Week 17

In the box this week we have...

Bib head lettuce, red romaine lettuce, leeks, Choy, spaghetti squash, Swiss chard, ear tomatoes, kale, yellow onions, spinach, eggplant, yellow squash, sage, basil, and cilantro...

Yukon gold-red-russet potatoes, turnips, green bell pepper, sweet potatoes, lunchbox peppers, beets, rutabaga (it has a purple rubber band around it so you know which one it is), savory and red cabbage, parsnip, red onions, carrots, tomatillos, and jalapeños. 

The changing of the season brings out many of the root crops and we have been blessed with a full harvest. 

These are parsnips and they can be eaten in several different ways. Usually I will wait until Spring and dig them because the cold is suppose to sweeten them but for the sake of the CSA you are getting them now. 

A special Thank you goes out to the Plummer family this week for helping dig potatoes over the weekend. Many hands make light work, we are blessed to have them in our CSA! Thanks.

Week 16

The harvest is such a beautiful thing. God is so very good to provide.

This week we have romaine head lettuce, turnips, sweet potatoes, Serrano peppers, tomatillos, sweet marjoram, acorn squash, cucumber, sweet lunchbox peppers, leeks, fennel ferns, jalapeño, shallots, beets, savory cabbage, basil, pear and cherry tomatoes, mixed greens, celery, Choy, green bell pepper, and Swiss chard. A few got watermelons too. Enjoy!

Oh sweet potatoes!!!

We are Thanking God for the Gabriel family for helping us get the sweet potatoes out of the ground and for blessings us with a beautiful and plentiful crop. All praise goes to you God!

Looking ahead...

I decided to dig 5 hills of sweet potatoes tonight just to see how they were. Here is what I found...

I put my shoe by them to give you an idea of the size of these things. Amazing!!!

I did find a few that had been chewed on by mice so it really is time to get them out of the ground. 

They will also need to be stored at 80-85 degrees for a week or so, this helps make them sweet and thickens the skins (I know there is a name for this but it has escaped from my memory) so you will be getting them after this process. 

Week 15

My cup runneth over....

This week we have: Arugula, cucumber, tomatillos, cilantro, Choy, zucchini, basil, mixed greens, sweet lunchbox peppers (in plastic container), red cabbage (these are small because they are the second growth from the original cabbage plants), green and yellow beans, leeks, some variety of head lettuce, cherry and pear tomatoes...

...cantaloupe (one variety was the size of a baseball), Serrano peppers, variety of beets, eggplant, jalapeño peppers, yellow summer squash, yellow onions, turnip (it is white with a purple top), cabbage, kale, green bell pepper, Roma tomatoes (not pictured), some received a watermelon, also not pictured, and finally spaghetti squash (funny story...last year I planted this and it looked the same, instead of yellow it was orange. I blamed this on the fact I planted it next to the pumpkins and they cross pollinated. Well I planted the same package of seed this year and I got the same thing...and they are not by any pumpkins so there must have been some crosses in the original seed:)

I cooked one for dinner tonight and it worked up nice...it was our substitute for spaghetti. I really couldn't tell a difference in taste. Enjoy!!

Week 14

Wow, the bounty is endless...thank you God for such wonderful growing conditions.

This week we have arugula, head lettuce, summer squash, Choy, cucumber, jalapeño, green pepper, sweet corn (last time), celery, tomatoes, red onions, plabano pepper, mixed greens, lunchbox sweet peppers(in a plastic container, not everyone received them), variety of beets (not all received them), cantaloupe, zucchini, cherry/pear tomatoes, kale, leeks, carrots, basil, cilantro, and turnips.

Hope you enjoy!

Week 13

The Almighty provides plenty even through the heat!

Beans, leeks, cucumbers, onions, yellow squash, carrot, tomatillos, sweet corn, cilantro, plabano pepper, cantaloupe, green pepper, zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, watermelon, lettuce mix, arugula, kale, and cherry/pear tomatoes.

 Enjoy!

Week 12

This week the abundance that God gives is overwhelming! Thank you, thank you Jesus!

We have, potatoes (not everyone receive them), summer squash, tomatillos, plabano peppers, beans, a variety of tomatoes, carrots, shallots, beets, zucchini, arugula, mixed greens (spinach, kale, lettuces, mustard greens, and a few other greens that may have a spicy or or mustard type flavor), celery ( this is my first time growing it so I don't want it to get bitter with the heat so I picked it early), Swiss chard, kale and either resort savory cabbage. Enjoy!

PS. Some of you received watermelons...please let me know if they were any good...as I said I am having trouble with something called black spot I think, it is a fungus that rots everything. Hopefully I can salvage the rest of them.

Week 11

WOW! All praise and glory to our father in heaven for such abundance!

This week we have sweet corn (there were some smaller ears this week due to last of this planting harvest), dill head (for canning or dry the dill seeds to use), eggplant, variety of tomatoes, zucchini, yellow summer squash, leek, cucumbers, basil, carrots, shallot, jalapeño, tomatillos, and then any combination of these were given...Yukon gold potatoes, red or orange sweet pepper, green and yellow beans, and beets. Enjoy!

Week 10

This week we have sweet corn, green sweet bell pepper, shallots, zucchini, yellow summer squash, carrots, kale, egg plant (a few), Roma tomatoes, cherry or pear tomatoes, Swiss chard, red or savory cabbage, basil, cucumbers, plobano peppers or Serrano peppers (hotter than jalepenos), and either chocolate mint/spearmint/peppermint. Enjoy!

Thanking God for the wonderful rain!!

Week 8

This week we are blessed with an abundance. Green beans/yellow wax beans, kale, carrots, Swiss chard, beets, zucchini, basil, raspberries/blueberries/cherry-pear tomatoes, cucumber, tomatoes, yellow summer squash, romaine lettuce, savory cabbage, jalapeño, and some received tomatillos (not pictured, they have a husk on them, peal it off and you will find a green round fruit. It makes great green verde sauce. . Enjoy! We are truly blessed.

Blanching

Eli is helping to carry the bitter lettuce to the chickens. Such a good little helper he is! 

Week 7

This week we have red or savory cabbage, romaine head lettuce, zucchini or yellow squash, tomato, green and yellow beans, fennel, dill, snap peas, cucumber, basil, and some received raspberries or blueberries, also as an after thought I threw in some chocolate mint for a few. Enjoy!!

I ask all to be praying for rain, it seems that no amount of water can make lettuce sprout and not turn bitter. We lost 2 unused beds of lettuce this week and 2 that were going to have a second picking. This means the next 3-4 weeks we will not have mixed greens. 

Week 6

God is so good to provide 1/2 inch of rain this morning. Evan and I went out before the rain and picked  this weeks bountiful harvest. We have cucumbers, basil, jalapeño (only some got them), fennel, mixed greens, dill, green beans, kale, Swiss chard, savory cabbage, snow peas, and some received baby zucchini/summer squash (not pictured).

Long week

We spent 4th of July weeding the field of potatoes.

Buckets and buckets of weeds later we finally can see the end.

An overview of the potato patch. These are really skinny plants and need some rain to help them produce yummy potatoes.

Next we put done some dry green oats as a mulch for a weed barrier and moisture holder. 

Oh the battle has begun...BUGS...pictured here is a young, maybe even teenage potato beetle. They are very destructive and can eat an entire plant bare in a couple days. I have been checking morning and night for them and picking off and destroying any that I find.

I am also using the green oats as mulch in other areas of the garden.

Here I've applied it to a third planting of sweet corn. I am always amazed at how things grow when mulch is applied to help keep moisture in and when things are weed free.

Fall planting

Planting fall cauliflower and eli is determined to help water:)

I just love this picture! He is really studying how I plant the seedlings. 

Week 5

This week we have dill (feathery green stuff in plastic container), kale, snow peas (podded peas that you can eat pods and all), strawberries, fennel (feathery green stuff attached to a white bulb, it has an anise type flavor), mixed greens, some but not all boxes contained any combination of cucumbers, broccoli, and/or radish. Enjoy!

Use for chamomile

Week 4

This week we have strawberries (red, juicy, seedy, things with green tops), radish, mixed greens, chamomile (long stemmed white flowers), green onions, red chard, and kale. 

The next items only some of you received this week. 

Broccoli (green, thick stemmed, looks like a flower), cucumbers (long green, tubular things), dill (fern looking like leaves), jalapeño (type of pepper, has a bigger top and narrows to a point on bottom of fruit, please be advised to wear gloves when cutting, the juice could burn), asparagus.

Sorry about the funny descriptions, but I hope hey help if anyone has questions about what something is. 

God is good!

Surveying the damage...

We now have an extension of topsoil-garden that extends to the blackcaps. 

This was a row of carrots and 4 rows of beets, planted, mulched, and already up. The only thing I think is salvageable is part of a row of beets.

 

This was the end of a sweet potato row, you can still see the plants hanging on but the mound of dirt that was around them is gone.

Most of the green in this picture is where I tilled the weeds into the soil...all that is left is weeds. I planted cucumbers in 4 mounds but they are gone. I went out tonight and I found 3 cucumber sprouts in one spot...so not all is lost.

We will have to wait on the new lettuce bed to see if it floated away too.

This is the waterway, still running tonight but is usually dry.

This is washed in debris...

some more debris that cause back-ups and over flows all over.

From this I turn to the beans...and we have a lot of them planted...they are full of whole from pesky bugs called bean leaf beetle and they destroy everything...I think I've also seen some cucumber beetle on them too.

Finally, we celebrate, not only do we still have most of the garden but we have 2 new baby chicks. 

Rushing Water

The kale underwater.

I replanted some cucumbers in this spot Wednesday. They are gone.

Water rushing through the middle of the garden.

So much water coming from all different directions.  

Approximately 1 inch and 8 tenths fell in about 30 minutes. Evan and I went out in the dark to try and divert some of the water from running into the garden but with so much water rushing and more on its way we'll just pray that things are still living in the morning. 

June 19

Looking forward to some family favorites this next week. Here is a preview.

The first blossom on the peas, finally!

The strawberries are starting to ripen fast and with the predicted heat for the weekend probably won't last long.

A big thank you to Mark for weeding the raspberries and taking a turn using the wheel hoe in the potatoes!

Also, a big thank you on Monday was to Brenda for helping lay some black plastic around some melons and tackling some weeds in the carrots!

There are many more weeds if anyone is looking for some hours...did you know that if you weed and don't pick them up and it happens to rain or stays cloudy and rains the weeds just come back. It is like  shuffling cards, we move them around but never get rid of them. 

So, the past few days with the sun shining have been great for the weeder, not so great for the weeds! 

June 21

Oh, just look at those strawberries. A whole 8+lbs today and a blessing of 1.2 inches of rain last night.

Week 3

This week we have lots of greens! 

Top left: mixed greens (spinach, beet top, kale, lettuces), buttercrunch head lettuce, kale

Lower left: arugula, Choy, green onions, baby Swiss chard (this has a very earthy taste and can be eaten cooked of uncooked), rhubarb (last week for it), radish, spinach. Some of you may also have broccoli and/or asparagus. Enjoy!

Rhubarb cake

Week 2

This week in the box is top: arugula, it has sort of an spicy/mustardy smell, kale, mixed greens, spinach, it has smooth, kind of round leaves. Bottom: radish, rhubarb, asparagus(only in some boxes), jalapeño jelly, green onions, baby Choy, it has long white stems and is in a bunch. Some of you received an herb: sage, cilantro, parsley, or chives.

God is so good!