Tonight’s share includes:

Beets
These are called Early Wonder.  They’re a classic red beet.  Use the greens the way you would spinach or chard. 

Brocccoli
This is likely the last of the broccoli until fall.

Kale
Power-packed with nutrition.  We grow a variety called Rainbow Lacinato.

Lettuce
Two kinds of head lettuce tonight:

Green Deer Tongue, which is an heirloom looseleaf apparently dating back to the 1740s.  We’ve decided the leaves are excessively delicate.  Careful; they break very easily.

Merlot, which is a frilly red leaf.

Scallions

Peas, either sugar snap or snow
If you can resist eating all of them before you get home, try them in a salad.

Swiss Chard

We plant a multi-colored mix. We try to pick the leaves while they’re still on the small side in order to avoid overly-tough stems. If you haven’t tried chard before, you’re in for a treat. It has a taste similar to spinach, but the stems add a nice crunchy texture. Use it as you would spinach in sauces, or just steamed.

Salad Turnips
They’re the white, radish-looking things. But with less zing and more crunch. Use them like you would radishes.

[Sorry, this is a back-post.  It's been a busy week.]

Tonight’s share includes:

Bok Choy
Sorry, no photo.  The flea beetle damage has diminished, and the heads are starting to size up.  Try them on the grill!

Brocccoli
No photo again, but you probably know what it looks like.  The heads didn’t get as large as we would have liked, but with the recent hot temps, they were looking like they might flower, so we cut them.  We included some side shoots, which should be just as tasty as the main head.

Lettuce

Three kinds of head lettuce tonight:

Buttercrunch, which is a butterhead.

Green Deer Tongue, which is an heirloom looseleaf apparently dating back to the 1740s.

Merlot, which is a small red leaf.

Scallions

Sugar Snap Peas
No photo, but yea, they’re finally ready!  If you can resist eating all of them before you get home, try them in a salad.

Spinach
Sorry, no photo.  But we’re probably near the end of our spinach.  It doesn’t like the heat much.

Swiss Chard

We plant a multi-colored mix.  We try to pick the leaves while they’re still on the small side in order to avoid overly-tough stems.  If you haven’t tried chard before, you’re in for a treat.  It has a taste similar to spinach, but the stems add a nice crunchy texture.  Use it as you would spinach in sauces, or just steamed.

Salad Turnips
Oops, no photo of these, either.  Sorry.  They’re the white, radish-looking things.  But with less zing and more crunch.  Use them like you would radishes.

Our kids love working at the farm.  They get to help us transplant, weed, water, and harvest.  There’s lots of toads to be caught.  And sometimes they can spy on a nest of baby birds in the barn.  And they’re always happy to help.

Well okay, that last part’s not always true.

Sometimes they get bored:

Sometimes they get tired:

But sometimes, the cool things they get to do make up for all those bored, tired times.

Tonight’s share includes:

Brocccoli
Sorry, no photo.  The heads didn’t get as large as we would have liked, but with the recent hot temps, they were looking like they might flower, so we cut them.  Hopefully the plants will produce side shoots, which should be just as tasty as the main head.

Garlic Scapes

These are the seed stalks from hard neck garlic.  They make a cool curly-cue.  We pull them so the plant will direct all its energy toward making bigger bulbs.  They just happen to also be very tasty.  Use them like you would scallions or green onions/garlic.  Here’s what they look like still on the plant:

Kohlrabi

While it sort of looks like an alien creature, Kohlrabi is related to broccoli.  The part we typically eat is the swollen stem, not the root.  It tastes almost exactly like broccoli stems.  Peel the outer skin, which can get tough.  Eat it raw, steamed, or cooked.

Lettuce
Three kinds of head lettuce tonight:

Buttercrunch, which is a butterhead.

Green Deer Tongue, which is an heirloom looseleaf apparently dating back to the 1740s.

Merlot, which is a small red leaf.

Scallions

Spinach
Sorry, no photo.  But we’re probably near the end of our spinach.  It doesn’t like the heat much.

Swiss Chard

We plant a multi-colored mix.  We try to pick the leaves while they’re still on the small side in order to avoid overly-tough stems.  If you haven’t tried chard before, you’re in for a treat.  It has a taste similar to spinach, but the stems add a nice crunchy texture.  Use it as you would spinach in sauces, or just steamed.

Salad Turnips
Oops, no photo of these, either.  Sorry.  They’re the white, radish-looking things.  But with less zing and more crunch.  Use them like you would radishes.

Finally, here’s a peak at the “Blue Bubble,” our washing shed that we covered with a blue tarp to keep the sun away.

Here’s a great project that you might not have heard about.  It’s an effort to start a combo greenhouse/fish farm right here in Longmont on water department land.  Their plan is to use methane from the water treatment process to heat the greenhouse.  Pretty cool.  Check our their website:

http://www.growyourownmeal.org

We had a visit from the preschoolers at Bloom! Montessori in Longmont yesterday.  Of the many exciting things the kids did, watching the horses from the fence was a highlight.  At least until they got to climb the hay bales.  And sit on the tractor.  And ride in the wagon.  And pull turnips.  And…

Read the details at Bloom’s blog:

http://bloommontessori.blogspot.com/2010/06/field-trip-to-family-table-farm.html

Here’s a nifty movie I found on a fellow Colorado farmer’s website (www.mountainviewmeadowsfarm.com):

…that you all planted back in early April?  Well, they FINALLY poked through the ground a few days ago!  A mere 4 weeks after you planted them.  Here’s what they looked like on Wednesday:

And then we got a freeze that night.  I won’t show you the picture of the aftermath.  The leaves are fairly frost-sensitive, so they got nipped.  But at least they weren’t very big so there wasn’t much to freeze, and there should be energy enough in the tuber for them to recover.

Last year’s lettuce left us a nice surprise: volunteers this year!  We seem to have lots of lettuce growing in various unexpected spots around the house.  Plus, the chives and parsley are going gangbusters, so I took advantage of it today for lunch.

A few leaves of Forellenschluss and Buttercrunch lettuce, some chives (starting to flower), and some parsley make a very nice lunch salad.

Those of you with sharp eyes might spot pieces of bacon.  Not to offend anyone, but I do love bacon and couldn’t resist using what was left over from our Mother’s Day breakfast. (And just between you and me, I also couldn’t resist finishing up with a couple of Double Stuf Oreos – yum!)

We figured many of you might like to see what things look like at the farm these days.  (Warning: this will be a pretty large post with lots of photos.  Trying to make up for missed postings, I guess.)

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