Category Archives: cherry tomatoes

In the Share: Week 12

cherry tomatoes, CSA delivery, fall planting, wildlife

TOMATOES F/P  The cherries are plentiful as are the heirloom and hybrid slicers.

GARLIC F/P more of our hardneck variety.

CUCUMBERS F  The last of the cucumbers from the first planting.  In a couple of weeks the second planting should be fruiting.

EGGPLANT F/P  I was lucky to have some of that eggplant cheesecake that Merri posted on the Facebook group.  If you are not in our closed group, you are missing out on a bunch of recipes.  See Tom’s post for the link.

SALSA PACK F/P

COLORADO ROSE POTATOES F/P  A new variety for us, let us know what you think.

SWEET PEPPERS F  Just one ripe one this week.  There are many more coming.

HERBS F/P Basil, including lemon and Italian varieties.

NEXT WEEK:  Tomatoes, carrots, onions, eggplant, salsa packs and peppers.

FARM REPORT:

The first round of the fall broccolis, cabbages and cauliflower are in the fields, each row with a line of irrigation tape alongside it.

With plenty of water and fertile soil they should be feeding us well by the end of September and up until we get a hard freeze.

mmm… a crisp Autumn day sounds so nice.  But, not so fast!  We still have August to sweat through and lots of delicious summer crops to eat.  Speaking of yummy summer food, I was in the tomato patch this morning and spied a little bird’s nest in one of the plants.  I’m not sure what bird it is, maybe a wren?

And finally, we wanted to give a special shout-out to the members who have been delivering the shares to Liberty this year.  When we decided to move the Brookside distribution from Saturdays to Mondays, we were worried that we would now have three deliveries to make each week instead of two.  Thankfully most Saturdays there have been members willing to schlep the produce for us after four hours of sweating in the fields.  That’s going above and beyond, folks and we truly are so grateful.  This allows us all to stay on the farm and get more work done.  Here’s a typical vehicle leaving the farm on a Saturday.

In the Share – Week 13

cherry tomatoes, rocky

CHERRY TOMATOES F

TOMATOES F/P

DESIREE POTATOES F/P  Pink on the outside, creamy yellow in the inside. 

EGGPLANT P  The eggplants and pepper plants are doing well in an area where the chickens were last fall.  Thanks, chickens!

SUMMER SQUASH OR SALSA PACK F

SWEET PEPPERS F

HERBS F/P  Basil or summer savory

HOT PEPPERS F/P  A couple of jalapenos or hot wax peppers to spice up your week.

GARLIC F/P

NEXT WEEK:  Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, salsa pack, peppers, herbs and onions.

FARM REPORT:
We had already started declaring 2015 the worst year ever before the dog died. 

Our dear boy, Rocky, left us on Friday, the victim of cancer.   Born in October of 2007, he came to the farm as a pup in January 2008. 

Rocky’s first day on the farm

He grew into a 120 lb. sweetheart that was always game for a head scratch from a stranger.  Each CSA morning that day’s crew would have to go through what we dubbed “the security check”, which consisted of a friendly sniffing then he’d find some sucker to pet him down while the safety talk went on.  He was a Great Pyrenees/Anatolian shepherd mix, both breeds are meant to guard livestock from predators, in our case he guarded our crops and chickens.

Tom and I were very attached to our gentle giant.  He was an important member of the farm crew and he will be sorely missed.  A memorial to our lost pal has taken up a blank chalkboard in the packing room so that we can remember him as we work. 

In the Share – Week 11

carrots, cherry tomatoes, dry, hot, tomatoes
the harvest:  carrots, beets and onions

TOMATOES x2 (F/P) Last week CSA members on average received about 10 lbs. of tomatoes and this week it is looking to be about the same. Please don’t get too used to this excess. It is a freak of nature and it will only last a while longer. Last week we literally harvested over a ton.

CHERRY TOMATOES (F/P) That ton also included these beauties. We think we’ll have another round of quarts for everyone this week.

CARROTS (F/P) We dug these a while back and stored them in the cooler. We think they taste even better after a stint in the cold slammer.

WALLA WALLA ONIONS (F/P) The onions are a bit smaller than other years, but we have almost no culls thanks to the dry weather. Soon we’ll move on the red onions after the sweet Wallas are gone.

BEETS, SUMMER SQUASH OR SALSA PACK (F) This will most likely be the last of the beets until fall. We should have some for the partial shares next week.

PEPPERS: SWEET AND HOT (F) Another small taste of peppers. We are letting most of them stay on the plants to ripen.

EGGPLANT (F/P) The “plant” is rocking right now and will be for the next few weeks. It is so good simply broiled until it is brown and marinated in olive oil and spices. Partial shares get a choice of beets or eggplant.

HERB CHOICE (F/P) Basil, summer savory or a dried herb.

FARM REPORT




As CSA farmers we advertise membership in our farm as relationship based on shared risk but also shared bounties. Well, right now we are looking at extremes of both. We’ve got a ridiculously huge bumper crop of tomatoes and a drought of epic proportions. The tomato harvest threatens to consume all of our hours of all of our days.

 The farm crew of four: Tom, me, and our awesome farm apprentices Dani Hurst and Ryan Stubby do little else but harvest, sort, count and weigh tomatoes. Add 2 one-day-a-week volunteers (Thank you, M for Monday crew!!) and we still struggle to find time to plant for fall, tinker with the irrigation system and weed the sweet potatoes.  The CSA members bi-weekly visits keep our heads above water by assisting in the retrieval of the other crops from the field.

Saturday carrot harvest

And then there’s the heat and drought … Tom and I are increasingly concerned about the long-term effect on the crops. So far most everything is staying alive BUT we expect a lull in the harvest a few weeks from now.  Stay tuned for more on that as experience what may be the hottest, driest year on record.  Meanwhile, enjoy the bumper crop and think about putting up a little summer sunshine for later.