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

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

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

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!

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

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

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