The Grand Finale

The share this week  is the last of the season.  It is a bittersweet time of the year for us.  We are ready for a rest from the intensity of the work on the farm, but we miss sharing the abundance of fresh food grown here on the land.

Though farming is generally hard work, the season operated really smoothly for us.  We had great CSA member and market support.  Our work crew was stellar this year with very knowledgeable employees and several working members pitching in.  The gardens, having been worked last season and maintained to a high standard this season,  greatly increased in production.

We enjoyed supporting other local and regional food producers and feel these supplements to our share really add to the diversity of what we can grow in this area.  Glenn, at Austin Family Farm, was able to get us great warm season fruit and vegetables.  Most of the warm season vegetables were grown in Olathe.  Most of the fruit came directly from the Austin Family orchard, including the berries and grapes, which have just come in to full production this season.    We also featured a variety of potatoes from White Mountain Farm in Mosca.  We traded some carrots and kale with Beki at Javernick Family Farms in Canon City for a couple weeks of peppers and some garlic.  And we also brought in Erin’s Geothermal Greenhouse salad mix in the share.

We hope everyone had a good experience with the shares this season.  We will put out  a survey in the next couple of weeks to get some feedback on what you liked and what could change to improve your experience.  Along with the survey I will have another blog post of the season in pictures.

Garden Share

Beets

Carrots

Cabbage

Collards

Garlic – Javernick

Leeks

Onion

Assorted Peppers – Javernick

Potatoes – White Mtn. Farm

Tomatoes – Olathe

Winter Squash, Delicata – Olathe

Fruit Share

Apples

Pears

Join us for

The 3rd Annual Pumpkin Patch

A Fundraiser Event for Guidestone

October 17th and 18th & 24th and 25th

Saturdays 10 am- 4 pm

Sunays 12 pm – 4pm

$5 Admission

under 3 free

The event will include a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch, crafts, games, face painting and petting zoo.

Pumpkins, Barbecue Brat Lunch, Baked Goods, coffee, tea, and cider will also be available for an additional cost.

Learn more about the Guidestone Organization  at http://www.guidestonecolorado.org/Page.aspx?PageID=1705

Shed Fest

People ask about what FibArk means and now there is Shed Fest. Shed Fest is the annual festival of the Central Colorado Foodshed Alliance.  The festival starts at 11 am , on Saturday the 17th of October.  The festival is held at the Steam Plant in Salida.   The daytime event is free to the public and will include a Farmers Market, prepared food, live music, expo of local businesses and non-profit  organization, crafts for the kids, spinning and knitting demonstrations and a canning demonstration class (contact Seth at 207-2287 for preregistration, space is limited) offered by the Master Canners.

The outdoor event runs until 3pm.  At this time the festival will move indoors to screen the local food related movie Fresh.   To check the film out go the  http://www.freshthemovie.com/.

Shed Fest continues into the night with a ticketed event beginning  at 5 PM and commencing at 11PM.  Tickets are $20 and will be available at the door.    The evening gala includes a dinner of local food prepared by local chefs and a contra dance called by Eleanor Farhney with the music of Andrea Earley Coen and Friends. The silent auction will also continue into the evening.   Child care is available for the evening portion of the Shed Fest event.

The festival will be a day of celebration and fun.  Please tell everyone you know and come celebrate the harvest season.

If you are a CCFA member, you are eligible for free tickets (depending on your membership level) for the evening event.  Please contact Seth Roberts at 207 2287 for more details.

Squash Roasted Pepper Soup

This is a recommended recipe from our friend Kristine.  Sounds yummy!  In her words this soup rocks!

2 tbsp butter

4-5 tbsp olive oil

1 cup diced onion

3 cloves minced fresh garlic

1 ½ cup diced carrots

Butternut 1 tart apple, sliced but unpeeled

1 roasted red bell pepper (fresh or in a jar)

8 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash

6 cups chicken or vegetable stock

salt and pepper to taste, ground nutmeg to taste

1 cup heavy cream

May add red pepper flakes to taste to spice up a bit

Heat butter and oil in large stock pot. Add onion and garlic, cook until tender. Add carrots, apples, bell pepper and squash. Pour in stock and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender.

When all is tender, use immersion blender to puree to your likeness. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you will need to puree in small batches in a regular blender. Return all to stock pot; add cream and any other seasonings you wish. Heat through, but don’t boil.

When serving, may top each bowl with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.

One More Share to Go

Good morning.  There have been some chilly mornings here on the farm this week.  Thursday a.m. was about 20 degrees.  When it gets that cold even some hardy vegetables go.  We lost a good amount of lettuce and cursed ourselves a bit for not getting it out of the garden sooner.  Unfortunately, Friday a.m. was forecasted for 20 and Thursday was supposed to be much warmer.  Still, the share is abundant.  The carrots are the most beautiful of the season.  There are big beets and lots of other goodies from the garden.  From the Western Slope we still have sweet corn, tomatoes, and some nice butternut squash.  Thanks to our farm friend, Gary Fleener, who was making a trip to the San Luis valley, we also have White Mtn. Farm potatoes.  Yummy!

Next week will be the last of the shares.  To extend your farm fix a little, we welcome all of you to the fall celebrations in the following weeks.

Shed Fest, a festival brought to you by Central Colorado Foodshed Alliance, will be a day long celebration of the foodshed.  There will be activities from 11 am to 11 pm.  More information to follow next week.  And of course join us for the Pumpkin Patch starting the weekend after the last share.

Garden Share

Beets

Carrots

Cauliflower

Chard

Leeks

Onions

Potatoes – from White Mountain Farm in Mosca, CO

Kale

Tomatoes – Olathe

Butternut Squash – Olathe

Corn – Olathe

Fruit Share

Gala Apples

Jonagold Apples

Pears

Arugula, Pear and Blue Cheese Salad with Walnuts

This sounds like a nice flavor combination.  I also saw several recipes out there using lettuce and salad mix in place of the arugula.  It could also make a nice filling for a sandwich if you were to chop it up a little more.

http://www.cookthink.com/recipe/7189/Arugula_Pear_Blue_Cheese_And_Walnut_Salad

Beet Cake

Martha, a member from Leadville, sent this recipe in to us.  Looks like a good one and a good way to use up your beets.   

From “How to Cook Everything Vegetarian”:

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 ) sticks butter, softened, plus some for greasing the pan

2 medium beets (about 8 oz), peeled, and quartered

1 ½ cups sugar

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

4 eggs

½ cup milk

Orange glaze

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a round bunt pan with a little bit of butter.  Put the beets in a blender or food processor with ½ cup of the sugar and pulse a few times to puree.  You should have about 1 cup.

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, use the electric mixer to beat the 1 ½ sticks of butter and the remaining 1 cup of sugar until creamy.  Add the eggs one at a time and beat until light and smooth.  Beat in the beet puree.  Mix in about a third of the flour mixture, followed by about half of the milk; add another third of the flour, followed by the rest of the milk, then finally the rest of the flour.  Stir gently until the batter just evens out.

1. Turn the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the middle is set (your fingers should leave only a small indentation when gently pressed into the cake), 45-50 minutes.  Meanwhile, prepare the cake glaze.  Leave the cake in the pan.  Cool for about 10 minutes, then pour the cake glaze all over the top;  let sit for at least and hour before serving.  Store at room temperature, covered with wax paper, for up to 2 days;  use plastic wrap and it will keep for an extra day or so.

Fennel cake with Grapefruit glaze. With a subtle anise flavor:  Substitute finely chopped fennel for the beets and grapefruit glaze instead of orange.  Proceed with the recipe above.

Orange Glaze

Use nearly any citrus in place of orange; tangerine, grapefruit, and blood oranges are all delicious.

½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

½ teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

3 cups confectioners’ sugar, plus more as needed

Squash Soups

Butternut squash makes a fantastic pureed soup.

Butternut and apple with some nice demonstration pictures…

http://userealbutter.com/2007/11/11/roasted-butternut-squash-soup-recipe/

Some butternut squash soups from Martha.  At least there aren’t any belly fat reduction ads on her site.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/curried-butternut-squash-soup?

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pureed-butternut-squash-soup?

We’ll see you here next week.  Enjoy the share.

And We’re Back

When I was growing up my parents owned an antique shop.  Our family vacations were filled with stops at antique stores.  I remember a trip to the Oregon Coast in which we spent very little time at the beach and a whole lot of time searching for Pendleton blankets, birch bark canoes, bakelite napkin rings or whatever my parents were collecting at the time.  I imagine Juniper may someday say that on her vacations she saw mostly farms and farmers market.

The Pacific Northwest is in full harvest mode at this time of year.  We visited the Wenatchee Saturday Farmers Market.  It was fun for us to be on the other side of the market table.  We were like kids in a candy store.  Come to think of it, we were like farmers at a farmers market.  In our 1/2 hour stay at the market we filled our bags with Okanogan grass fed beef, flowers, multiple varieties of plums, wild-crafted chantrelle mushrooms, Quincy corn, cabbage salsa, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant,  apples, and an apron just the right size for Juniper.

It is renewing for us to meet other farmers and learn about what they do.  At another market we caught up with our friends at The Sunshine Farm, located in Chelan, Washington. Learn more at  http://www.sunshinefarmmarket.com/ and http://www.sunfarmblog.com/ .  Local growers are still a fairly small community across the country and it doesn’t take long for us to recognize our connections with other growers and see where we all fit in the constellation of the small farm movement.   Rachel worked next door to our friends Melanie and Jagger, owners of  Blue Fox Farm in Applegate Oregon http://bluefoxorganics.com/.  She also assistant managed the gardens at Farmer John’s Angelic Organics in Illinois http://angelicorganics.com/ .  Guy is a creative filmmaker and farmer who made the film Broken Limbs, http://www.sunshinefarmmarket.com/252.html, about his father’s adjustments through economic woes in conventional orcharding.  And the Garden Manager, Renee,  is a past Leadville resident who knows several of our current Weathervane Farm members.

With just two more installments of farm shares for the 2009 growing season, we return from our trip excited to be farming and ready to learn more throughout the winter months in preparation for another great Weathervane Farm season.

The Fall garden. Lettuce and brassicas going to seed.

Along with the lists from this week,  I included the lists from last week here for your reference.

Garden Share Last Week

Broccoli

Carrots

Red Russian Kale

Romaine

Red Onion

Scallions

Tatsoi

Yellow Squash

Tomatoes

The garden is producing some great carrots this season. Here they are bugs eye view.

Garden Share This Week

Beets

Broccoli

Carrots

Cauliflower

Tuscano Kale

Leeks

Sweet Onion

Scallions

Tomatoes

Winter Squash

Fruit Share Last Week

Peaches

Pears

Fruit Share This Week

Honeycrisp and Gala Apples

Pears

Peaches

Canadice and Concord Grapes

Cauliflower Recipes

The cauliflower in the shares this week are big ones.  Here is a link to a noce variety of healthy cauliflower recipes.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/collections/healthy_cauliflower_recipes

Concord and Canadice Grapes

The canadice grape is a great fresh eating seedless table grape.  Eat right off the vine or throw these in a fruit salad.

The concord grape has seeds and is very flavorful but can be quite tart.  Try some of the suggestions from the link below if you prefer not to eat them fresh.

http://www.concordma.com/magazine/autumn02/concordgrapes.html

Roasted Vegetable Mix

The contents of the share this week would be great in an oven roasted vegetable dish.  Simply chop carrots, cauliflower, leeks, onions,  and winter squash.   Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and add your favorite fresh or dried herbs like rosmary, tarragon, basil and thyme.  Place in a casserole or roasting pan in a 450 degree oven and periodically turn veggies with a spatula until golden brown, approximately 1 hour.  Add chopped kale close to the end of the roasting time to really boost the nutrition.

Sunday Potluck Celebration Canceled

Most of you probably received the email, but I just wanted to put out a reminder that the potluck scheduled for this Sunday has been canceled.  We are working on rescheduling for sometime in October and will let everyone know once we set a date.  See below for another exciting farm event on the horizon.

Pumpkin Patch Festival

October 17 & 18 and October 24 & 25, 2009

Autumn is a time of color and wonder in the Upper Arkansas Valley and there’s no better way to celebrate it than to take part in seasonal festivities around the abundant harvest.  One such event will be the third annual Pumpkin Patch Festival at Cottonwood Meadows in Buena Vista. The Pumpkin Patch Festival is a two weekend celebration, open to the public, which offers a variety of activities and amusements for the whole family.

You can join in on a horse-drawn wagon ride pulled by a local team of horses.  The team will pull you out to the pumpkin patch where you can pick the perfect pumpkin for Halloween, bring it back and carve it at the farm. Or if you’d prefer, you can carve it at home and spend your time running through the hay-bale maze, playing chicken bingo, and enjoying a barbecue bratwurst lunch with hot-apple cider and homemade pies and cookies. There will also be arts and crafts for the children, face painting, farm games, and a petting zoo. Enjoy the sights and sounds of life on a farm with your friends and neighbors while enjoying the fall colors of the cottonwoods and the views of Mt. Princeton.

See the gardens where Weathervane Farm grows the vegetables provided to you through the CSA and markets all season long.  Be sure to visit Cottonwood Creek Dairy and learn about raw milk production.  And don’t miss Colorado Grown, a distribution center specializing in locally grown and Colorado-based farm and specialty products.

Admission is $5 for adults and children three and over – the tiny tots are free!  The cost of admission and the proceeds from the barbecue and baked goods will support Guidestone, a non-profit organization that serves the Upper Arkansas River Valley by encouraging our local food economy and preserving our agricultural heritage with the Land-Link Initiative. The Farmhands Education Program, a Guidestone project, aims to join children with the hands-on learning experiences of small-scale, local food production. The celebration this year will kick off the First Annual Guidestone Membership Drive.

The Pumpkin Patch hours are Saturday, October 17th and 24th from 10am to 4pm and Sunday, October 18th and 25th from 12pm to 4pm.  For more information or to schedule education programs for your group or schools, contact Andrea at  970-309-3175.  This Guidestone event will be held on Cottonwood Meadows between Weathervane Farm, Cottonwood Creek Dairy, and Colorado Grown.

Lacto-Fermented Kim Chi

Karen prepping vegetables for kim chee.

Our first batch of kim chi is on the way.  With glorious fall vegetables, and gigantic cabbages, we will also make a couple batches of sauerkraut for some vital winter eating.

As these products become available we will let everyone know.

Try something new: Tatsoi and Radicchio

Garden Share

Broccoli

Cabbage

Cilantro

Corn

Eggplant

Fennel

Radish

Radicchio

Scallions

Summer Squash

Tatsoi

Zucchini

Fruit Shares

Fuji Apples

Peaches

Helpers Kristine and Brynn packing shares.

Radicchio

The beautiful reddish mini cabbage shaped vegetable in the share today is radicchio.  The description on the link is a slightly different variety than the one we grow, but links to a variety of delicious radicchio recipes.  I think it would make a lovely plate garnish or edible salad bowl if you peel off a  leaf at a time.

http://italianfood.about.com/library/rec/blr0094.htm

Radicchio bottom left. Tatsoi top center.

Tatsoi

Tatsoi is the head of leafy greens in the share.  It is similar in taste to pac choi, but has a more delicate texture making it nice for fresh eating or cooking.

An Asian noodle soup with tatsoi, cilantro, and scallions.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Hanoi-Noodle-Soup-with-Chicken-Baby-Tatsoi-and-Bok-Choy

A nice description of tatsoi and its uses and a simple tatsoi and tofu recipe.

http://foodblogga.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-is-tat-soi.html

Eggplant

Here are some idead for your aubergine.

Rollatini:

http://katskitchenplace.blogspot.com/2009/02/eggplant-rollatini.html

Caponata:

http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2008/08/caponata-sicilian-eggplant.html

Eggplant Lasagna Tart:

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2009/07/28/eggplant-lasagna-tart-with-parmesan-basil-crust/

Fall Celebrations

We are planning a farm community celebration for Sunday, the 27th of September.  This will be a potluck event and and opportunity to tour the farm and see the gardens.  Save In the next newsletter I will detail times and such.

Weathervane Farm and Cottonwood Creek Dairy will also be hosting Guidestone’s Pumpkin Patch Festival for two weekends in October.  The event will be held the weekend of October 17th and 18th and the 24th and 25th.  Guidestone is also offering group Pumpkin Patch education programs on the Fridays preceeding the festival.  For more information contact Erin Oliver at 719 530 1173.

Flowers

We have been fortunate in avoiding any frost damage in the flower garden.   We have lots of flowers to pick and welcome everyone out to the farm for the u-pick experience on Saturdays from 9am-7pm.  Come on over and hangout with the hummingbirds in the garden.  Flowers are 25 stems for $5 and a little extra for sunflower, amaranth and dahlia stems.  If you haven’t picked before I would be happy to give the cutflower 101 before your first pick.  Just knock on our front door if you don’t see anyone around. 

Garden Share

green beans

carrots

collard greens

jalepeno

lettuce

onion

turnips

red pepper

tomatoes

Fruit Shares

cantaloupe

blackberries

ginger gold apples

Cantaloupe Chorizo Supper Salad

Our resident Weathervane Farm Allstar, Lindsey, receives two weekly email newsletters.  Both are very relevant to our lives here on the farm.  One is the Love and Logic newsletter.  This newsletter is full of child rearing and classroom management advice.  You can sign up for the newsletter at  http://www.loveandlogic.com/ . So, as challenges arise with our resident 3 year old and Lindsey’s Spanish students, the newsletter is referenced for advice.  The other newsletter is from Lynne Rosetto Kasper of The Splendid Table.  We all share the task of cooking dinner for each other.  On several occasions Lindsey has made meals for the house from the recipes in the newsletter.  So far all the recipes have been delicious.  Here is a link to sign-up for the newsletter or just check out the site.  http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/

Here is a great recipe Lindsey made for us  from The Splendid Table e-newsletter.

Cantaloupe Chorizo Supper Salad

http://keyingredient.com/recipes/118956/thai-inspired-cantaloupe-chorizo-supper-salad

Kale Salad

Here is a recipe from fellow farm share recipient Abbie Cobb.

Missy’s Banging Kale Salad  from The Happy Hippie Magazine!

1 bunched chopped kale, ribs removed

1 tomato diced

1 avocado chopped

1/2 cup chopped red onion

2 Tbl. olive oil

1/2 lemon juiced

1 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. cayenne (or less!)

In a mixing bowl toss all ingredients together and squeeze as you mix to wilt the kale and cream the avocado.  Use your hands or a wooden masher.  Let sit for 30 minutes before serving.

Send in Your Recipes

Have you made any great recipes you would like to share with the CSA community.  I would love to post your recipe finds, and pictures too, if you are feeling ambitious .  Send me your recipes through the comment box on this blog or to my email caitlin@weathervanefarmbv.com.

Here is a fun food blog from an old friend of the farm to provide some inspiration  http://www.peteeatemall.com/

Garden Shares

Arugula

Beans

Broccoli

Cilantro

Corn (Olathe)

Red Russian Kale

Kohlrabi

Snow Peas

Onions (Olathe)

Zucchini

Fruit Shares

Raspberries

Black Berries

Peaches

Colorado Berries

As a native Pacific Northwest dweller I long for the sweet taste of berries every summer.  There are a glut of berries in the mountains, on roadsides and on farms in Washington.  I feel like I am never quite satisfied in Colorado….until these raspberries.  Finally a berry with flavor.  And the blackberries are pretty great, too.  Enjoy these Colorado treasures on cereal, icecream or one by one or in a big handful all alone.

The berries would also be great in little individual cobblers.

Here’s a yummy peach and raspberry cobbler from a Colorado bed and breakfast:

http://www.betterbedandbreakfasts.com/recipes/rockymtncobbler.htm

A link to all kinds of blackberry and raspberry recipes.  I am drooling over all of them.

http://www.raspberryblackberry.com/getrecipe.cfm

And for the peaches…here’s an individual peach cobbler from Martha Stewart:

http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=a80a934be4b0f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&backto=true&backtourl=%2Fphotogallery%2Fcobblers-crumbles-crisps-and-more%3F#slide_3

Broccoli

It is a bountiful broccoli crop this year.  It is exciting to see how there are some vegerables that are perfectly suited to our high altitude short season growing.  The broccoli remains sweet and tender all season long and holds well in the field.  Here are a couple simple recipes from one of my favorite recipe sites.  This is also a great site to search an ingredient for great recipes.

Simply Steamed and Dressed:

http://elise.com/recipes/archives/001662steamed_broccoli.php

Broccoli Salad from the same site.  I love these recipes.

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/broccoli_salad/

Ideas for other vegetables in the share this week

Arugula and Corn Salad Recipe

http://elise.com/recipes/archives/005294arugula_corn_salad_with_bacon.php

Broccoli Snow Pea Stir-Fry

http://www.rwood.com/Recipes/Broccoli_and_Snow_Pea_Stir_Fry.htm

Green Beans and Cilantro and some good reading on a cool blog

http://www.modernbeet.com/archives/163

Green Beans, Cilantro and Ginger

http://www.cookthink.com/recipe/4120/Green_Beans_With_Ginger_And_Cilantro

August Frost, Early Fall?

As I walked out the back door last Sunday, I could feel the cool in the air and there seemed to be a frosty haze over the garden.   I walked down to the garden and realized quickly that this was not the pocket frost of early July.  This was the real deal.  After looking around at all the leaves covered in frosty crystals it was hard not to feel a bit defeated.  We couldn’t believe this day was here so early.  After a day filled with other errands and work,  Seth and I convened in the  garden in the evening to assess the damage.  Afterall, to our relief, the damage really wasn’t that bad.  The squash and beans got nipped, but there growth points remain unaffected.  The rest of the crops, although they appeared frozen in the morning, can tolerate a light to moderate frost and some get even sweeter and more delicious after being coated with a frost frosting.  Throughout the week I saw Tony Madone’s squash and spoke with several gardeners in Nathrop and Salida who experienced pretty much the same thing as we did at our place.  In some ways I was bummed that everyone’s plants got hit, but I was relieved to share in the momentary grief of the frost and hope for just a little more summer weather.

Weathervane Allstar working member, Marley, picking the squash off the newly frosted plants.

Garden Share

Beans

Beets

Broccoli

Fennel

Jalepeno

Green Leaf Lettuce

Snap Peas

Potatoes

Tomatoes

Summer Savory

Zucchini

Fruit Share

1 bag nectarines

1 cantaloupe

Fennel

That big ferny thing in the share that looks like dill and smells like licorice is fennel.  The flavor of fennel mellows out when cooked and is very subtle and delicious. Here are some recipe ideas.

Fennel cakes, using the fronds:

http://www.epicureantable.com/recipes/F/fennelcakes.htm

Fennel and green beans using the bulb and the fronds:

http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/vegetables/r/fennel.htm

MMMmm..fennel and salmon:

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/fennel_salmon_beans.html

Fennel and potatoes:

sauteed…

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/potato-fennel-gratin-recipe/index.html

creamy…

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Braised-Fennel-and-Potatoes-233807

Summer Savory

Summer savory is the small bundle of herbs on the share this week.  A companion plant to beans, summer savory  is also delicious in bean dishes.

Potato and Green Bean Salad wih Summer Savory

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=633309

Savory and Fennel together:

http://www.chef2chef.net/featured_recipes/savory_young_fennel_salad.php

Cut Your Own Bouquet

From this Saturday until the frost takes all the flowers we will have the flower garden open for you to pick your own bouquet.  The hours are 9 am-7pm on Saturdays.  The cost is 5.oo/25 stems for most stems.  Large amaranth, sunflowers, and dahlias are between .50 and 1.50 per stem.

You are welcome to bring your own vase or bucket or use ours here and then take your flowers home in a plastic bag with water.

Before your first pick allow Caitlin to give you some pointers in the garden.

Come to the farm and pick your own bouquet.

A Seasonal Shift

I noticed this week that the leaves on the cottonwoods around the garden are already beginning to turn.  The mornings have been cool and the days are getting shorter, and though it is only a slight change, fall is undeniably on its way.  For an in depth look at why the color of the leaves change check out this site, http://www.na.fs.fed.us/Spfo/pubs/misc/leaves/leaves.htm.  So with Fall on the way we have a Summer-y share this week.  Tomatoes, corn and peppers come to us from a grower in Olathe.  And in our own garden our high altitude summer crops, head cabbage and carrots, make a first appearance.   Next week along with peaches the fruit share will likely contain melons.

Garden Share

cabbage

carrots

corn (Olathe)

cilantro

lettuce

snow peas

peppers (Olathe)

salad turnips

tomatoes (Olathe) BV pick-up only.  We messed up and the share tomatoes for Salida didn’t make it on the truck.  Salida shares will get tomatoes next week:( Our sincere apologies..

zucchini

Fruit Share

Peaches

Summer Says  Salsas

A variety of salsa recipes using peaches:

http://www.seasonalchef.com/recipe0805e.htm

Corn salsa with steak or not:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sliced-Steak-with-Roasted-Corn-Salsa-1031267

Simple tomato salsas:

http://elise.com/recipes/archives/001359fresh_tomato_salsa.php

http://www.kalamazoogourmet.com/rbme144.php

Be creative with all the great potential salsa ingredients in the share this week.  Cabbage and carrot slaws are also great with chips and salsa.

Corn on the Grill

Elote – Mexican Grilled Corn:

http://www.bionicbites.com/2009/07/irresistible-elote-mexican-grilled-corn-nyc/

Simple Grilled Corn:

http://elise.com/recipes/archives/005215grilled_corn-on-the-cob.php

Cabbage

Though a simple coleslaw is an obvious cabbage destiny, here are a collection of cabbage recipes to suit a multitude of culinary desires.

http://www.cheriestihler.com/CC/recipes.html

Snow Peas

Here are some ideas for how to use your peas.

http://startcooking.com/blog/423/How-to-Cook-With-Snow-Peas

The Double Crown Share

Howdy Folks.  Here are some pictures of our Rockygrass  weekend.

Juniper had her face painted and then painted mine.

Juniper, Daddy, coffe and the river make a perfect combination.

With all the great talent it was hard to decide, but my pick was Sarah Jarosz.

Juniper made many new friends.

Thanks again to all the hard workers here at the farm for allowing us to get away last weekend.  We had a wonderful time and now we are back in the groove.

Garden Share

Beets

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Garlic

Red Russian Kale

Lettuce

Parsley

Snap Peas

Potatoes

Scalllions

Fruit Share

Peaches

Double Crown Share

The garden share this week is hereby dubbed “The Double Crown Share” not only for containing a lovely crown of broccoli and cauliflower, but also for our friend and fellow Weathervane Farm All-Star, Karen Thorpe.  Last weekend Karen won the women’s division burro race in Fairplay and this weekend she will race again in Buena Vista.  She is going for the Triple Crown, which means she would also need to win Buena Vista and Leadville.  So it seems to follow that this weekend she could be the recipient of the Double Crown.  The race starts at 11 am on Main Street in Buena Vista.  Check out the burro racing website for race results and scheduling.  http://www.packburroracing.com/

Go Karen and Dakota!!

Snap Peas

The peas are loaded this year.  Though we may not have the easiest time growing tomatoes in this environment, the peas love where we live. Since peas will grow throughout the summer in our cool environment we decided to try extending our season vertically.  This is the first time for us, at least on a larger scale, to grow climbing peas on a trellis.  This variety, Super Sugar, is from Fedco Seeds, http://www.fedcoseeds.com/index.htm.   We are super impressed with their height, the catalog says they can get up to 10′, and their heavy fruit set.

Eat your peas by the handful as a snack or check out some of these recipes.

Chicken Salad with Snap Peas and Bok Choy – especially good if you need to  use up your pac choi (bok choy) from last week.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Asian-Chicken-Salad-with-Snap-Peas-and-Bok-Choy-242110

Caesar Potato Salad with Sugar Snap Peas – Use up your potatoes and peas together.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Caesar-Potato-Salad-with-Sugar-Snap-Peas-353351

Sugar Snap Pea and Quinoa Salad- Our neighbors in the San Luis Valley at White Mountain Farm produce organically grown Quinoa.  http://www.whitemountainfarm.com/quinoa.htm Yum.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/quinoa-salad-with-sugar-snap-peas

Beets

The beets are new to the share rotation this week and carrots are on the way.  We are hoping to rotate these popular roots weekly.

Here is a delicious looking recipe, from a humourously named blog, with beets, potatoes and snap peas.

http://www.menupause.info/archives/1238

Mmmmmm…flank steak, horseradish and beets…

http://www.jerseybites.com/2009/07/beet-recipes-flank-steak-with-horseradish-beets/

Scallions

I just loved this picture of the scallions on harvest morning.  

The Ark Valley Voice

Fellow Weathervane Farm All-Stars, Rafe and Lindsey Quinton, are days away from publishing the first print edition of The Ark Valley Voice.  Get your copy by the farm entrance or at numerous locations around BV, Salida, and Leadville. To learn more about The Voice, check out their online news at http://www.arkvalleyvoice.com/ .  Bravo to these guys for providing an alternative news source to valley residents.

Yay! Rockygrass!

Howdy folks.  We, your farmers, Seth, Caitlin and Juniper are on our mandatory summer vacation to Rockygrass in Lyons, Colorado. Check it out at http://www.bluegrass.com/rockygrass/ Around Thanksgiving every year we buy our tickets.  As the summer season intensifies and days off become sparse, we look forward to 4 days of music, fun, and family.  So this weekend the rest of the crew and our working members will handle all the share and market logistics.  We are so lucky to have a competent and hardworking crew.  It is great to get a break and be able to relax without worries.  Thanks to the Weathervane Farm All-Stars (minus Eric, who is vacationing with us) Rafe, Lindsey, Courtney, Daniel, Karen, Sarah and our working member crew.

Garden Share

Broccoli

Beans

Cilantro

Daikon

Winterbor Kale

Onion

Snap peas

Garlic

Pac Choi

Scallions

Green Leaf Lettuce

Summer Squash

Napa Cabbage

Fruit Share

Peaches

Daikon

This long white radish variety from Japan is often used pickled.  It is spicy and mellows slightly with cooking.  It would be great in a stir-fry or asian inspired soup.

Here’s a yummy looking recipe with Cilantro:

http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/recipes/thai-chicken-oconnell/

and a salad with Napa Cabbage too:

http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/food/la-fo-choppedsaladrec6cfeb06,0,5407729.story

Some soup options:

http://recipes.wuzzle.org/index.php/37/426

http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=87078

Radish and Turnip Chips

If you have any radishes and turnips still rolling around in your produce drawer give this recipe from Weathervane Farm member, Brian Stack a try.

http://imbrianandsoismywife.blogspot.com/

Everyone have a great weekend and week.  We will post some Rockygrass pictures next week.  Ahhh….vacation!