A beautiful shot of Native Hill tomatoes by Farmer Olivia.

Hello Friends,
As the longest day of the year quickly approaches, it finds your farmers scrambling to keep up with the pace of June! Tomatoes need trellising faster than we can get to them, field edges need mowing, rows need weeding, and food needs to be harvested....all at the same time. Prioritizing get more difficult and your farmers behavior becomes more belligerent as we try to do six things at once. We joke about the after math of a salad bar bomb or the vegetable tornado that litters the field at the end of every day. From two feet off the ground, we can see the tiny quidich match between the lady bug nymphs and the green peach aphids. We farmers wave our black and red spotted pennants as we cheer helplessly from the sideline, routing our team to victory. Bumble bees abound. Unlike domesticated bees, these big boys are native to our Colorado home and build their hives underground, moving nesting grounds every year. We are lucky to have them. Interestingly, although tomatoes are self-pollinating, bumble bees aid in increased tomatoes yields as their vibrations are at the perfect frequency for optimal pollination. We try to maintain habitat for the bees to encourage nesting and watching them bumble around the farm makes my heart happy.

June is here and it is time to eat! Tremendous is really the only word I can use to describe the amount of food coming off the farm right now so come out and get it! Spring broccoli is upon us and as challenging as it is to grow in the fickle springs of the Rockies, we are like junkies with a bad broccoli habit. We can't help ourselves. Steam it and serve with butter. Broccoli quiche is fantastic but so is broccoli soup. Grilling onions are one of the earliest alliums that we grow on the farm. Sweet and and mild, they are easy to grill whole throw on a skewer. We have done them on their own in a skillet with a chili garlic sauce. Possibilities seem endless. Baby fennel is quite a spring treat. The bulb is sweeter and more mild than the fronds. Sauté with coconut oil and mustard seed for a curry. Roast or sauté for pizza. Dice and add to a quinoa salad. Beets are an economy meal on our farm. I like to roast with butter and honey and add to a salad or pizza with goat cheese and some candied pecans. Sauté greens with garlic and salt and taste the terroir. Wash and put sugar snap peas in mouth...chew well.

Hope to see you all soon!
Katie

This Week's Harvest
Kale
Chard
Salad Mix
Spicy Mix
Spinach
Arugula
Bok Choy
Zucchini
Basil
Cilantro
Baby Fennel
Grilling Onions
Beets
Salad Turnips
Radishes
Basil
Kohlrabi
Sugar Snap Peas

Farmer's Journal

June is here and it's time to eat!