2017 Harvest 2

harvest 2

Howdy folks and welcome to week two of your Tumbleweed CSA share. We've got a few repeat offenders this week along with some new items as well! We love this seasonal way of eating and hope you enjoy the fresh flavors of the farm.  It's looking like next week there will be spinach and carrots making their seasonal debut (weather and predator permitting) but fingers crossed for a smooth and uneventful week.

Out in the fields we experienced our first true heatwave of the year. Multiple days in the 90's made for some toasty afternoons spent in the dirt. We're working hard to stay on top of irrigation and that alone is turning into a full time job. Taylor has a reminder on his phone that goes off every hour and then it's time to go and move all 8 lines to a new spot. Luckily, we're due for a few raindrops on Thursday so hopefully we'll get a break from watering. Aside from the heat, we're really happy with how the majority of the crops are looking. We've got thousands of lettuce heads in the fields (they look like a quilt they're so beautiful out there!) along with newly transplanted corn, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, chard, beans, and celery. We're still really bummed that the root maggots devastated our first broccoli planting but we're moving on and excited to harvest what's cranking out there! We we're lucky enough to have some good friends swing by the farm on Sunday to help weed the onions and prep beds for the remainder of the squash, cucumber, melon and eggplants that need transplanting. We are continuing to spread compost and fertilizer over the new sections of the field that are getting ready for plants and in about a month the entire farm will be in production! And speaking of fertilizer.... We used to spread fertilizer by hand (hundreds of wheelbarrow trips and lots of shovel flicking) and this year we finally invested in a fertilizer spreader for the tractor. I literally cried tears of joy when we took her out for a spin. What would have normally taken us 8 hours of work can now be done in about 20 minutes. Feels good to invest in equipment that will save our backs (and sanity) for years to come.

Anyhow, that's about all the news from the fields this week. If you're in the neighborhood this weekend we'll be at the Hood River Farmers market from 9-1pm. All CSA members get a 10 percent discount on additional items so if you're extra hungry you know where to find us! We're also in really good company at the market if you need some grass-fed organic meats, organic raw cheeses, mushrooms, bread, eggs, kombucha, lot's of fermented foods and more! Oh yeah...and plenty of breweries close by!

We hope you enjoy this weeks harvest. I'm the most excited for everyone who is new to the CSA this year to try Tumbleweed Farm turnips. Before cooking with them just slice one thinly and take a bite. They are delicious! There's also some mustard greens making their seasonal debut and we love putting them on sandwiches or burgers instead of traditional lettuce for a very mustardy bite. You can also make a killer pesto out of the mustard greens as well. We're also really into simple mizuna salads (just tossing the greens with olive oil, lemon juice and flakey sea salt.) As with all of the veggies you'll be getting this season I always recommend trying a bite of everything raw first and then deciding if you're going to cook with them.  And as always, if you're stumped on what to make this week I've got recipes suggestions below. 

Cheers to the harvest!

Your farmers,
A & T 

Harvest 2

  1. Bok Choy (store in a plastic bag in the fridge)
  2. Mustard Greens (store in a plastic bag in the fridge)
  3. Mizuna (store in a plastic bag in the fridge)
  4. Green Garlic (store in a plastic bag in the fridge)
  5. Beets (remove the greens and store the roots and greens separately in the fridge)
  6. Turnips (same as above)
  7. Radishes (same as above)

Recipe Suggestions 

Grill Bok Choy
Turnip Salad with Yogurt and Poppy Seeds
Mustard Greens with Balsamic Glazed Chickpeas

Mustard Greens with Balsamic Glazed Chickpeas (this recipe calls for two bunches of mustard greens so either halve the recipe or add the bunch of mizuna to this dish!)

mustard greens quiche
Turnip Green Pesto Pizza
Bok Choy Salad
Beet Fritters
Pasta with Mustard Greens
Honey Glazed Turnips
Green Garlic Risotto with Mizuna
bok choy lentil curry

2017 Harvest 1

2017 Harvest 1

Howdy folks and welcome to week one of your 2017 Tumbleweed Farm CSA share. Taylor and I are stoked for this season and hope you all are hungry for some fresh spring flavors! It's been a long winter and we have SO been looking forward to seeing all of your faces again. We can't wait to clink glasses at Migration with seasoned members and we are really looking forward to meeting all of you new folks as well. Thanks again for supporting our farm. We hope you enjoy the journey this season.

As far as winter at the farm....It was brutal! We were under a blanket of 4 feet of snow for almost 4 months straight. We had a late start on many of our spring greens due to wet, cold and un-tillable soil. However, things have been moving along now and we are quickly making up for lost time. We are happy with this weeks box and as our older members will know, things start off slowly with lots of greens.  As the weather warms and the season progresses the boxes will continue to have more variety. But for now, I think we can all agree fresh greens are what the body needs after such a long winter. 

Right now we are busy getting our summer crops transplanted from the greenhouses out into the field. Taylor has been tilling and prepping a large section of our lower field for those crops and I've been taking care of them in the greenhouse. We'll both be transplanting the first round of summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, watermelons and melons out into the field tomorrow!! We are continuing to put 500 heads of lettuce into the field every week (lettuce is a big wholesale crop for us) along with thousands of kale, cabbage, and collard green plants. We're bummed that the root maggots have discovered our first planting of broccoli and have pretty much decimated hundreds of plants. However, the second planting (which is in another part of the field) is looking stronger so fingers crossed we're in the clear there.

Anyhow, that's pretty much all the news from the fields as of right now. If you have any questions never hesitate to email us. We hope you all enjoy the flavors of your first week's box! Below are recipe suggestions for all of the ingredients in your box. Also-- if you haven't had a chance to purchase the Dishing up the Dirt cookbook it's a great resource for using all the veggies in your weekly share. You can purchase it here. Thanks for supporting all things Tumbleweed Farm and DUTD. 

Cheers to the harvest!

Your farmers,
A & T

Harvest 1

  1. Beets---remove the greens and store them separately in a plastic bag in the fridge
  2. Green Garlic--tastes similar to garlic but isn't quite as strong. Can be used interchangeably but the whole stalk is edible. Great on the grill! 
  3. Baby Bok Choy--One of the few crops that tastes better as it bolts.  You can eat the entire plant including the flowers.  Perfect in salads, stir fries, or tossed on the grill. See recipes below.
  4. Radishes -- Remove the greens (they're edible too!) and store the roots and greens separately in plastic bags in the fridge. If you leave the greens on the radishes will go soft.
  5. Mizuna--We refer to mizuna as "fancier" arugula. It's got a mellow "mustardy" bite and is lovely in salads, thrown into hot pasta (where it wilts down and is delicious!) or simply made into pesto.  
  6. Arugula-- See recipe suggestions below but it's so darn flavorful right now that a little olive oil, lemon juice and flakey sea salt is all you need!
Sesame Ginger Beets
Green Garlic Risotto
Arugula Almond Pesto Spaghetti
Chickpea and Bok Choy Curry

Chickpea and Bok Choy Coconut Curry (the recipe on the blog calls for using Tatsio but baby bok choy will work beautifully as a substitute. 

Arugula Breakfast Salad
Mizuna Salad with Roasted Cauliflower
Honey and Soy Glazed Radishes
Wild Mushroom and Bok Choy Pasta
Herb Roasted Chicken with Grilled Green Garlic

2016 Harvest 23

As I sit and write this final post for the 2016 farm season the rain gently falls on the roof of the farmhouse. There is a heavy cloud of fog resting in the upper field making it hard to see the remainder of the fall brassicas. Over 3/4 of the farm has been tilled under and the winter cover crop is growing thick and tall (whoop!) There are over half a dozen burn piles that need to get lit and greenhouses that need to get cleaned and broken down. And with the state of the farm, it seems only appropriate that this is the final morning of our 2016 CSA haul.

As bittersweet as this time of the year is, we're ready to rest up a bit and start scheming for next year. This season started out rockier than any other farm season we've experienced in the 7 years we've been farming (and the 4 years we've been farming on our own.) With the spring gopher damage and root maggots that decimated an entire crop of broccoli, cauliflower and potatoes it was a challenging and frustrating way to kick off our 2016 season. However, we bounced back quickly and again have proven to ourselves that even when Mother Nature has different plans for us if we stick to our seeding schedule and work our asses off we'll have something to show (even if it's not what was originally planned.) We've also battled a TON of fall aphids this year (I know some of you were wondering what those tiny bugs on your broccoli were!) Aphids are completely harmless and because we grow organically (and even beyond since we don't feel comfortable using the organic sprays available) it's nearly impossible to kill off all the bugs. Aphids are easy to rinse off with the kitchen faucet so I hope for those of you who did find a few lonely bugs you weren't discouraged.  Aside from the farm predators and lack of rain in the heart of the farm season, Taylor and I feel really proud of the food we were able to grow and harvest this season and we hope you all enjoyed being a part of the Tumbleweed Farm CSA! 

.Before I get to the contents of your final box of the season I wanted to let you all know that we will be participating in the "Fill Your Pantry" market in Hood River on Saturday November, 5th from 2-6pm at the Rockford Grange. We'll have a TON of storage crops like squash, potatoes, onions, root veggies, cabbages, broccoli, and more.  There will be other venders with bulk meat and canned goods too. The best part is everything will be priced accordingly so you'll get a bulk price deal. This is a great way to ensure you're eating locally all winter long. If you can make it we'd love to see you!

Alrighty folks, thank you for an awesome season. Seriously, we are beyond thankful to each and every one of you for trusting us to grow and feed your families the best damn food we know how to grow. It's because of all you rock stars that we are able to do what we love for a living. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts. 

Your farmers,
T & A

Harvest 23

  1. Spinach
  2. Sugar Pumpkins (these are to eat--not decorate!)
  3. Turnips
  4. Carrots
  5. Cabbage
  6. Onions
  7. Scallions
  8. Potatoes
  9. Garlic
  10. Storage Kohlrabi

Recipe Suggestions