2016 Harvest 18

Howdy folks and welcome to the last official week of summer! As you'll notice, the boxes are shifting and they are shifting fast. The root veggies are coming in strong, tomatoes are dwindling, cucumbers are on their last legs, and the potatoes and leafy greens are in abundance. We love the shift in seasons and it's always a delight to enjoy a little taste of summer with the first of the autumn bounty.

This week we are happy to report that all of the winter squash and potatoes are out of the ground! It's been one hell of a harvest and our bodies are pretty banged up. But it feels great to have the barn stocked to the brim with a ton of storage crops. It's really starting to feel like fall around here and we're excited to start distributing the first round of winter squash next week. Stay tuned!

Anyhow, we hope this coming week you all enjoy the harvest. It's a great time of the year to sit around the table, clink glasses with your friends and family and enjoy a home cooked meal. 

Cheers from Tumbleweed!

Your farmers,
T & A

Harvest 18

  1. Beets--remove the tops to prevent the beets from getting soft!
  2. Carrots--remove the tops to prevent the carrots from getting soft!
  3. Potatoes
  4. Baby Bok Choy
  5. Garlic
  6. Yellow Onion
  7. Hot peppers--Anaheim and jalapeños
  8. Arugula
  9. Collard Greens
  10. Tomatoes
  11. Cucumbers
  12. Parsley 

Recipe Suggestions 

Collard Green Slaw with Spicy Seed Brittle (swap the turnips for beets!)

Collard Green Slaw with Spicy Seed Brittle (swap the turnips for beets!)

Bok Choy Miso Ramen with Soy Sauce Eggs (replace the turnips with potatoes!)

Bok Choy Miso Ramen with Soy Sauce Eggs (replace the turnips with potatoes!)

2016 Harvest 17

As summer slowly transitions into fall so do the contents of your boxes. We've got tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers overlapping with broccoli, carrots and potatoes. Daikon radishes have been unearthed and are particularly delicious when paired with shredded carrots and tossed in a peanut sauce (see recipe suggestion below). The mustard greens are lovely this week and taste great raw, sautéd, steamed or turned into pesto (think burgers or sandwiches!) The kale is more tender this time of the year than in the heat of the summer and the carrots are sweet and delicious. The potatoes are wonderful when steamed with kohlrabi and turned into a mash (think fancier mashed potatoes!) Then top that tasty mash with sautéd kohlrabi greens just because hey--it'll be amazing! All in all, it's a lovely time of the year for farm fresh eats!

This coming week we are tilling under the corn (tear) and finishing our winter squash harvest. More potatoes will get dug up and then it's time to till under the upper section of the field in preparation for the winter cover crop. The weeds still continue to grow in our fall brassicas, lettuces, spinach, carrots and beets so that's keeping us on our toes and quite busy. With all that being said, we've finally reached the point in the season where we see light at the end of the tunnel. We have a lot of big projects this fall that include building a new (much larger) greenhouse that will allow us to get an even earlier start on spring planting; a pump for our irrigation water (the water pressure is really low); and we'll be fixing up our chicken coop for the girls in preparation for the colder months ahead and rotating it to another area of the farm so the girls can continue to poop away and help improve our soil fertility. 

Anyhow, aside from all the projects and work we continue to love settling into the evening with tasty meals with the seasonal produce and we hope you all enjoy the contents of your boxes this week. 

Cheers to the harvest!

Your farmers,
T & A

Harvest 17

  1. Potatoes--Dark Red Norland
  2. Kohlrabi
  3. Mustard Greens and Mizuna
  4. Tomatoes
  5. Cucumber
  6. Kale
  7. Carrots
  8. Daikon Radishes
  9. Garlic
  10. Broccoli
  11. Bell Pepper

Recipe Suggestions

Braised Mustard Greens with Caramelized Sesame Chickpeas 

Braised Mustard Greens with Caramelized Sesame Chickpeas 

 

 

 

2016 Harvest 16

It may be September but we've still got a few more weeks of summer bounty coming at ya! It's the best time of the year here at Tumbleweed Farm (at least for eating!) and while there is still a seemingly endless list of things to get done before fall truly arrives we're doing our best to try to step back and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

The days are growing shorter at a rapid pace which is both wonderful and stressful at the same time. We're sleeping in a little later with the delayed sunrise but with shorter days comes the urgency to get things done at a total sprint. We've got a lot of winter squash that still needs to get harvested, plenty of potatoes that are ready to dig up, fall crops that need weeding and watering, and it's the time in the year where compost needs spreading, cover crops need seeding and the barn needs to be cleared out so our winter squash can all cure before being packed up and sent out to all of you! It's busy, stressful and amazing all at the same time. 

This is your last week with sweet corn so enjoy it while you can! We've loved the corn this season and have been eating it straight up without even cooking it (it's been that good!). The cherry tomatoes are still abundant this week but we're noticing them starting to slow down a bit. Luckily, the full size heirlooms are still cranking! We also harvested some hot peppers--Jalapeños and Serranos. Both of those peppers we've been enjoying on the grill and then adding them to salsas and tomato sauce. The Anaheim peppers (the larger pale green ones) aren't spicy at all but hold just a hint of heat. They too are wonderful when tossed onto the grill. Everyone received 1 sweet green bell pepper which we've been equally enjoying as a vehicle to eat all the sauces and dips we've been whipping up!

This week we also bunched the arugula instead of bagging it (it got a little too weedy so bunching it made the harvest much easier!) We harvest it with the roots on when we bunch it because it helps the greens stay fresh longer. With that being said, make sure to place the bunched arugula in a plastic bag in your refrigerator for storage so it doesn't go limp.

Anyhow, we hope you all enjoy this cooler weather. It's the perfect temperature for cooking at home and we hope that the meals you whip up with your veggies this week are killer! Cheers to September everyone!

Your farmers,
T & A

Harvest 16

  1. Arugula (store the bunches in a plastic bag in the fridge)
  2. Bell pepper
  3. Hot peppers--Jalapeños, Serranos and Anaheims
  4. Sweet Corn
  5. Cherry Tomatoes
  6. Cucumbers-- 1 slicer and 1 secialty variety (Diva or Striped Armenian)
  7. Full size tomatoes
  8. Basil
  9. Scallions
  10. Kohlrabi
  11. Fennel
  12. Garlic-- This week's variety is Xian
  13. Swiss Chard

Recipe Suggestions 

 Bacon & Blue Cheese Swiss Chard Salad (for a veggie version try substituting toasted sunflower seeds sprinkled in smoked paprika and sea salt instead of the bacon)

 Bacon & Blue Cheese Swiss Chard Salad (for a veggie version try substituting toasted sunflower seeds sprinkled in smoked paprika and sea salt instead of the bacon)