few weeks away

Bulb Fennel

Fruit

Peaches - Pruett Orchards (Powell Mesa)

Apples from the Kropps - the first apples of the season, crisp and tart! many varieties to come!

coming soon: Nectarines

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Potatoes - we will start digging these for the boxes over the next few weeks, but leave most of the patch for the last few weeks of the season.

Carrots - the fall crop will kick in and we'll have carrots for the rest of the season.
Squash - new crop just a few weeks away, but may not make it. Some trickling in from the field next week.
Parsley - Starting to be large enough to pick

Tomatoes -a few at the farm festival, then some in the boxes the following week.

More salad, greens

Beyond 3 weeks
Fall Onions, Leeks
Winter Squash - also heavily hit by squash bugs and the cool spring

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - 2009-9

2009-08-08T11:20:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 9

Notes From the Farm

Life is full on the farm. Tons of cucumbers just ready to be picked next week, flowers are going crazy... We have sunflowers this week - beautiful yellow to orange heads with no pollen. They almost look fake! We have had some summer heat, but still lots of overcast, cooler weather. The summer crops aren't faring well this year, but the broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and romanesco are really kicking in. I'll try to take and post some photos soon.

Squash - The worst crop of the year has to be the summer squash and winter squash. I did a second planting after realizing how bad the first crop was doing, but it will come in late and maybe not at all if we get an early freeze. I'm on the lookout for these crops from other growers, but a lot of the local valley growers are in the same squash deficient position we are in!

Basil - Just a reminder that we don't wash the basil, its too sensitive to water damage. Just rinse before using! We are offering basil to CSA customers at our wholesale price which is $12/lb. A recipe calling for four packed cups requires close to a pound.

More Notes:

Accounts due! At this point all accounts are due - please send your balance in full ASAP! We need these funds to pay works and the farm bills. I sent statements out last week by email - if you aren't sure about your balance, please call or email me. I will also mail statements and call, but please save me the trouble by sending a check immediately to PO Box 969, Hotchkiss CO 81419

Questions and Answers

Please send me your questions, let me know what you want to know!

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

Corn - Olathe Sweet Certified Organic - we'll have this on and off for the next 3-4 weeks
Scallions - purple and green, the last of these for the season
Beans - Green, Yellow & Purple - really starting to come in, we will have even more next week.
Cauliflower - just starting to come in.
Romanesco - this green, fractal/spiral vegetable is in the same family as cauliflower and cabbage, but has its own unique appearance and flavor.

Rainbow Chard, Collards or Kale - its good for you! if you can't use it all, just prep, boil briefly, cool, bag and freeze! You can use it in December and remember the summer.

Salad Mix - moving into a new patch next week.

Onions - white 'candy' onions

Herbs - A small bag each, call or email about pesto qty. NOW available.

Eggplant - just starting to come in from the hoop house - a portion of you will get these each week!

Peppers - hot peppers trickling it now

Fruit

Peaches - Red Havens - First of the season from Paonia - First Fruits

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Carrots - the fall crop will kick in and we'll have carrots for the rest of the season.
Cucumbers - we have a huge crop of these coming in NEXT WEEK
Squash - a poor main crop, we'll have a few squash, but not enough. I did plant a second crop that looks great right now, but might not have enough time to ripen. I will also try to find another local organic source.
Parsley - Starting to be large enough to pick

Bulb Fennel - sizing up, ready next week

Tomatoes - whenever they start to ripen!
More salad, greens

Beyond 3 weeks
Potatoes
Fall Onions
Winter Squash - also heavily hit by squash bugs and the cool spring

Farm Festival Events

Don't forget the farm festival! We have a great menu and day of activities planned, so please try to attend! All of the details will be posted soon at RoundEarth.com and I will email you again to remind you. August 22nd. is the date, activities all day. In the morning we will harvest and wash crops, then we'll have a cooking workshop and lunch. After an afternoon siesta we will resume with a cooking workshop and then dinner. Cost is by suggested donation, the entire day is suggested $50, or $10-15 for each workshop/meal.

I need to rent and purchase supplies for this event so please let me know as soon as possible if you plan to attend (and the number attending which part!)... thanks.

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - 2009-8

2009-07-31T07:48:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 8

Notes From the Farm

Sorry for the delay in getting this newsletter out. Fruit members, this is a break week, we will resume peaches next week. Note smaller boxes this week as summer crops are all just about to come in - cucumbers, beans, corn all in the next week or two, thanks for your patience!

This week the farm is swinging into summer big time. I took a short break to visit my mother in North Carlina with the kids over last weekend, and in the six nights I was gone, things grew like crazy. Its amazing the changes that happen every day on the farm and there is nothing like being away for more than a few days to make me appreciate this.

Valentin ran the show in my absence, making critical decisions like what was ready to be picked for the Tuesday harvest! Thanks to him for keeping the ball rolling (and to the rest of the harvest crew who happily come out every harvest to pick and process).

More Notes:

The flowers are in full swing this week. We have beautiful snapdragons and statice and offer them in convenient 'bundles' at $10. We don't have the time or labor to make bouquets this year, but the bundles can be easily coaxed into bouquets once you have them. The glads are really kicking in and I really want you to check them out, so this week i'm offering 8 stems (instead of the usual 5) for $10. Regular stems are also on sale: 12 stems for $10.We will have flowers at the farm (friday) and on the truck sunday to purchase, but its best if you order ahead (just email or call). When you get them, cut the bottoms and put them in water asap. change the water and trim the bottoms every day or two and your flowers should last 1-2 weeks.

Upcoming boxes will contain little bags of basil - perfect for a sauce or dressing, but not enough to make pesto. For pesto quantity, please call or email. If you visit the farm, we also offer pick your own basil at a greatly reduced price - its very labor intensive to pick!

Questions and Answers

Some of you asked how these compare to the flood of glads hitting city market last week - which are selling for something like $10 for 20 stems. Quite simple, there is NO comparison! our glads are HUGE, thick stemmed and freshly picked. Their grown without chemicals here on our farm, hand weeded and planted with loving care. The flowers at the supermarket are still glads, but they are thinner and smaller, they are grown in chemically intensive monocrop mega farms in places like equador where cheap labor and lax regulations mean easy business conditions. They were picked days and days or a week or more ago and they are probably coated with pesticides.

Please send me your questions, let me know what you want to know!

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

Artichokes - we'll have even more of these as the season continues...
Cauliflower - we'll have Orange & Purple cauliflower 1st, and white cauliflower later. The orange cheddar variety is partictularly delicious.
Romanesco - this green, fractal/spiral vegetable is in the same family as cauliflower and cabbage, but has its own unique appearance and flavor.

Broccoli - a little bit coming in now, the big crop arrives in september.Cabbage - purple and green now coming in.

Beets
- cylindrical beets this week - the last beets we will have for a while - great for canning, or just store in the fridge.

Chard, Collards or Kale - bunched - always plenty of greens, look for extras this week, take as much as you want from the 'extras'. (I found the collards hiding in the cabbage, that was the mysterious greens some of you got last week!)

Head Lettuce - red curly - this may be the last of the head lettuce, there is one more patch, but they look like they may never size up - going from baby stage to seeding directly in the heat of summer.

Salad Mix - still coming in

Onions - We are picking thru the onions to get the largest ones. We'll have more later in the season.
Garlic
- hard neck variety this week, a little smaller heads than the soft necks, and with a slightly different flavor - can you tell the difference?

Herbs - Cilantro and Dill this week, the last we will have for a while (except dill heads which are available for canning all season by special order).

Fruit

None... Fruit break this week! We will have peaches next week (or possibly the week after)

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Carrots - returning intermittently over the few weeks, then the fall crop will kick in and we'll have carrots for the rest of the season.
Cucumbers - we have a huge crop of these coming in over the next few weeks
Squash - More on varieties as i assess the field

Bulb Fennel - sizing up, ready this week or next.

Beans - we have purple, yellow and green beans this year - these are just starting this week, we'll have an abundance in the next few weeks. Great as a side dish sauteed in butter.

Eggplant -starting to come in from the hoop house

Peppers - hot peppers trickling it now

Farm Festival Events

In a few weeks, we will be hosting a day of tours, workshops and eating! The day starts early and CSA members are invited to come camp on the farm the night before so you be here in the morning. The date for the event is Saturday, August 22; the preliminary schedule of events is:

8am-10am - Early Tour/Harvest - Tour the fields with the farmer (me) and help harvest crops for the day's meals; We'll harvest salad, cucumbers, beans, squash and whatever else is needed for the days meals. Learn how we harvest the veggies and see where and how we wash and process produce from the field. Plan on getting muddy (at least your shoes). $10 suggested donation.
11am-1pm - Cooking workshop with Valentin & brunch - We'll prepare the food we harvest and then enjoy a light brunch - we will transform the morning's harvest into lunch and have some pre-prepared dishes as well. $10 suggested donation.
1-2pm - I'll lead a tour through the fields and talk about the farm, the season and plans for the future. No charge.
5pm-8:30pm - Cooking workshop with Valentin & Dinner - We will continue to prepare and process produce from the morning and previous harvests and prepare dishes for the dinner, which will also be accompanied by dishes prepared in advance. $25 suggested donation, or $20 for dinner alone (starts around 7pm).

We are still finalizing the menus for the two meals we will be preparing (more info soon), but there will be plenty to eat and drink. The meals will be heavy on the veggies, but we will have some (local, natural) meats and cheeses as well. We'll have iced herbal tea and water to drink, and coffee with dessert after dinner. We are asking for donations to cover our expenses and pay Valentin for his cooking workshops; I strongly encourage you all make the time to visit during the event, even you can only come for the morning or evening. Its the perfect excuse to come visit the farm at the peak of the harvest. I also need to know in advance how many are coming to the day's events so we can plan the food. The cooking workshops are limited to 12 participants, and the meals are also limited in number. Please email or call if you plan to come.

Turkey Hill Newsletter - 2009-7

2009-07-23T06:13:00.003-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 7

Notes From the Farm

I took a few more pictures today that I'll post soon. The garden looks beautiful, with the latest round of tilling and mowing clearing things up quite a bit. The beans are just starting to grow, and are loaded with flowers (soon to be beans). The summer squash is flowering and we'll have zucchini and other summer squash starting next week. Unfortunately, the winter and summer squash took a real beating this year; a cool may/june meant slow seed germination and lots of weed competition, then once we had weeded out the baby squash, the squash bugs and grasshoppers decimated a portion of the crop, leaving about 30-40% of my original planting; although a sad loss for the farm, my ambitious attempt to plant two acres total of winter squash means what are left with should still be a reasonable quantity. If certain varieties are missing, I'll shop around for another farm that might be able to supply it.

Speaking of shopping around, I left a little money in the budget to buy (local, organic) veggies from other growers to help fill in weak areas in our season. One upcoming crop is sweet corn. The last few years we've been able to get famous Olathe Sweet corn - organic - usually starting around the beginning of August; We'll have a bit of our own 'Delectable' sweet corn in September. I'm also hoping to buy some tomatoes from my neighbor Mark at Thistle Whistle Farms - he has thousands of georgous, trellised, earlyish tomatoes; our own tomatoes are still weeks away from ripening.

We hilled up the potatoes for the last time this week and a tiny bit so we can offer you a little it for the box (the rest will come in the last 4-5 weeks of the season). The spring carrots are nearly done, the fall carrots are looking great. The beans are just beginning to be ready, and the summer squash is close. Come visit the farm, and don;t forget about Aug. 22 - keep that date open for our soon to be announced farm day.

More Notes:

The flowers are now available; we have bundles of flowers for $10; this week I have beautiful Gladioli that last 2 weeks in water (trim the bottoms every few days); I've also got snapdragons and statice available - let me know what colors you want and we'll put a $10 bundle of fresh flowers aside for you (delivered in your tote or at the farm).

Please send me your questions, let me know what you want to know!

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

NEW: Onions, fresh washed spring onions - dried onions to come

NEW: Potatoes - we dug a little up while hilling the patch so you can try them out. lots more coming towards the END of the season

NEW: Broccoli, cauliflower red cabbage and 'mini' green cabbages, these are just starting, varieties will vary each week.

Peas - some boxes - finishing up, we'll try for more in the fall.

Artichokes - some of you will get these this week more for everyone soon!

Carrots - end of the spring crop, more coming in a few weeks

Beets - the end of the spring beets.

Chard or kale - bunched - lots more greens

Head Lettuce - frilly red & green types. head lettuce will last a few more weeks

Salad Mix - we'll try to have this mix every week

Garlic - still drying, don't put garlic in a plastic bag or it might mold

Spinach - the last of spring

NEW: Herbs - Chives, Thyme, Savory (one of the above)

Peppers - little purple hot peppers are ripening up this week (delivery customers - look in the bottom of the bags)

Fruit

Last of the bing cherries from First Fruits, Paonia CO

2-3 weeks until peach season begins!

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Beans - green, purple and yellow beans

Collards - email me if you want them, we only have a few plants.

More cilantro and dill

Flowers by the bundle, details soon

Basil for pesto (special order $12/lb - wholesale price!)

Pick your own basil - email

3-5 Weeks

Cucumbers, we'll have a ton

Parsley - flat and curly

summer squash - zucchini

and beyond...

tomatoes, corn, winter squash, eggplant, etc...

Turkey Hill Newsletter - 2009-7

2009-07-23T06:13:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 7

Notes From the Farm

More Notes:

Please send me your questions, let me know what you want to know!

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

NEW: Onions, fresh washed spring onions - dried onions to come

NEW: Potatoes - we dug a little up while hilling the patch so you can try them out. lots more coming towards the END of the season

NEW: Broccoli, cauliflower red cabbage and 'mini' green cabbages, these are just starting, varieties will vary each week.

Peas - some boxes - finishing up, we'll try for more in the fall.

Artichokes - some of you will get these this week more for everyone soon!

Carrots - end of the spring crop, more coming in a few weeks

Beets - the end of the spring beets.

Chard or kale - bunched - lots more greens

Head Lettuce - frilly red & green types. head lettuce will last a few more weeks

Salad Mix - we'll try to have this mix every week

Garlic - still drying, don't put garlic in a plastic bag or it might mold

Spinach - the last of spring

NEW: Herbs - Chives, Thyme, Savory (one of the above)

Peppers - little purple hot peppers are ripening up this week (delivery customers - look in the bottom of the bags)

Fruit

Last of the bing cherries from First Fruits, Paonia CO

2-3 weeks until peach season begins!

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Beans - green, purple and yellow beans

Collards - email me if you want them, we only have a few plants.

More cilantro and dill

Flowers by the bundle, details soon

Basil for pesto (special order $12/lb - wholesale price!)

Pick your own basil - email

3-5 Weeks

Cucumbers, we'll have a ton

Parsley - flat and curly

summer squash - zucchini

and beyond...

tomatoes, corn, winter squash, eggplant, etc...

Turkey Hill Newsletter - 2009-6

2009-07-16T18:42:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 6

Notes From the Farm

The farm has been busy with the transition from spring to summer. We are clearing out the old spring beds - spinach, carrots, beets & replanting some with fall onions, beets and more salad. Lots of tilling down weedy old beds, and lots of mowing with the tractor between the bed sections and around the edges of the fields. This a big job on the tractor, but also onvolves taking apart and then re-assembing a bunch of irrigation pipe. Its all worth it though - besides making things look great, mowing and tilling weedy areas are critical to controlling pest damage on the farm! The grasshoppers and rabbits love living in the tall grass sections and then chow on crops at the edge of the beds. We've had some damage this year in the carrots and the chard that was pretty bad. fortunately, once the pests habitat is gone they move out to the surrounding fields where the grass is still tall and they can hide from predators.

Speaking of predators, I've spotted the turkeys again recently, i saw a group this morning with four adults and 25 or more babies, of varying sizes. I hope they will start to make their sweeps through the field hunting bugs!

Also this week, the tomatoes in the hoop house got pruned and tied up. The hoophouse tomatoes will be our first of the season, but they are still weeks away. We did start picking artichokes this week - these are small size, thornless chokes called 'Imperial Star'. The first harvest(s) are especially small, but the are great tasting and you can eat nearly the entire choke. There are NO hairs (yet) in the middle, so you can (after cooking well) just hold the leaf tips and eat off the entire bottom. I don't have enough to give everyone a reasonable amount this week, so I'll dole them out to some of you each week over the next few weeks.

The green onions in this week's boxes are the last of our onion seedlings - these are basically baby onions! We'll have more traditional scallions and possibly pearl onions in a few weeks. The main season onions are sizing up nicely, and a bunch of crops are just a few weeks away. Some boxes will also get spinach this week - this is the last of the spring spinach. We are topping the beets this week, they are all large sized and we'll have beets for a week or two more.

More Notes:

Valentin and Lizzy are here and helping out tremendously already. If you pick up at the farm, please say hello if you see them hanging out in the harvest area. Also, CB/Gunnison delivery people - you'll see Valentin and Lizzy on one of the upcoming delivery - July 26th - he will be interviewing a people for his CSA research - if you are there to meet the truck when we come!

I'll try to snap more pictures in the next week and email them out. The field looks great, everything is growing nicely!

Questions and Answers

Q: When are we going to get something other than kale, chard, salad and peas?

A: The short and simple answer: in a few weeks! The details - below under coming soon!

Please send me your questions, let me know what you want to know!

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

NEW: Green Onions

Peas - We haven't had enough to go around - this wasn't the best pea year, of the usual three plantings only one was successful.

Kohlrabi - if you didn't get it last week

NEW: Artichokes - some of you will get these this week and next week the rest will get them.

Carrots - lots of the red type this week, more to come; the fall crop is also looking great!

Beets - more varieties - cylindrical beets next week - getting sick of the beets already? can a jar or three, you'll thank yourself this winter! also, if you remove the tops from the beets, they will store for many weeks in a bag in the produce bin in your fridge

Chard or kale - bunched - always plenty of greens, look for extras this week, take as much as you want from the 'extras'.

Head Lettuce - intense red romaine, more types coming

Salad Mix - we'll try to have this mix every week - new patch next week

Garlic - still drying!

Radishes - One more wave of radishes maturing in the field!

Spinach (this week or next) - the last of spring

Fruit

Lambert Cherries from 90 year old Lambert trees - '90 years in the making' - cherries from First Fruits, Paonia CO

maybe one more week of cherries, then a short gap before peach season begins!

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Onions - spring onions

Potatoes - all irrigated now, as soon as the hilling is done will dig some new potatoes, next 1-2 weeks;

Peppers - little purple hot peppers are ripening up next week

Collards - if i can find them!

More cilantro and dill

Flowers by the bundle, details soon

Basil for pesto (special order)

3-5 Weeks

Beans - green, purple and yellow beans

Cucumbers, we'll have a ton

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Cabbage

Parsley - flat and curly

summer squash - zucchini

and beyond...

tomatoes, corn, winter squash, eggplant, etc...

Turkey Hill Newsletter - 2009-5

2009-07-10T15:48:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 5

Notes From the Farm

Artichokes - I usually don't mention the artichokes. Although we grow them every year, its a rare year that we have enough of a crop to offer artichokes for sale or for the csa. This year may be one of the years we do have a good crop. If we have them, artichokes will show up in the late season boxes - september.

Basil - We have a beautiful basil crop that will be ready to start picking in just a few weeks. We'll pick some early leaves in the next week or two, then have basil for the rest of the season.

Beans - We grow green, purple and yellow beans. Only one big planting this year, but beans should last a few weeks once we start harvesting them in 3-5 weeks.

Beets - The beets are coming on strong and we will continue to harvest them for several more weeks. If you want to can some beets, now is a great time to order - we can provide medium or large sized, topped beets by the pound, the cylindrical beets are bred to fill your jars!

Broccoli - The broccoli crop looks great. Still no buds, so harvest is at least four weeks off, but we should have a good succession varieties we will be harvesting through the fall.

Cabbage - We'll have mini-sized cabbages in 4-5 weeks, then start harvest on the larger red & green cabbages in September. I haven't found any napa cabbage in the field, these may have been a casualty of early pest damage.

Carrots - we have a few more weeks of the early carrots, then a large and long main season crop that will start a few weeks later.

Cilantro - almost done for the season, we may have this again in the fall

Collards - this or next week

Chard - The rainbow chard is coming on strong and we'll have it through the summer.

Cauliflower - a good looking crop, should be ready in 5-6 weeks.

Chives - I didn't forget about the chives - we'll have these in the next week or two.

Corn - Our 'Delectable' sweet corn always comes in late, but we will try to purchase some Organic Olathe Sweet corn for the boxes when this becomes available in August.

Cucumbers - we have a great stand of cucumbers that are just starting to take off with the warmer weather. The 1st planting was slow to emerge, but the later planting tooks great and we will have more cucumbers than we know what to do with when harvest peaks in september. We should have enough cucmbers for the boxes by mid august - 5 or 6 more weeks.

Dill - dinally enough dill (weed) to give everyone some this week; we have dill seed later - the seed heads are great for canning!

Eggplant - growing beautifully in the field hoop house, we should have eggplants by late August.

Fennel, bulb - coming in the next few weeks, a delicious, crunchy & unusual vegetable

Flowers - we will have flower bouquets as well as gladioli by the stem available soon. please email if you are interested in flowers.

Herbs - thyme, savory, parsley & others - coming later in the summer

Hot peppers - we are starting to pick little hot perppers from the hoop house and hope to have some for the boxes in a few weeks.

Kale - all season long!

Kohlrabi - this week

Leeks - a nice planting for fall, end of september.

Lettuce - I know you all have been getting plenty of lettuce, and we will have more for the next 3-4 weeks - and thats all we will have this season for head lettuce.

Melons - melons are a marginal and tempermental crop in the North Fork, and this spring's cool wet weather didn't help at all. There is still a chance that the field melons will recover, but I wouldn;t coun't on a big melon harvest. We do have a few melon plans in the hoop house that look fantastic, so we will have melon at the farm harvest & feast day, coming up august 24th, details below.

Onions - the summer and fall crops are in the ground, not huge, but plenty to add onions to the boxes every week or two starting in 5 or 6 weeks.

Pepers - the peppers in the hoop house look great. the field crop is crowing very slowly, despite being covered with remay for added warmth. we need some warm weather to bring on the peppers, so expect these late this year.

Potatoes - We have a fantastic potato planting this year. It went in early and has been weeded and hilled twice already. We sampled some of the rows last week and the potatoes were fantastic - creamy and delicious, plus already pretty large. We will start picking new potatoes in around 3-4 weeks, and have them on and off through the fall. The big harvest comes at the end, expect lots of potatoes for the last few weeks this year.

Salad Mix - we'll have this all seasomn with a week or two off here and there. Salad is the one thing I am still planting in the field!

Scallions - a nice but smallish planting, we should have scallions in 3 or 4 weeks, they will last just a week or two.

Spinach - the final bed of spinach is still small, it doesn;t like the heat - so depending on the heat we'll either have no more spinach or a couple more weeks.

Squash, Summer - we have some in the hoop house that will start producing in a few weeks, but the main season crop will be later. the first planting was slow to emerge from the cold wet soil, be plenty of the plants look great now. the squash bugs are out in force this year, so we'll have to fight those off to get a strong crop.

Squash, Winter & pumpkins - these were also slow getting started and had to fight the weeds. Still, we have a great looking planting covering two acres, so I expect a good crop of winter squash this fall. We usually start picking the early squash - delecata types & acorns - by mid september. The rest will come during the last two weeks - early October.

Tomatoes - The cool weather hasn't been great for tomatoes - the field planting is in stasis, but the ones we planted in our hoop house look fantastic. We expect to have some tomatoes for the boxes in about 4 weeks. we'll also try to add more tomatoes than we have by buying some from other local organic growers - if we can find them!

More Notes:

We welcome to the farm this week our past intern, french agricultural student Valentin and his girlfriend lizzie who arrive this week to work on the farm for the next two months. We are planning a special day-long farming/learning/eating event with Valentin on Sat. Aug. 22nd. - mark your calendars! You won't want to miss this day long series of events, harvesting and preparing delicious, fresh, french food from the field. Its a great opportunity to come down to visit the farm, and savor some of the delicious food as local as it gets. The day will include farm tours, harvesting & processing classes as well as french cooking classes and delicious meals (we'll cook and then eat brunch and later dinner) - come to all or part of the event. CSA members get a discounted price for any of the paid events (the tours are free) mark your calendar now - August 22nd - I'll forward more details about the event as we finalize them!

A word on the gap between spring and summer crops

As you can tell from the list above, we have PLENTY of produce coming in this season, but we are experiencing an extended lull this season i feel compelled to explain. our early plantings were earlier than ever - almost a month before we usually get seeds in the ground, and the early carrots and beets were weeks ahead of the usual timing. at the same time, our main season direct seeded crops - summer crops like corn, summer & winter squash, cucumbers and others - were very slow to grow in the coolest, wettest may & june in a long, long time. this means we have to wait a bit longer than usual between the early and main season crops.

Questions and Answers

Q: Why is my Basil/Squash/Garlic Etc... Dirty?

A: Certain crops don't get washed here: basil blackens when wet, squash bruises & nicks very easily, and other crops like onions and garlic are dry brushed, but never washed in water - this tends to reduce their storability. Everything else gets a rinse, or double or triple rinse in filtered city water - but we still suggest a final rinse to remove any dirt we miss!

Please send me your questions, let me know what you want to know!

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

New: Peas - we had a tiny bit last week, a bit more are coming in now and lots more next week - rotating types - shelling (you shell them), snow (the flat curved type, perfect for stir fry) & sugar snaps - the fat short ones - eat these whole, delicious raw.

New: Kohlrabi - here is a recipe sheet if you want to know what to do with this!

Carrots - lots of the red type this week, more to come; the fall crop is also looking great!

Chard or kale - bunched - always plenty of greens, look for extras this week, take as much as you want from the 'extras'.

Head Lettuce - green romaine, red romaine, more types coming

Salad Mix - we'll try to have this mix every week

Garlic - still drying! We picked ALL the garlic this week & will have fully cured, dried garlic in a few weeks. i'm going to give you a little bit of this not quite dry garlic so you have something to cook with until the garlic is really ready.

Herbs - lots of herbs this week - Dill bunches and a bit of basil & chives for some boxes (everyone will get some soon)

Fruit

cherries 'Summerset Bing' (red) and 'Rainier' (yellow) cherries from First Fruits, Paonia CO

just one more week of cherries, then a short gap before peach season begins!

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

head lettuce, more varieties

rainbow swiss chard, bunched

kohlrabi

Upcoming

chives

peas - sugar snaps, shelling

scallions

June 2009 Farm Photos

2009-07-03T09:06:00.002-06:00

Turkey Hill Newsletter - 2009-4

2009-07-01T13:54:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 4

Notes From the Farm

I took some pictures this week - things are looking great. I haven;t had time to add captions and arrange the photos, but i'll get to that soon and email you again. In the last week or so we did a tremendous amount of weeding, plus managed to plant fall onions and broccoli/caulifplower. That means that, other than salad mix, we are done seeding for the year!

The peas have started to come in and will have some for the boxes this week (full size only), we'll have more in the next two weeks. The beets continue strongly and the carrots are sizing up. We will have more carrots in the next few weeks. The garlic is sizing up and finishing off, we'll pick it next week and let it dry out for a couple of weeks before putting in the boxes. Next week we'll have kohlrabi, an unusual vegetable i'll tell you more about next week... new varieties of lettuce this week include the green butter coming on strong and some green romaine.

More Notes:

Meet the truck - I did the delivery last Sunday and it was fun to meet many of you. I want to encourage you all to come meet the truck: 11 am in Gunnison, 12-12:30 in crested butte. Your produce will be the freshest right when we arrive, and we can take your empty tote. Our timing is usually pretty close, so please come and try to meet the truck!

Your Balance - I'm emailing out invoices today with your account balance. please pay in full, or at least half by the end of July. All accounts must be paid in full by the end of August, so if you still have a balance then I'll send you another Invoice. With all the expenses of spring and early summer, we really appreciate your prompt payment

The box size -

The boxes may seem a little slimmer for the next few weeks as we shift from spring to summer for the next week or two, please be patient. the box value as based on farm prices has actually been pretty high for this early in the season. Perusing the local farmers market in Crested Butte I saw lots of nice local produce, but putting together a box like ours for the same price would be difficult. The price or value we calculate our boxes with is much lower than the farmers market prices i saw!

Kale Recipies -

I got a couple in the email this week, thank you so much for sharing. send me more and i will email them to the group!

here they are:

From Betty Bradley

3/4 lb Kale (I used my whole bunch) remove ribs and stems
3 garlic cloves, peeled
3/4 c. basil leaves (or a combination of basil and cilantro)
1 lemon or lime, juiced
2 Tb. olive oil, light
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
another 1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup fresh parmesan cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts

Wash and stem the kale. Leaving water on leaves from washing, coarsely chop kale. Place in a large microwavable bowl and cover. Microcook on high (100%) for 4 or 5 minutes, stir, rotate, cook another 4 or 5 minutes. Let stand 3 to 5 minutes. Remove cover to cool.

Drop garlic into the bowl of a food processor with the motor running. When finely minced, add the basil, cilantro and cooked kale. Process until uniform.

Add juice, 2 Tbsp. olive oil, salt and pepper. Pulse to combine. At this point you can freeze and later add to soups and stews. If you want to eat as a "dip" or toss with pasta you will add the other 1/2 cup olive oil, nuts and cheese. Pulse these until you have a consistency of a spread.

Enjoy! I think it is even better than pesto made with just basil.

From Natalie Ehmsen

adapted from a Southern Living receipe from 2003. Enjoy! -Natalie
Pasta with Sausage and Kale
Ingredients
lg bunch of kale or chard
1 (12-ounce) package bowtie pasta
3/4 pound hot Italian sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can chicken broth
4 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
6 ounces crumbled feta cheese
Preparation
Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside.
Remove and discard casings from sausage. Cook sausage in a Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring until it crumbles and is no longer pink; drain.
Add onion to sausage in Dutch oven, and sauté 5 minutes. Add garlic, and sauté 1 minute. Add vinegar, and cook 3 minutes. Add chicken broth and kale/chard; cook 5 minutes, or until wilted. Stir in basil and next 3 ingredients; cook 1 minute. Stir in pine nuts, pasta, and feta cheese; cook until thoroughly heated. Serve immediately.

Questions and Answers

Please send me your questions, let me know what you want to know!

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

Carrots - baby sized - more to come

Beets - more varieties

Chard or kale - bunched

Head Lettuce - green leaf, green butter, red butter - extra for full

Salad Mix - we'll try to have this mix every week

Spinach - bunches, still super sweet - ending

Peas - some boxes (full?)

Fruit

NEW: cherries 'Bing' (red) and 'Queen Anne' (yellow) cherries from First Fruits, Paonia CO

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

head lettuce, more varieties

rainbow swiss chard, bunched

kohlrabi

Upcoming

chives

peas - sugar snaps, shelling

scallions

Turkey Hill Newsletter - 2009-3

2009-06-24T14:33:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 3

Important Notes From the Farm

A bunch of little notes this week. First of all, I wanted to mention that we have our own farm eggs for sale at $3.75/dozen. Farm pickup members can just get these when they come (put money/check in the cash box), delivery customers - let me know ahead of time (email or call) if you want eggs and I will get them in your tote. We have a limited supply, so its first come, first serve.

Varieties varieties varieties!

Beets: This week we are getting into the full patch of beets and I wanted to mention the varieties. Most of last week's beets were called 'Pablo' - a specialty beet grown especially for baby sized picking (very dark red and succulent). We also picked a little bit of the Golden and new this year Yellow beets. We'll have lots more of both of these types this week, as well as the standard 'Red Ace' which is a scarlet red and is the classic beet and we will have Chiooggias - these look pink on the outside, but slices horizontally reveal candy cane stripe red/white circles. One caveat - these colors pretty much disappear when the beet boiled, so consider some thin slices fresh as a garnish or on a salad. Finally, we also grow 'Forno' a cylindrical shaped beet thats also dark red, and fun to cook with because of its shape.

Lettuce: last week we picked the 1st lettuce crop, a succulent crisp head called 'blonde de paris'. this week i'm moving into a new patch that includes green butter heads, red butter, green romaine, red lollo (frilly red) and a beautiful green romaine with red speckles. More varieties to come! We pick some of these very small so they won't get bitter and package them 2-3 to a sleeve.

Chard: This year we have 6 or more individual colors planted, including yellow, golden, green, red, crimson, lipstick and orange. next week we will start mixing these into colorful bunches, for now the leaves are too small to bunch so we are bagging the chard.

Carrots: This week we are starting to pick the 4" long 'kinko' carrots, and some of the deep red 'cosmic purple' type. these make a great early carrot combo, and we have many other varieties to come.

More Notes:

Our very first planting of peas was eaten by a flock of birds and we are just getting into the next patch. we should have peas for the boxes next week. we start with the edible pod sugar snap and snow peas, then go to shelling peas a bit later. Its getting HOT out and this means summer is here, but we still have a few more weeks of spring crops before the next wave of items comes in. Typically August and September are our most bountiful months, and its not even July yet! A note to marble/redstone customers: because your thursday delivery comes earlier in the week than the rest of the csa members, you may get a slightly different mix of items than the other areas.

This time of the year is a bit of a lull before the storm. A fun way to get an idea of what will be coming in over the next 3 or 6 weeks is to scan through the emails i sent out last year, which are organized by date on the blog. week three this year equates to week 1 last year (we started two weeks earlier than in any previous year this year) -

Time for a salad

Make the most of all the succulent spring greens while we have them! The next few weeks will be a bit HEAVY on the lettuce, and part of a CSA is eating whats bountiful, so make the most of the season by eating salad regularly. Lettuce (but not the salad mix) will taper off later in the season, so enjoy it while its here!

Questions and Answers

Please send me your questions, let me know what you want to know!

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

NEW: Carrots - baby sized - just a bit full large/half small

Beets - more varieties - full large/half small

Chard - tender bagged rainbow colors - fill shares

Head Lettuce - green leaf, green butter, red butter -

Kale - everyone gets some. kale is very, very, very productive and our one planting will provide enough for every member to have one bunch a week and then some (unless we get an aphid infestation). i promise to give you a kale rbeak when other crops start filling the box, but for now we have lots of kale! get creative! one member reported making pesto with (cooked) kale! send me your recipes and i'll include them next week...
Salad Mix - we'll try to have this mix every week

Radish - full large/half small

Spinach - bunches, still super sweet - full large/half small - ends soon (unless our next planting comes in)

Cilantro - almost done

Fruit

NEW: cherries 'Brooke' cherries from First Fruits, Paonia CO

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

head lettuce, more varieties

rainbow swiss chard, bunched

kohlrabi

Upcoming

chives

peas - sugar snaps, shelling

scallions

Turkey Hill Newsletter - 2009-2

2009-06-19T08:57:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 2

Important Notes From the Farm

I'm very late getting this letter out this week, but Summer solstice is this saturday, and that means we are hitting the top of the farm workload bell curve. Soon I'll be able to catch up a bit, but for now everything is happening all at once on the farm. Baby plants need planting, seeding salad continues, weeding is a big task, irrigation is constant (even with all the overcast weather, we still need to water) and now harvest is taking more of our time. Everything is looking great, i'll post more pictures soon!

Please note that the farm pickup time is 3-7pm on fridays. I neglected to mention that in the last newsletter and some people weren't sure about the time. If you need to pick up aearlier or later, just give me a call and we'll get your box ready separately. For those of you getting weekly deliveries, please don't forget your totes - we need those totes back each week to keep the delivery process working smoothly. A lot of members are just bringing canvas sacks or boxes to the pick up and transferring the produce immediately rather than taking the tote. If you do take your tote, just collapse it (two thumb buttons on each side) and give it to the delivery driver the following week.

This week we are starting to harvest the head lettuce crop. This week we have a delicious, crunchy bib type lettuce from seeds that were a present last year from the father of our French farm intern Valentin - its called 'Blonde de' Paris'. Next week we will move into green romaine and red butter lettuce. we grow a dozen types of lettuce every year, and you'll see a rotating mix in your boxes for the next few weeks.

Questions and Answers

Q: Whats with all the bags?

A: When packing boxes for delivery we bag all the 'wet' produce - this helps keep the produce from wilting on the way over to deliver.

Q: My Kale/Lettuce/Chard/Etc. is wilting.

A: Green leafy vegetables love to stay moist. If they wilt, try soaking in the sink with cold water for fifteen minutes or more. Another good technique is putting the veggies in a bag and shaking with a little water, then putting this in the fridge.

Q: I didn't get my beets/dill/chard this week!

A: when packing delivery boxes we sometimes don;t have enough of a particular crop for every box. in this case we will substitute a different crop, or give you the crop the following week. Also, the exact box may not always match what my email says! If you feel your box was mis-packed or something is missing, please let me know by email or call the farm.

Q: Why are there mud and bugs in my lettuce?!

A: We do our very best to wash all the produce, usually double or triple washing anything that looks dirty. Never the less, some mud clumps cling inside crevices and creases, and little bugs like ladybugs and slugs love to hide out deep inside the folds of veggies. For this reason, we suggest a final rinse for all produce. When you find a bug, take it as a sign that you are eating the freshest, most vibrant, chemical free food possible.

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

NEW: Beets - full large/half small

NEW: Chard - tender bagged rainbow colors

NEW: Head Lettuce - green leaf

Kale - full share only - all four varieties coming in strongly now
Salad Mix - we'll try to have this mix every week

Bok Choi - last week

Radish - new varieties - full large/half small

Spinach - full large/half small - ends soon

Cilantro -full large/half small
Garlic - full two/half one

NEW: Dill - full share only

Fruit

cherries start next week!

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

head lettuce, varieties

rainbow swiss chard, bunched

dill, more

Upcoming

chives

peas - sugar snaps, shelling

scallions

Turkey Hill Newsletter - 2009-1

2009-06-10T21:07:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 1

From the Farm

The farm season is in full swing. Everything, or nearly everything is planted or seeded, and the weeds are growing like - you guessed it - weeds! Harvest has begun to take up nearly all our time, but we still have flats to plant and of course, lots of weeding! If you are a work-trade member, now is a Great time to come down to the farm and put in some time pulling weeds! Nearly everything is planted, and the fields look beautiful. These days we are busy irrigating all the newly seeded and transplanted beds, which means lots of irrigation work - setting up and moving irrigation sets and drip tape. Another big activity is mowing - the tall grass provides an unwelcome habitat for lots of grasshoppers which can be a real menace to vegetables! Mowing and clearing the beds of weeds reduces that habitat and the grasshoppers migrate to the nearby fields which are un-mowed. Mowing a bit of a challenge between the trees in the orchard (one day i'll get a fancy side mower, but for now, its lots of zig-zags), but the effect is rewarding. I've also mowed the cover crops down before they went to seed (we call the mower clippings / organic matter which i leave lying on the top of the soil 'green manure'). The potatoes got a great hilling and look amazing, and the hoop house is covered and nearly full.

Questions and Answers

Q: Who is delivering my produce?
A: Our harvest crew (and me) take turns delivering each week. This week Lara will be delivering your boxes - Lara has worked at the farm for many years and has become our salad maestro for harvest season. When you see her, remember to thank her for growing your produce!

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

Kale - great for you, at their tender best this time of year
Salad Mix - we'll try to have this mix every week

Bok Choi - a crunchy asian vegetable perfect for stir fry. we'll have these for two weeks and thats it!

Radish - for a few weeks, spicy & crunchy.

Spinach - at its tender best

Cilantro - a spring crop we will have for a few more weeks
Garlic - immature, with a slightly milder garlic flavor. chop up the whole thing, you can even use the green stem of the plant. just a bit to get you started, we'll have lots of garlic this season!

Plenty of room in those totes, just wait until mid season and they will fill up! Don't forget to bring your tote back next week, or just give it back to the driver when you pick up.

Full Share

Marjoram

More spinach, more cilantro, more radishes bunch, more garlic

Fruit

No fruit yet. A week to three weeks before we'll have the 1st cherries of the season.

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

head lettuce, varieties

rainbow swiss chard

baby beets

dill

Upcoming

chives

peas - sugar snaps, shelling

scallions

Spring 2009 - harvest starts soon!

2009-05-24T12:20:00.015-06:00

From The Farm

Everything is bursting with spring on the farm. The last few days have brought overcast weather and some good soaking rains. Here are some recent pictures from the field

Click here to view the slide show in a larger size...

What to Expect!

Harvest starts soon, so I thought I would try to give you an idea of what to expect for the first 4-6 weeks of harvest. Its important to understand that despite our very early start this season in the field, the crops we harvest in June and July are limited! Overall, the fields are looking fantastic and I am expecting a bountiful harvest, but don't expect too much at first - we are starting extra early this year which means a slightly longer wait until the veggies of summer hit - so enjoy all the greens of spring while we tend the corn, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, peppers and other summer crops.

Below I have listed all the veggies I can think of that we will be harvesting in the next six weeks. As for fruit, cherries usually start by the end of June, we will have fruit nearly every week after that until the end of the season.

Early Harvests
Here is what we plan to harvest for the first few harvests (spring starts green!):

Salad Mix - we strive to have salad nearly every week of the season by planting salad greens regularly.
Braising Mix - we only have this in the spring, one or two times. a bag of spicy greens for cooking - baby kale, tatsoi, chard, mizuna.
Bagged Spinach - the first few weeks we'll bag the spinach, which is at its best in the cooler spring weather. We'll switch to bunched spinach in July and have spinach regularly until the heat of summer arrives.
Green Garlic - We'll dig up the growing garlic plants - these will mature into garlic bulbs by August, but for now try these for a delicious mild garlic flavor.
Radishes - we will have a variety of radishes for the first few weeks
Kale - we have beautiful kale coming in now. This year we have green frilly and purple frilly kale, plus red russian kale and tuscano or lancinato kale. The kale is really at its very best in the spring, but we usually have kale all season long. Email your favorite kale recipes and I will share them with the group! We will vary the type each week and may bag the baby leaves until they are large enough to bunch.
Chois - we will have beautiful baby chois for the first couple of weeks - these have been covered under floating row covers, but may show some small pert damage (flea beatles). This will probably be some of the only chois of the season, so enjoy their crunchy stems and mustardy flavor.
Head Lettuce - we'll have romaine, green & red butter, summer crisp and some beautiful frilly, colorful & unusual types. Head lettuce lasts the spring, then fades away in the heat of summer.
Herbs: Early season herbs include cilantro, chives, marjoram, sage and dill. Later in the season we will have thyme, oregano, and lots of basil!

Coming Soon - week 3 plus
After the first few weeks more of the early harvest crops will begin to mature
Carrots - we will have baby carrots from time to time then later we will switch to full size carrots. Several types and plantings extend the carrot harvest over many weeks
Beets - we will start with baby beets, then switch to full sized beets for a few more weeks before beets are done. these are mainly a spring crop, but we sometimes have a few weeks in the fall as well.
Peas - peas are a spring treat that come and go pretty quickly. Our first planting was eaten almost entirely by what I guess was a flock of birds shortly after they came up, but the second planting looks beautiful and should produce at least a few weeks of sugar snaps, snow peas and shelling peas.
Rainbow Chard - we have a large planting with some wild color variations this year, so you can expect a regular supply of chard. we will try not to overwhelm you with chard!
Scallions - we usually have these just a couple of times in the season.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What am I supposed to do with all these GREENS!?
A: Some people love cooked greens and can eat them every day, others can't figure out how to eat all the chard, kale, spinach, lettuce and salad that the early CSA boxes contain! If you fall into the latter group, here are a few suggestions: check out our website for recipies, use a cookbook and try something new, or add the greens to something old, like a lasagna with spinach. Finally, see if you can find a friend or neighbor who might want them rather than just letting them go to waste! As we enter the summer season boxes fill out with other vegetables, we will lighten up on the greens, and offer these in the "extras" area.

Q: Why didn't I get radishes (or kale, or spinach or something) in my box?
A: Each week I type out an email for members, and I make a best guess at what will be available for the box harvest later in the week. Sometimes what we actually harvest might be a little different than my list, or there might be a shortage of one crop and an abundance of another. As we pack the boxes each week, we try to ensure everyone gets the exact same box, but sometimes (usually as a particular crop is just beginning to ripen and we don;t have that much) there isn't enough for everyone. In this case, we substitute another crop, so if you didn't get carrots you got beets, or if you didn't get braising mix you got extra baby chard. We also watch the overall dollar value of the box each week to insure you get a great deal for your box fee. The first weeks of the season are always slim, later season big boxes are more abundant!

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - May 2009

2009-05-03T21:58:00.001-06:00

Welcome to spring!

Its May again on the farm and the bees are buzzing! Our new early water proved to be incredibly valuable, allowing us to plant a small very early section of crops including spinach, beets, carrots, kale and lettuce. The new system took some work to get the kinks out, but eventually worked perfectly, keeping our pond filled for the few weeks in April before Fire Mountain water comes on. This main season water (Fire Mountain Canal) is now of and going full tilt. Early water means early harvest and we are on track for starting harvest the first or second week in June! There is still time to sign up before the harvest begins.

I've posted some pictures so you can see the early crops progressing.

the field beyond the old apple orchard	packed greenhouse
garlic and baby lettuce	beds ready to plant

I also posted these pictures and more as a full slide show with captions, click here to view the slide show.

Also, here is a video of me running our Celli Spader . The video doesn't quite capture the very slow creeper speed the tractor is in, moving slowly forward while the spades slice down and kick back, chopping, loosening and pulverizing the soil to over a foot.

With a little under an acre planted so far, spading is a big activity at the the moment. I spend more time on the tractor in the spring than any other time of year, and now is crunch time, trying to get all the beds I need for the year ready. The recent rain has helped a lot - without it, I have to irrigate before I can spade - or the soil is too dry and hard. After a day of solid rain, the fields are perfect for tilling this week.

In addition to the field crops, we have been working to get the hoop house planted. This big field house gets the first planting of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and other heat loving crops. We rebuilt the house this spring in a new location and we are now getting the soil prepared for planting, we should start filling it up next week.

We are also busy working in the heated greenhouse - we are transplanting the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, flowers and other long season crops into jumbo six packs. These will go out into the field in late May or early June. We are also planting the last of the spring head lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, chard and kale crops as well as large seeded annual flowers and some veggies like our early cukes and squash.

We had a flurry of signups for the CSA before the discount deadline, but we also still have plenty of room for new members. Our first harvest is just five or six weeks away, so if you or anyone you know has been thinking about signing up - now is the time to act! Thanks for your support!

Turkey Hill April 2009 Update

2009-04-05T21:22:00.001-06:00

Turkey Hill April 2009 Update

Time to plant!

After a very warm Feb/early march, the last two weeks have been intermittently cold, snowy, windy or rainy. All the moisture is great, but the cold is delaying the melt that feeds our early water and keeping us out of the field from planting (which is probably good since its been extremely cold at night).

This week the storms have finally broken and the first seeding and field planting are finally happening. I'll be seeding salad mix, spinach, peas, scallions & pearl onions, carrots, cilantro, radishes and more, plus we'll finally be transplanting out the greenhouse plants that have been waiting for weeks: kale, chard, broccoli, lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage and more.

Its still very early in the season to be planting: I usually don't start until the last week in April. I'm a little nervous about the lingering cold and the deer, which can take down a swath of crop pretty quickly. Much of or early plantings will get covered in floating row cover - the thin, breathable spun polyethylene fabric. This will add a few degrees of additional frost protection to these already hardy crops, and also insure they aren't chomped by the deer.

Here are some recent photos:

The fresh beds await an early planting of crops.
Soon to be sprouting or transplanted: peas, spinach, lettuce, chard,
kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and more...

The humidity of the greenhouse is hard to
communicate in a picture! This is just the early crops, at the peak
every square inch of space is crammed with plants.

The chickens are moving down to the farm this year, this is the new chicken coop!

The garlic is up and slowly coming to life.

Turkey Hill Newsletter, March 2009

2009-03-07T09:09:00.001-07:00

Spring is a lovely time on the farm! The air is crisp and cool, and the days are warm. Spring winds have been whipping up, and today a new storm is bringing snow to the mountains.

In the field work progresses preparing for the season. The moisture was good, so I was able to disc the entire field. I planted a variety of cover crops on around four acres - mustards, vetch & other green manure mixes. Some of these will get tilled in late spring for planting, others will stay in cover crop all season, getting mowed so they won't go to seed. We'll till these in next spring. Cover crops help build soil, adding organic matter and sometimes fixing nitrogen. In our climate, its a bit difficult to get a cover crop in because the season is quick! fortunately our field is expansive enough that we can devote a part of the field to cover crop while the veggies get planted in other sections.

This week we nearly completed the hoop house setup project. Our 200' x 20' hoop house has been in use for six years, but last year we took it apart to relocate it and never managed to finish putting it back together. This year we got an early start and the hoop house is nearly ready for planting. It will still be a few weeks before we can really get crops planted in there, but its great to have it ready to go! The hoop house adds night time heat that brings crops in weeks ahead of outdoor planting. This means a wider variety of crops early in the season.

We've already begun our early plantings in the greenhouse. I'm frequently asked about why we start certain crops in the greenhouse and some directly in the field. There are a variety of reasons, here are a few. Earliness - many crops need a jump start on the season to reach maturity in one summer in our climate - Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and some herbs and flowers. Taproots - root crops don't transplant well and do best when grown from seed in the field: carrots, beets, radish. Expense - some seeds we use are very expensive (for example orange cauliflower 'cheddar' costs around five cents per seed! planting in the field requires that we drill a line of plants, then thin to the proper spacing, wasting lots of seeds along the way. Starting seeds in the greenhouse insures that nearly every seed winds up reaching maturity.

Spring is a great time to visit the farm! We love having visitors, especially CSA members. Plan a visit this spring to see what's going on up here. We'll walk the fields, tour the greenhouse and answer any questions. Just call ahead to let us know you are coming. If you would like to come the farm for a few hours of work, plan on later in the spring when we need more help weeding - usually after mid may.

Until next time...

Turkey Hill CSA Spring 2009

2009-02-10T07:13:00.003-07:00

A little bit of snow is rolling into the valley today, so winter is still here, but the last week of sunny, warm weather got the farm thawing out. Spring is right around the corner and projects are sprouting like weeds. Several tractor implements need work, and we're building a new chicken coop down at the farm this spring. We're re-locating the hoop house which was unused last year, and doing all the usual spring tasks: clearing rocks, spreading manure, discing, spading, planting cover crops.

This year the hoop house will get planted with an assortment of early favorites for the CSA:
tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash as well as a few peppers, eggplants and melons. This should help insure a good supply of early crops. This year we are continuing to focus on the CSA and providing the best supply of veggies. We are extending our season by starting CSA harvest two weeks earlier, and collaborating with a few other local organic/natural producers to fill in possible weak areas.

Another reason we are able to extend our season this year is that for the first time we are going to have early water. Usually our irrigation season begins April 15th, when Fire Mountain Canal is turned on, and we can't count on rain to keep early plantings wet, severely limiting what we can plant early.

This year our neighbor developed his very old water right that provides a huge amount of spring runoff water from Jay Creek. He reestablished the old ditch a few years ago, and this winter he buried a 15" pipe nearly one mile from his property up the his diversion out of the creek. Before installing the pipe, most of his water seeped, overflowed or evaporated before reaching his property, now he'll actually get all his water. This ditch and now pipe also flow directly across our farm property directly beside our large irrigation pond and the new pipes will fill the pond soon after the snow begins to melt. This means we'll be planting early peas, lettuce, spinach, scallions, kale, chois and more some 4-6 weeks earlier than we usually do. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of starting harvest earlier than usual.

If you are interested in joining the CSA this year, we are now offering memberships. The 2009 sign up for is available at the website (turkeyhillcsa.com) and includes all the details, including slightly updated prices. Other than the earlier start and longer harvest season, a few other changes are in store. This year we are offering half share members a new half fruit share. Also new this year we are using re-usable plastic totes for our delivery customers, a $35 refundable deposit is required for two totes. Farm pickup customers can purchase totes if they want to use them or just bring their own containers.

Happy spring, please call if you have any questions.

2008-10-02T11:28:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - 2008,

Last of the Season

Farm Survey

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 8

This week I asked our intern Valentin to contribute to the newsletter. Valentin has is a French agricultural student and here as part of his school program. He has been the hardest working, most interested and engaged intern we have ever had. Here is what he wrote (small edits):

From the Farm

after rain, the beautiful weather came; because of the big rain storm the irrigation canal breached and now the canal for the irrigation is totally dried - fortunately we have water from the pond (the ditch is expected to be out a full week in all). they work very hard to fix it and we hope water come back for irrigate again the field because plants are beginning to feel tired (they are getting watered, but not the usual long soakings they love because we are conserving the water we do have). you can follow the construction on this website:

http://www.firemountaincanal.com/tcpictures.html

some vegetables miss like tomatoes but they come soon; the frozen in june was the worst thing what happened for them and now they grow slowly; another vegetables artichokes they have a lot of leaves and they look great but the flower don't want come !!
we bought two different kind of corn for csa this week; one bicolor white-yellow corn from an naturally grown farm and another ('Olathe Sweet') yellow corn from a certified organic farm, but our corn come soon, maybe 2 weeks. (we have two large plantings of our corn favorites: 'delectable' - a super-sweet bicolor and 'silver queen' a large eared, white, old fasioned corn with a great corn flavor. our corn should last 2-3 weeks)

this week's box :

1 chard or kale - great for you; if you take chard and you see leaves look bad you can cook the stalk

2 garlic head for half and 4 for full- dry head good with pesto(basil and garlic) or the french chef can give a good simple recipe... (basil special order available, call the farm)

1 bag of brocolli- first of the season.

1 bag of peas- maybe the last one so enjoy it(shelling or snow)

3 corn half and 5 corn full- round earth corn in 2-3 weeks

1 beets bunch-yummy, red, stripe, golden (thats all for beets!)

1lettuce- the last of the season

no salads bag!!! (there will be more)

beans- yummmm!! green, purple and yellow; so if you think they are too big, cut in 2 part(half-half).(cf, french recipe) full 2 half 1 bag

zuchinni-summer squash- a lot, so 2 for half and 4 for full (farm pickup more next week)

1 cucumber half- 2 full in a salad with a vinaigrette(from french for sure!!!)

chives, parsley, oregano, sage, thyme- take one bunch

onions-1 half and 2 full, first !

fruit share:

1 bag of peaches-from paonia; yum in the special french pie(cf, french recipe)

1 bag of apricots-from paonia;mega yummy in the special french pie or clafoutis or flan(cf, french recipe)

comming soon in your box:

corn-popcorn?,multicolor and ornamental; 1-2 weeks

eggplants, peppers, tomatoes

pepper
potatoes
winter squash
more cabbage
cauliflower - white, yellow, purple
onions: red, white, yellow
shallots
Fruit Share: Apples, Pears, Plums, Lots more Peaches

french stuff recipe:

pie crust:

2 cup of wheat flour
1 bar of salted butter(100 grams approximately)
flavor in option; lemon zest or lime zest, vanilla, cannella
10 grams of water so 10 ml of water

mix butter and flour,with your hand.
put your option flavor
when the pie crust look like sand, put the water and mix.
then don't mix a lot!!! make a ball and put in a fridge for 30 min or 1 hour.

peache pie:

4 beautiful peaches
some sugar
some almond or walnut(french advice: whole almond and you ground it with your hand)

put the pie crust with weight on it and do some hole with a fork, put on the oven for 10-15 min at 375F, when the pie it's little brown, take out the oven.
cut the peaches in thin slice and put on pie.
after 10 min at 375F put some sugar on the top of the pie.

apricots flan:

- 600 g apricots 5-6 apricots
- 5 eggs
- 50 g of sugar
- 20 cl cream(half-half)
- 10 cl milk
- some almonds

mix eggs, sugar; then milk and cream with a whip.
take out the pest of apricots and cut half and half, then put apricots in a dish.
put the mix on apricots. put some almond on the top.

advice, you can put a pie crust on the bottom;yummy!!!
you can put some flavor like vanilla or grand marnier.

french beans with garlic and parsley:

1 lbs of beans
2 garlic(not head)
1 bunch of parsley
salt, pepper

boiled beans in a dish with salt.
cut garlic in thin slice or crush it.
when beans are ready, put in another dish with some butter salt and pepper.
cook 5 or more min on low fire.
cut the parsley in thin slice, put the parsley at the last moment; it's important don't cook parsley because the flavor go out!!

2008-08-09T13:01:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 7

From the Farm

As I mentioned last week, everything seems to be coming on at once. Some crops, like broccoli, cabbage and cucumbers are just starting to trickle in, while others like summer squash are starting to go bonkers! Because of the limited supply on some items, some people will get one item, while other people get a different item, or full shares may get an item that half shares don't get. Don't worry - as the weeks progress, everyone will get every item!

RAIN! Unbelievably, we have had a couple of solid downpours this last week, bringing much needed water to every square inch of the field (irrigation only goes so far), cleaning the leaves of dust and even bringing a dose of fertilizer to the entire farm. Most people don't realize that lightning storms of the Nitrogen Cycle (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_cycle) - I had been a farmer for many years before i got the good news - lightning storms fix atmospheric nitrogen into a form available for plants! Last year an intense lightning storm actually produced a noticeable 'boost' to the entire field. Its a mixed blessing though, because in our area, lightning usually brings the risk of fire as well, and the last two seasons we have had medium sized fires that were close, scary and threatening. Fortunately, these recent storms were accompanied by a healthy rainfall, and the fire risk is now very low.

The flowers are in full bloom. We have beautiful Gladiolli, unbelievable Sunflowers bred as cut flowers, snapdragons and zinnias with intense colors and fragrances, plus fillers like statice and amaranth. Please call the farm to place an order before Thursday night: flowers are $10/bundle - let us know what colors or types you prefer, or ask for a mix.

Questions and Answers

Q: Where are the extras?
A: Coming this week or next, look for an "Extras" box in the pickup area. Take anything you want from the extras, and put anything in your box you don't like in the extras for another shareholder to grab.

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

Chard or Kale - great for you, these greens will move to the extras area in the next week or two
Carrots or Beets, Carrots slowly sizing up (many more to come), beets continue - our last bed next week.
Head Lettuce - nearly the end of the lettuce season, but the cool weather is helping extend the harvest.
Salad Mix - yum - we may be a little short on salad for the next week, but more is coming.
Scallions - a bumper crop this year, enjoy these delicious fresh onions
Beans - Green, Purple & Yellows - delicious
Peas - snow peas are still coming in
Broccoli - lots starting to come in, just starting
Cucumbers - just starting
Squash - Zuchinnis first, with pattypan, crooked neck and other types to follow - many many more coming!
Cabbage - just starting - we have green, red, savoy (like green but with crinckled leaves) and napa (or chineese) cabbage
Basil - a little bit for flavor, call about pesto quantities - note: wash immediately before using, we can't wash the basil for you because it will blacken in storage unless completely dry. the early basil is always a bit dirty because the plants are short and the leaves we harvest are close to the ground.

Full Share

Extra heads lettuce

Beans - extra

Kale, chard - extra

Beets - or carrots - extra

Fruit

Apricots - from First Fruits of Paonia

Peaches - certified organic 1st of the season from Austin Farms, Paonia

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Summer Squash - more
Broccoli - more
onions - more
Cucumbers - more
Olathe Organic Sweet Corn (of we can get it)
tomatoes - from another local natural grower who didn't have a spring freeze like we did

3 or more Weeks

Cauliflower

Shallots

Potatoes

Winter Squash

Pumpkins

Peppers

Eggplant

2008-08-01T07:53:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 6

From the Farm

The farm is really coming into bloom this week. I'll post some updated photos soon. Everything seems to be coming in (or about to come in) at once. The summer squash are loaded with tiny zucchinis and patty pans (and a healthy crop of viscous squash bugs), the cucumber plants are full of tiny little cucumbers. The broccoli beds, although planted in a succession over a month or more in the spring, all seem to be coming in at the same time. The cabbages are all heading up, it looks like the green cabbages will start being ready in two weeks, with savoy cabbage (crinkly leaf), red cabbage and some napa cabbage coming soon after. Everything else will be coming in over the next month or so.

The second batch of peas managed to elude the rabbits, but they aren't very productive because they don't like the heat of summer. This will be the last week for peas, I hope everyone got them at least once, sorry if I somehow missed you. The beans, on the other hand, LOVE the heat of summer and are producing at an unbelievable rate. Yellow and green beans are in full production, and the purple beans will start next week. These are great steamed, check the website for a recipe sheet. If you get too many beans, blanch some and throw them in the freezer.

Questions and Answers

Q: What is #2 Fruit?
Generally #2 fruit is fruit that is culled during the sorting process. For example, after the ripe cherries are harvested by hand from the trees, the cherries are carefully sorted and packed. any cherries with bird pecks, irregular shapes or other damaged are moved into a seconds box. In a good year, there are very few seconds - and when the quality is good on a crop like peaches, the fruit is often packed directly into the boxes in the field, and no seconds are packed at all. #2 fruit usually sells for half the price of #1 fruit and must be used quickly - typically processed into jam, frozen or some other processing - because of the damage, the fruit won't store well.

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

Chard - bunched, green, red, yellow or rainbow bunches
Carrots or Beets, Carrots are just starting to size up, beets continue to come in, we are shifting to our last bed next week.
Head Lettuce - more green romaine & green butters - one more week or so left.
Salad Mix - yum - we may be a little short on salad for the next week, but more is coming.
Scallions - a bumper crop this year, enjoy these delicious fresh onions
Bulb Fennel - just the smell will knock you out, give this unusual vegetable a try as a flavoring in sauce or salad dressing, or in a dish. here are some recipes: http://italianfood.about.com/blind51.htm
Beans - Green & Yellows - delicious steamed, then sauteed lightly with almonds.
Garlic - stores great, take any extra and store in a cool dark place.

Full Share

Extra heads lettuce

Peas

Kale - bunched

Beets - or carrots

Extra Garlic

Fruit

Apricots.

Lambert Cherries - 90 years in the making - these delicious, deep red cherries are from a stand of 90 year old Lambert trees managed organically by the Kropp brothers in Paonia.

Both from First Fruits of Paonia

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Peaches!
Basil - delicious in sauces, summer is a leaf - call to special order for pesto.
Beans - Green, Yellow & Purple - starts next week, a ton of these are nearly ready
Summer Squash - starts soon, they are flowering now
Broccoli - almost ready
Early onions - next week
Cucumbers - flowering now
Olathe Organic Sweet Corn (of we can get it)

3 or more Weeks

Cauliflower

Cabbage - Red, Green & Savoy

Shallots

Potatoes

Winter Squash

Pumpkins

Tomatoes

Peppers

Eggplant

2008-07-24T20:57:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 5

From the Farm

The field is at its peak of growth, with many crops starting to or about to start coming in. This week we have the first baby carrots - thinnings and the largest selection from the first of three carrot bed plantings. The carrots sweeten up over the next few weeks, and we grow several varieties over several plantings to extend the harvest over 6 weeks or more. The beets this week (full share) are full sized and will continue coming in for a few more weeks. Eat your beets! The leeks this week are also new and are probably the only leeks we have this year. Enjoy their sweet flavor sauteed (the green part is good as well as the white part - cut in half and clean carefully). We also have shallots and red, white and yellow onions you can look forward to starting in a few weeks.

The beans are all going gonzo - they are absolutely loaded with beans that will all start to be ready by the beginning of next week. We grow green beans, yellow beans, and purple beans. perfect for salads or cooked, these are also great to freeze for winter (see below)

Special Orders - Call or email by Thursday night.

Flowers - We have beautiful gladioli coming in - these are huge, gorgeous flowers that open over a couple of weeks, they come in many colors. CSA price is $2/stem or 6 for $10. We also have 'field bouquets' of long lasting cut flowers - zinnias, snapdragons, statice and more - a huge amount of color for $10.

Basil for pesto - we are starting to pick the basil and you will get a little bag in your share at least a few times this season - perfect for a pasta dish or sauce, but if you want enough for a batch of pesto (usually 4-cups for a recipe) you need to special order. Process a larger batch and freeze some for this winter! we offer the ready to go leaf ($20/lb) or later in the season we offer whole plants ($2/bunch) and you do the work of picking of the leaves. We also offer pick your own at a discount, so come on down and pick some basil!

Fruit for freezing - Cherries, peaches and apricots are all great for freezing, jams and other processing projects. Get into the spirit of abundance and order a box of fruit from the farm, then put something up - you'll thank yourself many times over later, or better yet, make some small jam jars for gifts, save these for the holidays and your recipients will remember the fruits of summer. I can usually get #2 quality at a steep discount: for example: #2 cherries are $1.50/lb, #1 cherries are $3.50/lb. by the box. call or email for pricing and availability.

Questions and Answers

Q: I can't use all my veggies, what should i do?
As we get into the thick of the harvest season over the next few weeks, you may find yourself picking up your box with a fridge still loaded with the last week's produce. Here are a few suggestions: first - toss anything that's looking old - start a compost pile, or get a worm composter so your waste becomes food. Freeze things: many veggies can easily be frozen. Usually its best to clean, slice and blanch them first - a 3-min steaming or boiling is plenty. This works great for carrots, peas or beans and even a cup of chopped carrots or beans in a zip-lock bag in your freezer will feel like a special treat in the middle of winter, and even if frozen veggies aren't as good as fresh, its great knowing your still eating veggies from your local farm.

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

Kale - bunched, three types
Carrots, Baby - many more to come
Head Lettuce - red butters, green romaine & more - ending soon!
Salad Mix - yum - beautiful red color mix this week.
Chives or parsley or basil - herbs are coming in slowly, expect a rotation for the next few weeks
Leeks - a fantastic, mild onion flavor for soups or stir fry, you can use the green as well as the white parts
Peas - really coming in this week, another week or two on these
Garlic - nearly dried, trimmed and cleaned; will continue to dry and flavor will deepen over time.

Full Share

Extra heads lettuce

Chard - bunched or bagged

Beets - still more to come

Extra Garlic

Fruit

Apricots - two varieties - store refrigerated, then let these sit out for a day or two before eating.

Lambert Cherries - 90 years in the making - these delicious, deep red cherries are from a stand of 90 year old Lambert trees managed organically by the Kropp brothers in Paonia.

Both from First Fruits of Paonia

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Peaches
Basil - delicious in sauces, summer is a leaf
Carrots, more, larger, sweeter
Beans - Green, Yellow & Purple - starts next week, a ton of these are nearly ready
Summer Squash - starts soon, they are flowering now
Bulb Fennel
Broccoli - almost ready
Early onions
Cucumbers - flowering now
Olathe Organic Sweet Corn (of we can get it)

3 or more Weeks

Cauliflower

Cabbage - Red, Green & Savoy

Onions

Shallots

Potatoes

Winter Squash

Pumpkins

2008-07-16T07:44:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 4

From the Farm

Its mid-July and the farm is looking great! The beds have all been weeded at least once, and we are passing through the field weeding for nearly the last time. The planting is all but over, with just a few salad mix blocks and some cover crop to get in the ground. Harvest is in full swing, and the crops are outgrowing the cricket damage. This week I put together a little captioned photo slide show. I've tried to embed the slide show into the email, but if that doesn't work, or for a full screen version of the slide slow - follow this link to the July 2008 Round Earth Farm Tour slideshow.

Questions and Answers

Q: Why didn't I get Oregano/Thyme last week?
A: The list you read in the newsletter is my best guess at what will be in your box that week, but we occasionally run out of a crop, or decide to hold of on a harvest to let the crop mature completely. We'll do our best to replace the missed items the following week, but please email if you missed a specific crop.

Q: When will the beans, corn and tomatoes be ready?
A: This is a late season, most crops are 2-3 weeks behind their usual schedule, and we are on week 4 of approximately 17, so many crops aren't quite ready. Beans are flowering now and will be ready in two weeks. The sweet corn looks great and will be ready in September, but I hope to buy some Organic Olathe sweet corn to add to the boxes for a few weeks in August. Tomatoes are also late this year, but I may be able to find another local grower willing to spare some early tomatoes for your boxes. Stay tuned for more updates, or email if you have a specific vegetable in mind.

Q: What am I supposed to do with all these GREENS!?
A: Some people love cooked greens and can eat them every day, others can't figure out how to eat all the chard, kale, lettuce and salad the early CSA boxes contain! If you fall into the latter group, see if you can find a friend or neighbor who might want them! In a few weeks, as the boxes fill out with other vegetables, we will lighten up on the greens, and offer these in the (soon to appear in CB) "extras" area.

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

Chard - bunched
Beets - still more to come
Head Lettuce - this is the peak season for head lettuce - green & red romaines, green butters, red butter next week.
Salad Mix - i keep planting these greens nearly every week, and we water them every day to try to keep them tender. watch for a changing mix of lettuce types.
Dill - fine leafed for now, dill seed later in the season
Scallions (green onions) - a special treat at our farm, this crop takes a lot of attention and many years we have little or no scallions or pearl onions. this year we have one really nice stand so everyone can get some! Delicious in a soup, you can add at the very end so the scallions are barely cooked - they are very sweet.
Peas (unless we run out again, the rabbits really decimated the 1st batch of shelling peas. the second batch is a week away and is rabbit free)
Radishes - spicy, try these thinly sliced on salad
Kohlrabi - These round brassicas are similar to broccoli stem. Peel off the hard shell, then steam or fry the inside. Usually harvested a bit larger, we are harvesting these at a smaller size while they are still looking good.

Full Share

Extra heads lettuce

Kale - bunched or bagged

Fruit

Yellow Reinier Bing Cherries & Bing Cherries from First Fruits of Paonia (transitional organic this week) - YUM - enjoy these delicious fruits

Next Week

garlic - we picked all the garlic this week and it looks great, we'll start giving everyone garlic after it dries a bit, next week.
more peas
parsley
more head lettuce varieties

Apricots (fruit share)

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Peaches
Chives
Carrots, Baby
Garlic, dried
Beans - Green, Yellow & Purple
Summer Squash
Bulb Fennel

3 or more Weeks

Broccoli
Cauliflower

Cabbage - Red, Green & Savoy

Cucumbers

Carrots

Onions

Potatoes

Winter Squash

Pumpkins

Flowers - Gladioli, Zinnias, Snapdragons, Bouquets - i'll have these for special order (CB) and for sale at the farm

everything else!

2008-07-11T09:26:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 3

From the Farm

Its transition time (again!) at the farm - the last of the weeding is nearly done - thank goodness! (we still have to do a few more weeding passes, but only on crops that are in the ground for a long time or are sensitive to weeds. Also, the planting is done (except for a few more plantings of salad mix over the next few weeks), and the irrigation system is set out and working reliably (with a little effort required to move the water around and keep things wet in the incredible heat of summer). The main work on the farm has become HARVEST. I promise to get some current pictures on the website soon, but I can tell you the fields are looking great! Everything is sizing up nicely, and we're slowly catching up to the regular season timing.

We've had a few pests worth mentioning this summer: first the rabbits, who last week decided to eat all the shelling peas. they neatly removed the peas from the shells leaving the plants bare! The left us a few snow peas and sugar snaps, but ate nearly all the shelling peas! We fought back last weekend by covering the entire pea bed with a sheet of 'floating row cover' - a thin, breathable fabric that will keep the rabbits off while the shelling peas recover. We also have another, even larger, second planting of peas that the rabbits don't know about, so we still plan to have lots of peas. This week, only the full shares are getting peas, and only a small amount.

Another pest that we have every summer is the flea beetle. This tiny, shiny black bug hops like a flea when you get near it. Some growers use this trait to trap these pests on a sticky trap moved over the crop beds. The flea beetles love to eat soft leafed brassicas - mustards, chois, arugula and the like. For this reason we always cover the 'spicy' portion of our salad mix with the same floating row cover that is keeping the rabbits out of the peas. the wave is fine enough to keep the flea beetles off the spicy mix. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to cover our bak choi crop and for this reason you can expect to see some holes in the leaves of the bok chois in your box this week. If the holes are bad, just cut the green leaf part off and use the stems of the chois which are crunchy, watery and sweet.

The garlic is finally ready - a few weeks later than usual like everything else this year. We pulled a few this week for the boxes, and will harvest the main crop next week. After we get the garlic washed, we set it in the greenhouse to dry, which takes a few weeks.So you can expect some more fresh garlic for now, and the dried, cured garlic you are used to in around three or four weeks. The onions look beautiful, but are still very small - i try to hold off on harvesting these until they have a chance to size up - probably anopther 4-5 weeks. We also have leeks that look nice, chives that are slowly coming in, scallions that are nearly ready and seed grown shallots that are great for storage and come in at the end of the year.

The spinach in this week's share was harvested with some effort from the weeds. The spinach never got weeded because it never really came up very well (both plantings - something was either wrong with the seed or more likely my seeder setting) and it didn't seem worth weeding. Still, some spinach managed to out compete the weeds, and we managed to harvest enough of that for the box this week. Because spinach is a cool weather crop, the only spinach you will see for the rest of the summer is the baby spinach leaves that are often in the salad mix.

Questions and Answers

Q: My box is stuffed!
A: Last week's full boxes were crammed, sorry. We are ordering larger boxes and trying to source good, reusable plastic totes for the CSA. For now, full shares will get TWO BOXES - please get both your boxes at the pickup if you are in Crested Butte and have a full share.
Q: I didn't get fruit!
A: (Crested Butte) Sometimes the fruit won't fit in your share box(es), instead its bagged and in a box that reads 'Fruit share, take 1 bag' - don't forget to grab your fruit. If someone else picks up your share, remind them to get the fruit if you have a fruit share (or not to if you don't). At the farm, fruit is usually in the main cooler with the veggies.
Q: Can my friend still sign up?
A: Yes, we are still open to new members for the summer, fees are slightly reduced based on the late start, call the farm for details: 970-872-4413.

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

Chard or Kale - still bagged, bunched next week
Chois - green or purple bok chois (sorry about the holes, try the stems!)
Beets - sweet and delicious boiled, three types are coming in - chioggia striped, red
Spinach - spinach had a hard time this year, enjoy this while we have it.
Head Lettuce - this is the peak season for head lettuce - green & red romaines, green butters starting, red frilly types make a beautiful garnish. Full shares get three heads.
Salad Mix - i keep planting these greens nearly every week, and we water them every day to try to keep them tender. watch for a changing mix of lettuce types.
Garlic - a couple more heads, more next week.
Dill - fine leafed for now, dill seed later in the season
Thyme & Oregano - a bit that overwintered, this year's crop was frozen before we could plant it

Full Share

Extra heads lettuce (2)

Peas (not enough for the half shares, everyone will get some next week)

extra chard or kale

Fruit

NEW: Yellow Reinier Bing Cherries & Bing Cherries from First Fruits of Paonia (transitional organic this week) - YUM - enjoy these delicious fruits

Next Week

more peas
more head lettuce varieties
bunched chard, kale -three types

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Scallions
kohlrabi
Chives, parsley
Carrots, Baby
Garlic, dried
Beans - Green, Yellow & Purple
Summer Squash

3 or more Weeks

Summer squash

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Cabbage - Red, Green & Savoy

Cucumbers

Carrots

Onions

Potatoes

Winter Squash

Pumpkins

Flowers - Gladioli, Zinnias, Snapdragons, Bouquets - i'll have these for special order (CB) and for sale at the farm

everything else!

2008-07-02T11:55:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 2

From the Farm

Solstice was just a week ago, and that means the longest days of the year. Growth in the garden this time of year is nothing short of amazing. Everything is growing including the weeds! We are keeping busy with weeding, thinning and now harvest has begun. The field looks great (I'll try to post some updated photos soon), and we have a great succession of three plantings in the field, meaning an extended harvest for crops like beans, peas, beets and carrots. A good crew has formed to handle the harvest with some old and some new faces.

We encourage visitors and offer tours of the farm. If you pick up at the farm, walk out past the harvest area and just keep walking straight. I try to stay in sight of the harvest area on Friday afternoons if you want a tour or have questions. For those of you getting a box delivery into crested butte, we strongly encourage you to plan at least one visit to the farm - any time in the next three months is probably fine, but call a week ahead so we can plan to be here.

A word about the appearance of your produce: We take a lot of time and care each harvest making sure the produce we bring in from the field is carefully cleaned and processed. We carefully wash everything in domestic water, sometimes double or triple washing to get all the dirt off. You may see some damage to crops that is normal in organic production: holes in the leaves of the radishes for example, or the corn ear worms in the tips of the sweet corn (later in the season), but we try hard to make the produce you receive looks better than the produce you see on a grocery store shelf. Produce is very sensitive to temperature and moisture. If your produce becomes wilted at any point, it can usually be revived be wetting, then placing in a bag in the refrigerator. Please email or call with any concerns!

Questions and Answers

Q: Why didn't I get Braising Mix (or carrots, or peas)?
A: Each week as I type out this email, I make a best guess at what will be available for the box harvest later in the week. Sometimes what we actually harvest might be a little different than my list, or there might be a shortage of one crop and an abundance of another. As we pack the boxes each week, we try to ensure everyone gets the exact same box, but sometimes (usually as a particular crop is just beginning to ripen) there isn't enough for everyone. In this case, we substitute another crop, so if you didn't get carrots you got beets, or if you didn't get braising mix you got extra baby chard. We also watch the overall dollar value of the box each week to insure you get a great deal for your share fee. Since the first few weeks are slim this year, that means extra big boxes later in the season.

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? email me!

This Week's Box

NEW: Beets, baby - a mix of pink (chioggias are striped when cut sideways), red round and red long (cylindrical) beets, mostly the pinkish ones this week because they are sizing up first. Delicious boiled until soft and topped with a little salt.
NEW: Head Lettuce - a rotating mix of Romaine, Green & Red Leaf, butters and summer crisp heads. Head lettuce will last for a month or six weeks, then disappear because it can't take the heat and 'bolts', turning bitter.
NEW: Baby Kale - We will be bunching chard and kale starting next week. Recipes on the website - see cooking greens
Salad Mix - Starting slow, we should have this all season
Cilantro - Enjoy it while we have it, cilantro can't take the heat of summer and lasts just a few weeks

NEW: Sage - great in beans or meat (lots of info on the web of course )

NEW: Dill - great on fish, in a dressing or dry and use later.

Full Share

Extra head lettuce

radishes

extra chard or kale

Fruit

NEW: Sweet Bing Cherries (for fruit shares) - these are the 1st of the season for our area and come out of established orchards in Domingez canyon, between Delta and Grand Junction. These are '2nd year transitional' meaning they have been under organic cultivation for two years. The Paonia cherries should start in the next week or two and cherries will last a month or more, when the peach harvest begins!

Next Week

Shelling peas
more head lettuce varieties
bunched chard
bunched or bagged spinach

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Bunched Kale & Chard

Sugar Snap Peas
Scallions
Carrots, Baby
Garlic, dried
Chois (Bak Choi and other types)
Summer Squash

3-5 Weeks
Tons of Peas and Beans

2008-06-25T12:08:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 1

From the Farm

This week I thought I would run down all of the vegetables and let you know how they are doing. Some of you might be concerned about the late season, our extremely late (June 8) freeze, and the cold wet spring that slowed down the spring planting. As a result of the late season, everything is a little behind, and the first few weeks of harvest will be particularly slim.

Please don't be alarmed by the size of your box for the first few weeks. we will make up for the slim selection later in the season (also, full shares are going to get a lot fuller than the half shares as the crops fill in - for now they are the same. again, we will make this up later in the season). The overall harvest season is looking great this year, with nearly everything planted, watered and weeded! Here is the scoop on some of the main vegetables:

Beans - we grow green beans, as well as yellow and purple beans. we have several strong plantings with multiple varieties this year and they look great - weeded, thinned and starting to bush out, so expect an extended harvest beginning in mid July and lasting over a month
Braising Mix - this tender baby greens mix is great for a side dish, we offer this for the first few weeks until more crops are available.
Broccoli - looks great, we got a great planting of broccoli in this year, and its all weeded and growing well. Harvest will begin by the end of July and last for a month or more
Beets - the first bed of beets has been thinned and the first baby beets will be ready in the next week. We should have beets or baby beets for at least four weeks, we have several strong looking plantings.
Cabbage - also a great planting of red & green cabbage, some savoys and Chinese cabbage (napa) as well. Harvest will begin around week 7 (Aug. 4) and lasts for a month or more
Cauliflower - we have good plantings of white cauliflower, as well as the intense purple and delicious orange cauliflower varieties. expect cauliflower mid-season this year, by early August
Chard - a good planting of rainbow colors: red, green, yellow, pink & orange. Harvest begins this week with baby chard (washed and bagged), then continues with bunched chard by week 3 or 4. Chard lasts all season, but expect it in your box for the first 4-6 weeks until the box fills out with the main season crops.
Corn - we have several good sweet corn plantings this year, including our favorite 'delectable' - a super sweet bi-color (yellow and white) corn and the classic Silver Queen, a large eared white corn. Our corn will be coming in late in the season, mid September, but we will try to pick up some of the local Organic 'Olathe Sweet' corn which is now available in the our area by sometime in August.
Cucumbers - The cucumber plantings look good - we have several varieties, the standard slicers, some thin skinned Asian types and pickling cukes (we'll alert you when these become available for bulk ordering). we lost some of our early plantings to a late freeze, but still expect a good long harvest.
Eggplant - The eggplant was hit by the late freeze, but most came back and we also replaced some. still eggplant is always late, expect a bit of eggplant in late September
Herbs - we rotate culinary herbs in your box each week. Tender cilantro lasts for the first month of harvest season, and you'll also get over-wintered thyme, marjoram and oregano early. later you'll get fresh basil - the planting looks great, but won't be ready until mid-august. bulk basil (or cilantro) for making pesto available for special order. most herbs can be dried very easily in our climate - if you find you don't use the fresh herbs each week, hang them to dry and store in a jar for winter use.
Lettuce, Head - we have a great looking planting of head lettuce, lots of romaine, butter and leaf lettuces. we will start picking these next week and harvest should last for four to six weeks. expect a rotating selection
Melons - they are planted and growing, but melons are a marginal crop in this area, expect melons in September if we have a long hot season
Onions, Leeks, Shallots - we have a beautiful crop of onions planted and weeded this year - yellow sweet walla wallas, white storage onions and red sweet 'burgermaster' onions. we'll start picking onions around the end of August. Onion harvest lasts all fall. The leeks and shallots also look great, expect these late September
Peas - the peas are a little later than usual this year, but we have several strong plantings that are growing well. the shelling peas are filled with peas that are sizing up - we'll start picking them in the next two weeks. the sugar snap peas are just flowering and will be ready in three weeks. Pea harvest lasts three to four weeks
Peppers - these come in late in our area, sometime in September. our early batch was frozen, but we replanted
Potatoes - a nice planting with reds, blues and yellows as well as fingerlings. potatoes are available for the last few weeks on the season.
Scallions - ready in a few weeks, these will last for just a few weeks
Squash, Summer - some of the early plantings made it and are flowering now. we expect a trickle of squash in a few weeks, then a flood later in July and August - we have zucchini, yellow crookneck, patty pan, straightneck and other varieties.
Squash Winter - we have a great planting of delacata, butternut, acorn, buttercup, kabocha, red kuri, spaghetti and more. these come in late in the season, late Spetember
Tomatoes - we did loose some to a late freeze, but we have replanted even more. tomatoes will be late this year, if we can find some organic early tomatoes for sale from palisaide or delta we will add them to an earlier box.

This Week's Box

Radishes - red and white mixed

Braising Mix - tender greens - eat raw or cook
Baby Chard - Delicious and tender. Recipes on the website - see cooking greens
Salad Mix - Starting slow, we should have this all season
Cilantro - Enjoy it while we have it, cilantro can't take the heat of summer and lasts just a few weeks
Marjoram - great for tomato sauce, dry what you don't use
Garlic - immature, with a slightly milder garlic flavor. the skins aren't dry, but you still need to peel the cloves. We'll have more garlic in the coming weeks, this is just so you have some for now.

Next Week

Beets, baby
Sage

Head Lettuce - Romaine, Green & Red Leaf

Dill

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

Kale
Sugar Snap Peas
Scallions
Garlic, dried

2008-06-10T05:56:00.000-06:00

From The Farm
Things are busy, busy here at the farm. As I write this, the last crops are ready to go in the ground and all of the 'cool weather' crops are in the ground (they can take our early season freezes). We just had the latest freeze of the spring since we've been farming in Western Colorado - June 8th. It was a mild freeze and it nipped or killed most or all of our early tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash and cucumbers. Ouch! A small backup planting is going in the ground tomorrow, but expect a later season unless we can fill in from other local growers.

A late season
Even without the recent freeze, this has been a late year. We've had a steady series of missed planting days due to rain or hail, wet fields as well as some really hard early freezes that damaged the local fruit crop. The farm machinery all decided this was the year to break down, and one implement after another has been down for repairs. The good news is that we have still managed to keep up with field planting and prep work, and the early spring plantings look great. The peas and beets are growing strong, as well as salad mix, radishes, baby carrots, spinach, cilantro, scallions, garlic, chard, kale and more as we prepare for our first harvests. Will all our early crops are in the ground, the weeding season has begun! Our big direct seedings - corn, squash, pumpkins, green beans, cucumbers, etc. are completed and salad mix is on its 3rd planting. A good crew has formed to plant weed and harvest, and the weather is finally warming up.

What to expect
Pickup/Delivery will begin the week of June 23rd. Farm pickups will be Fridays 3-7pm (or by arrangement), delivery into Crested Butte will happen every Sunday, starting Sunday June 29th, at 11am (see below for details). I will call every shareholder by June 16th to go over the exact pickup location and to verify you got this email!

Farm Pickup Directions
The farm is located just before 34830 Powell Mesa Rd. From Hotchkiss, head North on 4th St., travel 1 mile and take the 2nd Left on Powell Mesa Rd. (not the 1st Powell Mesa turn). Travel 1 mile, look for Round Earth sign directly ahead. Read the board carefully, grab a box and pack your share. Full/Half shares are listed separately, Fruit share is separate. Check the list if you aren't sure what you have. Please check your name on the list when you take your box so we know you got your produce! Please save your box and bring it back. Remember to pick up your box each week. If you will are unable to pick up your box, please send a friend and explain the pickup carefully, or call to arrange an alternate time to pick up your box.

Crested Butte Delivery
Crested Butte Deliveries - Our current delivery location is now FULL and we are seeking a second drop off location. We are looking for an existing or new member with a shady porch or north wall in an accessible downtown (ideally) location. We offer a generous trade/discount for hosting the pickup location - please call Adam at the farm (970) 872-4413 if you can help. For now, here are the directions to the primary pickup, at Stacee Vanaremans house:
421 White Rock, Stacee's is a tall green building. Please park on the street. Please meet the truck at 11:30am, or pick up produce any time that day from the shady East porch. Each share is in a box, fruit shares are separate. Please check the list of you aren't sure what you get. If you have any questions, please call the farm. Please save your box and bring it back to meet the truck, or leave it for us that day (please don't leave boxes all week). If you will are unable to pick up your box, please send a friend and explain the pickup carefully!

Turkey Hill 2008 Season

2008-03-05T20:29:00.000-07:00

Spring has Sprung!
The sun is working hard to thaw the ground, still soaked with the great winter rains. We are busy planting early seedlings in the greenhouse - flowers, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and the first round of brassicacas - broccoli, cauliflower, savoy, red & green cabbage, napa cabbage and bok choi. In the next few weeks our first plantings of lettuce will go in: romaine, read & green lean, butters and crisp heads, plus an early round of salad mix greens whenever it dries out enough to plant.

Dreaming of Summer!
We are dreaming of a bountiful, vegetable-filled summer... please join in the potential of spring by signing up for a 2008 membership today.

2007-09-19T00:02:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter

Week 13-17, 2007

From the farm:

The farm is slowly declining as we linger without our usual September freeze. Even without the frost, many crops have decided to give up for the year, including the chard, kale, summer squash.

We had a fantastic lightning storm the other day, accompanied by lots of rain. I learned something new when talking to a friend: lightning storms fix atmospheric nitrogen, giving free food to the soil and crops. i found an article online on the nitrogen cycle that mentions it, and they say:

Nitrogen fixation refers to the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen gas (N₂) to ammonia (NH₃) or nitrate (NO₃). The latter is formed when lightning or sometimes cosmic radiation causes oxygen and nitrogen to react in the atmosphere.

Amazingly, salad greens that looked to small to ever harvest this year look noticeably larger after a long storm full of heavy rain and lots of nearby lightning. Its as if the entire field got fertilized.

Alert: We are having a little 'end of the season' gathering for farm workers and CSA customers. If you can make it (sorry about the last minute notice) THIS SUNDAY, September 23rd @ 3pm at the farm. Please bring a potluck dish and visit us at the farm on Powell Mesa (approx, 34833 Powell Mesa Rd).

Four weeks of the CSA remain; depending on harvest conditions, the last week may be a double box, (boxes 16 & 17) will come as one big box, with two weeks of items - since everything stores so well at this time of year anyway. On to the crops:

Here is what we will have for the next four weeks

Salad Mix - tender summer greens - still picking for CSA - will last a week or two more
Broccoli - fall broccoli is now coming in

Cauliflower - Orange (cheddar - delicious!) - some White, Purple too.
Carrots (last week)
Tomatoes - more & more until the freeze - if you get overloaded, throw these in a bag and freeze them in a freezer bag. Defrost and stew in winter (add some fresh herbs) for a great sauce.
Lots more Winter squash - so far we have picked acorns (and white and orange acorns) , dalacata, festival and sweet dumpling. Delacata (striped long ovals), Butternut (brown, pear shape), Buttercup and Blue Hubbard all look great this year. Leave these on the shelf for a few weeks for a sweeter flavor. A freeze (soon) will help sweeten up the rest of the crop.
Pumpkins - we will have enough for everyone to get at least a small pumpkin, which you can put on your table or bake in a pie.
Onions - Reds coming on strong (dry these out, they store very well), yellow storage onions ready at the very end.
Peppers - Until it freezes
Chard in extras

Fruit -
Apples - Galas, Jonagold, Jonathan, Golden Delicious and others
Pears - red and others

2007-09-07T17:56:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter

Week 12, 2007

From the farm:

Fall is here! This is certainly my favorite season of the year. all that remains on the farm is a lot of picking! (and a little clean up and garlic planting for next year).

This week we are enjoying the last of the Summer crops as we head into Fall.

Since only five weeks of the CSA remain, I thought I'd summarize what you can expect as the season ends:

Lots of Fall crops:

Potatoes are now being harvested, we should have enough to give you all 2 lb./week for the remainder of the season;

Onions are still coming in with shallots, and Red.s ready and storage yellow onions still ripening. Special order a 25lb. box for $20 - the red or yellow storage onions will last all winter inf kept in a cool, dark spot.

Winter squash look fantastic this year - Lots still ripening, but the delacata and acorn are now being picked (plus cream acorn and orange acorn), as well as 'festival'. The larger squash: butternut, buttercup, blue hubbard, red kuri and others are all a few weeks off (after it freezes the 1st time, we pick them all). We will give everyone 1-2 squash a week for the rest of the season: place these in a cool spot and enjoy any time this winter. Call to special order before we sell it all.

Tomatoes will continue and increase until our first freeze, usually in mid september. Same for peppers and eggplant.

We have a nice crop of fall cauliflower and some more red cabbage you will get over the next few weeks.

The cucumbers, squash and basil are all giving up for the season, freeze or no freeze; the kale and chard are tired, i'll put a few in extras for real greens lovers, or ask about picking from the field, as the quality deteriorates, we stop picking!

The carrots are gone, but I imagine everyone has a nice supply in their fridge by now. trim the tops, and keep these in a bag; a damp paper towel is sometimes helpful, but watch for rot - clean the tops carefully.

We have some pumpkins, hopefully enough for everyone. Let us know if you must need a pumpkin for a pie.

This week's probable box:

Salad Mix - tender summer greens

Purple Cauliflower (giant)
Carrots (last week)
Cucumbers, including lemon cukes (last week?)
Tomatoes - more & more until the freeze
Eggplant or Winter Squash (farm pickup will get eggplant next week).
Onions - Red
Leeks
Peppers - Hot, Anaheim (semi hot) and hot (the small ones)

Squash - yellow pear, yellow straight neck, eight ball, sunburst, crooked neck. TONS!
Sweet Corn -lots- from the farm - "Delectable" - last week.

Fruit -
Apples - Galas, Honey Crisp and Jonathan
Green Bartlett Pears

Coming soon (in the next 1-3 weeks):

Potatoes
Winter Squash
Onions

2007-08-30T13:41:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter

Week 11, 2007

From the farm:

I have to be quick this week - we are off to a wedding with a truck full of produce. The corn is the big exciting thing this week; lots and lots of corn. The delacata did great, and is really putting out nice large ears, with only minimal earworm damage. We hope you enjoy this sweetness, we thinks its the best!
Fall is approaching - everything is slowing down, even the chard and kale. The leeks weren't quite ready this week, but

This week's probable box:

Salad Mix - tender summer greens

Broccoli
Carrots, full size
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Kale
Onions - Red
Peppers - Hot

Squash - yellow pear, yellow straight neck, eight ball, sunburst, crooked neck.
Sweet Corn - from the farm - Delectable
Winter Squash - Festival
Basil

Fruit - Peaches! First Fruits Organics from Paonia, CO
#2 peaches by the box available, call to order - 970-872-4413.
Apples - Crisp & Sweet Galas from First Fruits
Green Bartlett Pears

Coming soon (in the next 1-3 weeks):

Potatoes
Winter Squash

2007-08-23T16:33:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter

Week 10, 2007

From the farm:

Fall is in the air on the farm. The mornings are cold, and the Turkeys are staying close to home, feasting on the grasshoppers that thrive in the irrigated fields. The Corn patch, in the far far field beyond the hoophouse, has really come in well. This week, we have a taste of more early yellow corn, but watch out for our main sweet corn crop next week. Its our favorite bi-color (yellow/white kernels) called 'Delectable' and this year's crop looks great, with long 7-9" ears, and very little sign of the corn worms that you will find in this week's corn. Looks like the corn will last a few more weeks - a real bang for the end of summer.
The potatoes have decided its time to be finished. Ever since I hilled up the plants a month ago, the plants have been in decline. since they have just stopped growing, i've decided to pick the crop a little early - watch for potatoes in your box starting next week.
The flowers are in full production and the hummingbirds are having a great time in the field. Flower share subscribers get mixed bouquets with Zinnias and more that just shout SUMMER.

What's coming out of the field?

Tomatoes - The tomatoes are finally ripening. A little bit in this weeks box, then more and more for the next few weeks!
Peppers - More bell peppers ripening, anaheims, jalapenos and other mild to hot peppers. A few in your box, or pick from the mixed pepper box.
Beans - just kidding, the beans are finally done, thank goodness.
Salad - Alert - we will have a one week break in salad next week, then we will have it again.
Squash - You can be a squash gourmet! Valerie pointed out this great article in the NY times magazine that offers great information on using squash, and offers some exciting recipes including one for Chilled Spiced Yellow-Squash Soup. Here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/magazine/19food-t.html
Cucumbers - Yum! Cucumber salad time.
Basil is in full swing, We are still taking orders for bulk basil ($12/lb.) or whole basil plants ($2/bunch) - you pick the leaves off the plant yourself.

This week's probable box:

Salad Mix - tender summer greens

Carrots, full size
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Kale
Cabbage, Red
Onions - Red & Yellow
Peppers - Bell & Hot
Eggplant

Squash - yellow pear, yellow straight neck, eight ball, sunburst, crooked neck.
Sweet Corn - from the farm

Fruit - Peaches! First Fruits Organics from Paonia, CO
#2 peaches by the box available, call to order - 970-872-4413.
Apples - Crisp summer apples from First Fruits
Green Bartlett Pears - coming soon

Coming soon (in the next 1-3 weeks):

Potatoes
Winter Squash

2007-08-16T14:20:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter

Week 9, 2007

From the farm:

Tomatoes - We know everyone is waiting for tomatoes, and they are beginning to ripen. We should have a trickle in the next week or two, then hit the big time for a month or so.
Peppers - You'll find some bell peppers and hot peppers with this week's box. This is just the very beginning - we are thinning off the extra peppers. We have green and yellow bells so far, but soon these will begin to turn red - if we are lucky.
Flowers - flowers are going bonkers and flower shareholders are now getting beautiful sunflowers, gladioli and bouquets. Please call if you want to add the flower option or special order a bouquet.
Basil is in full swing, but will end the day we have our 1st light freeze - sometimes in early September. We are now taking orders for bulk basil ($12/lb.) or whole basil plants ($2/bunch) - you pick the leaves off the plant yourself.
Fall - I know its still August, but fall is in the air! The heat has lessened, and the crops are starting to lay down their winter skin; winter squash and potatoes are looking great, and the storage onions are coming along well.

What's coming out of the field?

Beans - Wow, it seems like by the time we get to one end of the row its time to start picking again at the other end! Seriously, we've been picking beans three times a week, and still can't keep up. Everyone gets another 3/4 lb. bag this week. If you just can't make another bean dish, just blanch (steam lightly) and throw them in a bag and into the freezer - they'll make you happy one day this winter, I promise!
Salad - Still fresh and tender! How do we do it? A fresh batch of salad gets planted every week or two, and then watered daily for hours. at the ripe age of around 3-4 weeks, we cut the new batch, keeping it fresh & tender. Salad will continue for at least another month, then taper off as the season ends.
Squash - If we could just all eat a little more squash it might put a dent in the harvest! Look for the assorted squash boxes and help yourself! Large sized summer squash are great for stuffing (look for the separate large box) - scoop out the insides, turn into a savory stuffing, and bake. Look, at the squash listing on the recipe page for details.
Cucumbers - Ok, they are really coming in now. Assorted varieties - long asian cukes, picking cukes, 'gerkin' fuzzy cukes, thin skinned crispy cukes and old fashioned slicers. Try a cucumber salad or soup (check the recipe page).
Sweet Corn - The corn so far has been organic/naturally grown corn from Olathe and Delta. This week we started picking our own yellow corn - please note we did no spraying, and you WILL find some worms in our corn. you can chop off the tops (1" or so) before shucking to get most of the worms. Our bi-color main crop ('Delectable') is still a week or two off.

Important Pickup Notes, Questions answered:

Do you have a question about the share, season, veggies, pickup or anything else? just hit reply to this email or give us a call.

This week's probable box:

Here is what you can expect in the this week's box...

Salad Mix - tender summer greens

Beans - green beans.
Broccoli - more coming this fall.
Carrots, full size
Cucumbers
Kale and Chard - leave in extras if you don't want these!
Onions - more sweet yellow & white onions. Red onions, shallots and leeks coming this fall.
Peppers - Bell & Hot

Squash - yellow pear, yellow straight neck, eight ball, sunburst, crooked neck.
Sweet Corn - from the farm

Fruit - Peaches! First Fruits Organics from Paonia, CO
#2 peaches by the box available, call to order - 970-872-4413.
Apples - Crisp summer apples from First Fruits

Flowers - More gladioli in amazing colors. More bouquets next week.

Coming soon (in the next 1-3 weeks):

Eggplant

2007-08-09T13:05:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter

Week 8, 2007

From the farm:

In a word RAIN! Its actually been hard to get out and harvest crops because the field is so wet! Certain crops, like basil, really don't like being harvested while wet... even little drops can cause brown spots on the leaves in storage.

What's coming out of the field?

Basil - in buckets! In the next week or two, we hope to give everyone enough for a small batch of pesto. Try making a large batch and freezing some - Basil can be special ordered at wholesale prices: $12/lb. Call by Thursday for a batch this week.
Squash - I probably said this last week, but the summer squash is now officially going bonkers, more varieties and a large quantity for everyone.
Cucumbers are finally coming in in the field, and in the next two weeks I'll be able to start giving everyone more than just one cucumber.
Salad Mix - the new batch of salad mix has been very tasty, and all this rain helps keep things cooler and sweet. Salad supply looks good for at least the next month.
Eggplant/Peppers - a variety of hot peppers are beginning to mature, watch for a mixed box with a 'take 1-3' label. Bell peppers are still a few weeks off. Eggplants in the hoop house are looking good; the field eggplants are just beginning to ripen. The eggplant trickle in at first, so it may take a few weeks before you get some.

Important Pickup Notes, Questions answered:

With so many crops coming in at this time of year, we can get a little overwhelmed at this point. we had several mix-ups last week I wanted to mention:

Friday farm pickup customers - 'Cantaloupe' wasn't on the list, so some people didn't take their melon. If you are one of these people, please take a melon this week!
Crested Butte - Sunday pickup - the box of bean bags never made it into the truck, so you all missed the beans. We will try to make it up this week with extra beans this week.

What else is coming? We are now into the summer crops, so we are harvesting nearly everything now - still to come: tomatoes, bell & hot peppers, eggplant, our sweet corn, more potatoes, more onions, leeks, shallots, winter squash: delacata, acorn, buttercup etc, pumpkins; fruit - pears, apples, nectarines, plums. Also fall broccoli, cauliflower and lots more salad, carrots, greens, beans, squash and all the rest of the summer crops.

This week's probable box:

Here is what you can expect in the this week's box...

Salad Mix - tender summer greens

Basil - sweet for pesto! - call to special order pesto quantities ($12/lb) - 970-872-4413.
Beans - Yellow and green beans.
Broccoli - loves all this rain.

Cabbage - Red
Carrots, full size "nantes", more varieties coming
Cauliflower
Cucumbers - just starting; a few varieties
Cilantro - summer cilantro - a rare treat
Onions - more sweet yellow & white onions. Red onions, shallots and leeks coming this fall.
Parsley

Squash - yellow pear, yellow straight neck, eight ball, sunburst, crooked neck.
Sweet Corn - Olathe Sweet Certified Organic!

Fruit - Peaches! First Fruits Organics from Paonia, CO
#2 peaches by the box available, call to order - 970-872-4413.

Flowers - More gladioli in amazing colors. More bouquets next week.

Coming soon (in the next 1-3 weeks):

Pearl Onions

Eggplant
Peppers

Flowers!

2007-08-02T12:25:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter

Week 7, 2007

From the farm:

This week the farm is really booming - everything seems to be growing an inch a day. This includes the weeds - the infamous 'red root' or 'pigweed' has grown from 6 inches to 2 feet in the last two weeks! We are finally getting to play catch up with weeding, irrigation and other field projects.

What's coming out of the field?
New crops this week include Potatoes - red, purple, yellow and White - these are new potatoes, we dug up a bit of the beds to check the plants, but we will leave most of the crop for the end of the season. Also new: Cauliflower, a limited crop, watch for white, then purple and orange cauliflower later in the season. Beans are starting to come in - look for a bag of purple beans in your box this week, then yellow and green beans next week. Sweet corn this week is from a neighboring natural farm - our corn will be ready in 2-3 weeks. The Cantaloupe coming out of the hoop house this week are a special treat - the field melons are just beginning to set fruit! I managed to pick enough ripe melons so everyone gets one - we hope to have more from the field later in the season (unless an early freeze cuts the season short).

A word on tomatoes - the field tomatoes look fantastic and are loaded with (green) fruit, but not much is ripening yet. It could be a few more weeks before we really have tomatoes. I'll keep my feelers open for other local growers with warmer climates and organic tomatoes. Garlic is in short supply this year, so i won't be able to get any more and our own crop was a failure. i recommend stocking up a local farmers market or health food store.

Important Pickup Notes, Questions answered:

Whats in this week's box? The list you see below you is often created several days before we harvest the produce for your box and is my best guess as to what will be available this week.
Substitutions - sometimes, especially if a crop is just beginning to come in, we just don't have enough to give everyone a reasonable amount of a crop. In this case, half the members may get the item (say cucumbers) one week, and the other half get carrots. The following week, the pattern is reversed.
Not enough - sometimes a crop is in limited supply, but we thing you might enjoy even a bit - a little squash, potatoes or broccoli in your stir fry might be better than none at all. As the crop begins to come in watch out for...
Too much - we know you don't all love chard and kale as much as we do (and we are taking a two week break from these crops - but watch the extra bin if you really love them). And 5 lb. a week of summer squash can be too much for anyone - so consider freezing your extra for winter use, or leave the chard you don't want in the extra's box for another member to grab.

This week's probable box:

Here is what you can expect in the this week's box...

Salad Mix - tender as ever - yum

Potatoes - Yellow, White, Purple & Red (new)
Cantaloupe - from the hoop house (new)
Basil - lime basil - try on fish! - call to special order pesto quantities ($12/lb) - 970-872-4413.
Beans - Purple "Green" Beans - cook up green, or try fresh or lightly steamed to maintain the color. Yellow and green beans coming next week.
Broccoli - lots coming in now, more to come later in the season. Summer broccoli is a bit stronger than the fall crop.
Cabbage - Napa or Green

Carrots, full size (new)

Cauliflower (new)

Squash - varieties include yellow pear, yellow straight neck, eight ball, sunburst, crooked next and more. look for squash in a separate box - take what the label says - squash don't like being stored in the same temperature cooler as the rest of the veggies.
Sweet Corn (new) - from Austin Family Farms - our corn is still 3 weeks off
Parsley
Potatoes (new) - a little bit to try - many many more coming later in the season (or cucumbers if we run out of potatoes - cucumbers are just starting in the field, watch for more in 1-2 weeks)

Fruit - Peaches! First Fruits Organics from Paonia, CO
#2 peaches by the box available, call to order - 970-872-4413.

Flowers - More gladioli in amazing colors. Snapdragons and statice and a few other flowers are starting and we'll soon have bouquets - choose a bouquet or a bundle of gladioli.

Coming soon (in the next 1-3 weeks):

Cucumbers

Pearl Onions

Eggplant
Peppers

Beans - Green, Yellow - lot of these coming in next week.

Flowers!

Fruit - Peaches from First Fruits, Paonia

2007-07-25T09:15:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter

Week 6, 2007

From the farm:

August is the peak of heat and growth in the garden. Time seems suspended and the days are long and hot. Farm work starts at 6, and field work usually ends by 10 am when the heat makes picking or weeding unbearable. Evening time in the garden is lovely, and if we are lucky we try to get out to the field between 7 and 9 pm.

Whats coming out of the field?

Head Lettuce - I'm sure everyone must be getting tired of lettuce this week and this is the last of the head lettuce, butters, red crisp & red frill. Combine these for a beautiful salad while we take a week off from salad mix, which will return next week.

Onions - (new) Early Walla Walla and 'Superset' sweet onions - we are starting to pick the big ones a little at a time, and we have these and many more onion varieties to come. Since these don't require refrigeration, they aren't in the cooler or your box - instead look for a box with a bright orange label that says something like 'Onions - take 1'. Red onions are a few weeks off, and later in the fall we will harvest shallots, leeks and storage onions.
Garlic (new) - The garlic crop was spring planted this year and couldn't tolerate the heat - the heads never formed fully, but we are going ahead and harvesting what did grow this week - these garlic heads may look a little funky, but the taste is excellent - peel down to the clove and remove the tough skin to use.

Important Pickup Notes, Questions answered:

Some people were confused by last week's pickup and didn't get everything the were supposed to. When you arrive at the pickup location please read the board or orange labels carefully. A few important notes from recent questions:

Items outside the box or cooler: Sometimes we can't get everything to fit in your box or into the farm cooler for farm pickups. Look for a stack of separate boxes with labels telling you what to take: Cabbage - take 1, Cucumbers - take 1, Squash - take 1. Look for bags nearby and grab your extra items!
Fruit share - Do you get the fruit share - look at the pickup sheet to check if you aren't sure. Make sure you get everything on the list - often in separate boxes than the veggies. Only take fruit if you paid for the fruit share.
Flowers - we are about to begin the flower share, with gladioli starting and bouquets coming soon. If you have a flower share (check the list) choose one bouquet (or stems or bunch in the case of gladioli or sunflowers). When you get home (and every few days) trim the bottoms of the flowers on an angle and place in fresh water.
Wilted veggies: sometimes your veggies may get wilted - in the box or in your car; most green veggies can be revived by placing in a bag with a small amount of water in the refrigerator, or try soaking in the sink in cold water.
"I didn't get my carrots, " or missing veggies in my box: last week the carrots just weren't quite ready and I would up substituting Cucumbers at the last minute for some of the shares. This came after i sent the newsletter and some people were confused because they were expecting those carrots. So please use the following list as a guideline and understand that this may vary slightly before the actual harvest and pickup. We do have plenty of carrots, we'll start picking them this week and have them for 4-6 weeks or more. Cucumbers are flowering in the field and coming in in the hoop house. Once the larger field crop begins to produce, you can expect a steady supply of cukes.

This week's Box:

Here is what you can expect in the this week's box...

Head Lettuce

Onion - Sweet Yellow (new)
Garlic (new)
Basil - the basil is really coming in this week - call to special order larger quantities - 970-872-4413.
Broccoli - look for broccoli on and off for the rest of the summer and into fall.
Cabbage - red

Carrots, baby (new)
Kale - Kale and chard are so good for you they are worth eating every week, we alternate varieties.

Beets - Full size, mixed colors - this are some of the last beets this year. If you have some left in the fridge, chop of the tops and put them in a bag - they store very well and will last for weeks and weeks.

Mixed herbs, rotation of thyme, oregano, marjoram...

Peas - Snow peas this week, ends soon.
Scallions (new) - great for using fresh as zesty garnish over a cooked dish.

Squash - Watch out - the field squash is coming in and there will be a lot. Fun varieties include yellow pear, yellow straight neck, eight ball, sunburst, crooked next and more. look for squash in a separate box - take what the label says - squash don't like being stored in the same temperature cooler as the rest of the veggies.

Fruit - Peaches! Palisaide Peach Company - Yum... Paonia peaches next week. #2 peaches by the box available, call to order - 970-872-4413.

Coming soon (in the next 1-3 weeks):

Cucumbers

Pearl Onions

More herbs

Beans - Green, Yellow Purple - lot of these coming in next week.

Cauliflower - just about to come in - look for white, purple and delicious orange 'cheddar' cauliflower.

Flowers!

Fruit - Peaches from First Fruits, Paonia

2007-07-18T19:29:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter

Week 5, 2007

From the farm:

Things are really beginning to ripen on the farm, with many crops just beginning to come in. I've also been busy this week with my two Kid's birthdays, so this newsletter is going out a little late. I am continuing to post recipes on the recipe page of the web site. Please visit the recipe page to download and print the latest recipe ideas. Please call or e-mail if you have questions.

This week's Box:

Here is what you can expect in the this week's box...

Baby Salad Greens - tender baby greens, triple rinsed.

Parsley (new)

Cabbage - Napa (new)

Cabbage, green (new)
Carrots, baby (new)
Chard - Rainbow nutrition packed bunches.

Beets - Full size, mixed colors: red, golden, stripped (pink) and cylindrical. Steam until juicy sweet. Beets will last a few weeks, enjoy!

Head Lettuce - Beautiful head lettuce one more week

Mixed herbs, rotation of basil, thyme, oregano, marjoram... call to special order basil for pesto.

Peas - Shelling, Snow or Sugar Snap - here they come!

Squash - From the hoop house, and the field.

Fruit - Peaches! Palisaide Peach Company - first of the season, more to come... Paonia peaches next week.

Coming soon (in the next 1-3 weeks):

Cucumbers
Red Cabbage

Scallions/Pearl Onions

More herbs

Garlic

Beans - Green, Yellow Purple

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Flowers!

Fruit - Peaches from First Fruits, Paonia

2007-07-13T00:39:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter

Week 4, 2007

From the farm:

The top question in most people's minds is when it is vegetable 'X' coming in? Its week 4 of 17, so we have 13 more weeks - we are just getting going! by the time you are finished eating your last potato and squash this fall you will hardly remember the abundant lettuce of july - so enjoy!

Here is a rundown the vegetables and their status and expected time of arrival (not exhaustive):

Tomatoes and melons are just beginning to ripen in the greenhouse the field tomatoes are setting fruit but are the least a few weeks off before ripening, field melons are far behind the hoophouse and will be a fall crop.

Squash: The yellow and green zucchini is already coming in but more varieties will come in over the next few weeks as the field squash begin to ripen.

Carrots are almost ready and we will start picking baby carrots next week - full-size carrots in the next few weeks. Carrots last for many, many weeks as we harvest various types and consecutive plantings.

The green (and yellow and purple) beans yellow are still a couple of weeks off but they look great - expect a big harvest that lasts just a few short weeks.

The Napa cabbage is almost ready, we should start picking that in the next week or two.

Also beginning in a few weeks are the brassicas: broccoli, cabbage (green,red), cauliflower (white, orange and purple)

Peppers, cucumbers and eggplant are just beginning to show signs of fruit and are a good five or six weeks off. (we may have a few early cucumbers and eggplant).

Garlic is in short supply this year, our spring planted crop will be ready in a few weeks.

Culinary herbs, like basil's cilantro dill oregano parsley thyme sage and rosemary are all beginning to be ready, expect a rotating selection of herbs each week; if you don't use the herbs we give you by the end of the week, just hang the bundle in a cool spot to dry.

Fall crops, which we begin to harvest in mid-September (8 weeks away), include sweet corn, red yellow and white onions, shallots, leeks, potatoes (red, blue, gold and white this year), and winter squash.

Fruit crops:

peaches-Palisade peaches should be ready in about one week.

Paonia at peaches are still a few weeks off.

Paonia apples, plums, pears, and more late-summer.

Flowers... we are just beginning to harvest the flowers expect bouquets in the next few weeks.

Some crops will continue all summer long... these include the cooking greens kale and chard and our baby greens salad mix, which we continually plant for a fresh tender crop.

I am continuing to post recipes on the recipe page of the web site. Please check there to download and print the latest recipe ideas. Please call or e-mail if you have questions.

This week's Box:

Here is what you can expect in the this week's box...

Baby Salad Greens - tender baby greens, triple rinsed.

Chard - Rainbow nutrition packed bunches.

Beets - Full size, mixed colors: red, golden, stripped (pink) and cylindrical. Steam until juicy sweet. Beets will last a few weeks, enjoy!

Head Lettuce - Beautiful head lettuce for a couple more weeks; This week: red valentine, a fantastic red romaine, and green butter!

Mixed herbs

Peas - Shelling, Snow or Sugar Snap - here they come!

Squash - From the hoop house, and soon the field.

Fruit - fruit vacation - no fruit this week; we should have palisaide peaches by next week.

Coming soon (in the next 1-3 weeks):

Napa Cabbage

Scallions/Pearl Onions

More herbs

Garlic

Bunched Spinach

Baby Carrots

Beans - Green, Yellow Purple

Cabbage

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Flowers!

Fruit - Peaches from the Palisaide Peach company!

2007-07-12T00:40:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter
Week 3, 2007

From the farm:

I have created a farm slide show, if you don't see the slide show below, check the website gallery page The peas are just beginning to come in, we put a little bit in this week's box, but expect more peas in the next few weeks. The sugar snap and snow peas come in first - with these you eat the whole pod. The shelling peas are next with fat fiberous pods surrounding the succulent peas. Pop the little peas out.

Summer squash is really starting to come in in the hoop house, expect more in upcoming boxes.

A note on last week's boxes:
-The cherries and apricots you have been enjoying are from the recently certified organic orchards in Domingez canyon, a beautiful desert canyon North and West of Delta. This week we will start getting some of the limited crop of cherries from First Fruits orchards. Peaches from Palisade are just beginning to ripen.

I am continuing to post recipes on the recipe page of the web site.

This week's Box zucchini

Here is what you can expect in the this week's box...

Baby Salad Greens - tender baby greens, triple rinsed
Kale - We grow three types: green kale, red russian kale and tuscano or dino kale.

Radishes - the earliest root crop - last week
Head Lettuce - Beautiful head lettuce for a couple more weeks; green and red: romaine, butters, leaf, crisps. Yum!

Basil - from the hoophouse

Peas (new)

Baby beets (new)

Squash - From the hoop house.

Fruit - Cherries, Apricots (end soon)

Coming soon (in the next 1-3 weeks):
Napa Cabbage
Scallions/Pearl Onions
Dil, Oregano, Thyme, Marjoram
Garlic
Bunched Spinach

Summer Squash - from the hoophouse

Beans - Green, Yellow Purple

Baby Carrots

Fruit - Peaches

2007-06-18T22:24:00.000-06:00

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter
Week 2, 2007

From the farm:

Things are looking great in the field. I'll try to take a picture to send soon. The crops are planted (and the seedlings up), and the fields have been almost completely weeded (for the 2nd time!). The tomatoes are starting to set fruit, the peas are flowering and the beans are getting ready to. The corn, winter squash and potatoes all look great. Onions, shallots and leeks are looking fine, thoroughly weeded and growing fast. In all, it looks like we are going to have an abundant season of veggies. The heat of summer is here, the irrigation water looks good, and the days are long.

A note on last week's boxes:
-Fruit share got a ton of cherries (4lb. actually) - cherries will be a very short season this year, so were going to give you a lot while they are in season.
-Crested Butte didn't get your herb seedlings, they were left on the trailer... sorry - we will bring them next weekend.

I am continuing to post recipes to the web site. The latest is for Radishes.

Here is what you can expect in the this week's box...

This week's Box
Baby Salad Greens - tender baby greens, triple rinsed
Swiss Chard (new this week) - Tender young golden, yellow and red chard leaves.
Baby braising mix - a zesty mix of greens from our salad mix, perfect for stir frying. Looks like our baby salad, but no lettuce!
Radishes - the earliest root crop - a week or two more.
Head Lettuce - Beautiful head lettuce - more varieties to enjoy.
Cilantro (new this week)- Tender spring herb, only grows in the spring
Basil - from the hoophouse

Fruit - Cherries, Apricots

Coming soon (in the next 1-3 weeks):
Peas, snow, sugar snap & shelling
Chois
Scallions
Pearl Onions
Dill
Baby Beets
Garlic Scapes (tops)
Bunched Spinach

Fruit - Peaches

2007-06-12T00:47:00.000-06:00

Dear Friends,

In the midst of this cold and snowy winter it is hard to imagine that the farming season will soon be upon us. We have been pouring over the seed catalogs and taking stock of last seasons successes and failures. In just a short time we will plant the earliest of our seeds, perennial flowers, peppers, eggplant, herbs and artichokes to name a few.

Last year was a particularly strange season with the unseasonably late frost at the end of May and a hard freeze in mid-September. Some of our standard crops that usually fill the CSA were noticeably absent or scarce; potatoes, winter squash, head lettuce and early tomatoes. There was an abundance of many crops like eggplant, kale, chard and basil and we were able to keep you supplied with baby salad mix nearly every week! The local fruit was delicious and plentiful.

For the 2007 season we will continue to offer our basic membership, which includes vegetables and herbs, as well as flower and fruit shares. We hope to include more fresh herbs and to have recipes and news from the farm more regularly. We intend to grow lots of varieties of flowers to make beautiful and varied bouquets. This year we are planning a slightly smaller growing area, with tighter crop management and a more diversified selection of varieties. Adam is especially excited about a melon research project he plans to undertake. CSA members will get to trial some of the “fruits of his labor.”

We will be offering 50 shares for local pickup at the farm for the 2007 season. We would like to encourage more involvement with the farm and are scheduling five farm workdays during the season. Members will come to the farm to help with basic activities such as planting and weeding. These dates will be Saturdays, May 5^th, 19^th, June 2^nd, June 16^th, and June 30^th, other dates are available by arrangement. If you are physically unable to participate in the farm workdays we can find other tasks that you can help with.

The Crested Butte CSA delivery was quite successful. It was a much more economically viable way for us to sell produce than the stand at the four way stop. We will be offering 25 shares to Crested Butte in 2007, so sign up early to reserve your spot!

Thank you for your past and future support of small scale, diversified, sustainable local farming. We hope that you will consider joining us in 2007, for another bountiful, healthy season sure to delight the senses!

Wishing you the best in the New Year,

Adam Silverstein and Valerie Stone and family

P.S. Please let your friends and neighbors know about Turkey Hill CSA. If you need extra registration forms, please let us know, we’d be glad to send them.

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adapted from a Southern Living receipe from 2003. Enjoy! -Natalie

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