2016 Harvest 2

Howdy folks and welcome to week two of your Tumbleweed Farm share. We hope you enjoyed last weeks harvest and are hungry for another round of fresh veggies! This week you are receiving a few repeats from last week along with a few new items to experiment in the kitchen with (yay garlic scapes!!!) Hopefully you aren't feeling overwhelmed by all the greens but enjoy them while they're here because we've got some HOT weather coming to the farm this week and certain greens are not going to do well with the predicted forecast. 

News from the field this week has been pretty uneventful (phew!) The seeding schedule is in full force and within the next two weeks the entire farm will be in full production! We've tilled the last of the cover crop and are preparing the final section of the farm for planting. We finally got our act together and hired a farmhand this season too! We have a part time employee who has been helping out a few hours each week and it's made our lives so much easier. It's amazing what another set of hands can help get done. This coming week the forecast is looking pretty darn hot which means we'll have to be on top of irrigation more than ever. Aside from watering like crazy we'll continue to seed, plant, harvest and repeat. It's a busy time of the year around here but we love it!

Alright, we hope you all enjoy the bounty this week. It wont always be radishes and kale (we promise!) but we hope you enjoy them while they're here! As always, there are some recipes linked to help you find ways to use up some of the veggies if you need a little inspiration. Thanks again everyone for being a part of the Tumbleweed Farm family. We're so damn thankful for you all! 

Cheers!

Andrea and Taylor

Harvest 2

  1. Kale
  2. French Breakfast Radishes (remove the greens from the tops and store them separately so the radishes don't get soft.)
  3. Turnips (remove the greens from these too!)
  4. Arugula
  5. Garlic Scapes (our favorite!)
  6. Microgreens 
  7. Mustard Greens & Mizuna
  8. Bok Choy
  9. Leeks

Recipe Ideas

Mustard Greens with Balsamic-Glazed Chickpeas (you can also use the mizuna that's in the mustard green bunches!)

Mustard Greens with Balsamic-Glazed Chickpeas (you can also use the mizuna that's in the mustard green bunches!)

2016 Harvest 1

Howdy folks and welcome to week 1 of your 2016 farm share. Thank you to everyone who has joined us for another season and to all of you new folks who are on board with us for the first time. We hope you're hungry!

We're stoked to be back out in the dirt again and hope you all enjoy the fresh spring bounty as much as we do. Over the next few weeks I know we'll all be getting into a flow of harvesting and cooking/eating through the seasons. Spring is a great time to clear out the ol' fridge and make room for some fresh new ingredients. Make sure to stock up on some staples at the store--oils, vinegars, grains, beans, meat and cheese--once you've got the staples mealtime should be pretty easy with the produce you receive each week. We'll include a few recipe ideas each week too if you're in the mood to experiment with some of our favorite ways to prepare what's in your box. Always remember, we're eating the same things as you are because it's whats available on the farm so feel free to check into dishingupthedirt.com for weekly recipe ideas. We hope you have fun in the kitchen and enjoy the fresh taste of Tumbleweed Farm!

Currently on the farm we are planting a lot of summer crops and even have all of our winter squash in the ground! We're planting lettuces, herbs and kale weekly so that we'll have a healthy supply of greens all season long. The greens are looking beautiful and are more flavorful than ever! With that being said we wish we could say the same for the broccoli and potato plants. Unfortunately we've had a horrible battle with gophers who have decimated hundreds and hundreds of plants. We put in another bulk order for potato seed and after a week of panic mode they arrived to the farm and we promptly got them in the ground.  The first round of broccoli has succumbed to gopher damage and root maggot damage and we're bummed to say that we won't have broccoli for quite a while. (we're really sorry about that!) But enough about the damage---the tomato plants are looking beautiful, the kale is plentiful and turnips (which are one of our favorite root vegetables) are sweeter than ever. If you've never had the pleasure of eating a raw turnip please take a bite out of one before cooking it! They are wonderful when cooked but enjoyed raw they simply cannot be beat! Also, the radishes are HUGE and crunchy and delicious. A little butter and sea salt is all you need for a tasty farm fresh snack!

There will be a lot of leafy greens and brassica crops that you'll find in your first few boxes. They are extremely tender right now and are loving this cool spring weather. Enjoy them while they're here because once the heat of the summer comes there flavors will naturally become stronger and some of the greens will be replaced with other summer crops as the season grows and the harvest list changes. 

Thanks again for joining us this year and we look forward to sharing the farm season with you all. 

Cheers from Tumbleweed Farm!

HARVEST 1:

  1. Kale

  2. Bok Choy

  3. Red Choi (a baby bok choy variety)

  4. Arugula

  5. Leeks

  6. Turnips

  7. Radishes

 

Recipe Suggestions:

Tumbleweed Farm Harvest 22

Howdy folks and welcome to your final CSA box of the 2015 season. We hope you all have enjoyed the past 22 weeks of fresh produce. It's been a wonderful season here at the farm and we have loved getting to know so many of you folks over the course of the growing season. You all are amazing and we're grateful to everyone for supporting our farm. 

This is always a bittersweet time of the year as the leaves continue to change, the daylight hours shift and the air cools substantially. We're continually bundling up in more and more layers every morning as there is almost always a light frost covering the fields nowadays.  As the last of the summer crops get tilled under we rely on the heartier crops-potatoes, squash, kale, and roots to provide sustenance in the dark months ahead.  We hope the boxes this week supply you with a lot of nourishment for the coming weeks as well. And hey, if any of you find yourselves in our neck of the woods this fall swing in anytime to say hi, grab eggs or just enjoy a beer with us. 

And with that, THANK YOU! Seriously, from the bottom of our hearts we are so damn thankful to you all. Farming is one of the hardest, craziest and most rewarding adventures we've ever been on. Folks like you make it possible to live out our dream life and we're forever grateful. Cheers to you all!!! 

So much love,

your farmers Taylor & Andrea

 

Box 22

  1. Potatoes
  2. Winter Squash- Blue Hubbard and Kabocha or Red Kuri (all of these varieties have a sweet flavor)
  3. Onions
  4. Leeks
  5. Beets
  6. Kale
  7. Garlic
  8. Hot Peppers- jalapeño and serrano
  9. Bok Choy

Winter Squash, Kale & Lentil Stew

  • 2 Tablespoons grapeseed oil
  • 1 medium-sized yellow onion, diced
  • 1 small leek, diced (white and light green parts only)
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 medium-sized winter squash such as butternut, red kuri, acorn etc. Peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch chunks. Roughly 2 cups.
  • 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme OR1 teaspoon dried
  • 1 Tablespoon fresh oreganoOR 1 teaspoon dried
  • pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 1/4 cup french green lentils
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 6-8 cups low sodium vegetable stock
  • 1 bunch of kale, tough stems removed and torn into bite size pieces
  • salt and pepper to taste
  1. In a large pot heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and leek and cook, stirring often until beginning to soften. About 8 minutes. Add the garlic, winter squash, herbs and tiny pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. Cook until fragrant. About 2 minutes.
  2. Stir in the lentils, bay leaf and vegetable stock. Add 6 cups of stock first and if need be add additional stock or water if the soup needs to be thinned. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the lentils are cooked and the squash is tender. About 20-25 minutes. Stir in the kale and season with salt and pepper. Let the soup cool a bit and taste test. Adjust seasonings if need be.
  3. Serve warm with rustic bread and a glass of your favorite wine.