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

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

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.

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

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

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.
  
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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