Holiday Shopping at the Fort Collins Winter Farmers Market!

Do your holiday shopping in the heart of Old Town Fort Collins and support local businesses and farms!

The Winter Market has over 40 vendors, with a collection of locally made soaps, wine, chocolate, cheese, jewelry and other unique gifts, as well as local vegetables and meats.

Come visit the Native Hill stand and all our other friends this Saturday, December 15th and December 22 for fun and festive holiday shopping. We look forward to seeing you then and in the New Year (the Market runs through April 2019!).

Learn more at https://nocofood.org/winter-market/

Prepping for Winter's Rest

Eat your Native Hill greens all year long!

Greeting's Y'all!

December is here along with very seasonal temperatures...which is ideal for gathering in a warm, cozy pub, visiting with friends and bringing some light into these dark days.  It seems this time of year one must work a little bit harder to escape the gravitational pull of staying home when it gets dark, so really its quite lucky that we all have a reason to be out tonight! Aside from catching up on some socialization,  this is the time of year farmers are able to review the summer season, organize the financial picture, and start figuring out how to keep farming another year.  In between catching up on the business side of things, we have been prepping fields for their winter's rest and doing some last minute frost seeding before for the ground completely freezes...and of course harvesting greens for y'all.

Your boxes this week have all my favorite things to make warm, cozy and gasp, healthy food.  After a week of visiting family, there is nothing like coming home to a plant based diet and feeling like all is right in the world again.  All I want to eat this time of year is roasted vegetables, which is convenient because we have a lot of roots right now.  They are fast, healthy and delicious and the perfect way to make quick meals during the craziness of the holiday event season.  Serve them as a side, on a salad, or as the main event over a warm, nutty bowl of quinoa and don't think about it too much.  Root veggies in general are not always the most beautiful of the produce world and celeriac might be the oddest looking of them all.  For all its ugly, it is actually quite versatile and I for one consider it the work horse of winter cooking.  It can be shredded, mashed, pureed or just diced to give your soup or stew that nutty celery flavor. Watermelon radishes are sure to be a hit at any holiday gathering.  Aside from a few varieties of tomatoes, they are the only pink vegetable that I know of and really add the "piz-azz" to a winter salad or veggie tray. You can choose to peel them or not but they shine when eaten raw.  I like to add them to a good winter slaw with cabbage and carrots or pickle them and serve with Thai food.  

Just a reminder to please bring any wax boxes lurking in garages, mud-rooms or basements.  We need them to keep the veggies goin' round!

Looking Forward to Seeing many of you soon!

Katie

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This Week's Harvest

Kale

Spinach

Arugula

Collards

Broccoli Rabe

Parsnips

Carrots

Celeriac

Onions

Watermelon Radish

Garlic

Final inning of the season

Hello Folks!

Welcome to week 24 on the farm!  Hard to believe it is the last week of CSA but here we are!  With one wintery storm under our belt we are in the final inning of the season, the last push before the ground freezes and we are forced to read seed catalogs by the warmth of the wood stove...or at least that is always what I picture other farmers doing who take the winter off. The good news is that the fresh food doesn't stop here.  We only have one short week before the winter program starts and those of you who are signed up will be getting some logistical instructions coming to your inboxes next week.

Although agriculturally we had a lot of ups and downs throughout this growing season, it still felt like we had a pretty good year and I hope you all were satisfied with what we were able to bring to market.  Business-wise, this has been a challenging year for us with the farm down-sizing and we very much appreciate all of your on-going support of Native Hill and local, organic agriculture. As we have stated in earlier emails, we have some promising prospects for the future home of the farm and this is exciting! The challenging step is always the transition and we are diligently working on some solutions to keep the farm running until we can land this plane.  Stay tuned for updates as we continue to plan, dream, and scheme about the permanent home for the farm. 

A few logistical things.  This is the last weekend to use your market CSA accounts.  After this weekend, summer CSA member will need to pay cash at the farm stand or any of the winter markets that we will be attending at the Opera Galleria on select Saturday mornings (pick up a magnet with dates at the market!).  Farm stand members, I will be doing final tallies on your accounts this week and next.  I will be sending out invoices if you have accidentally gone over on your accounts.  As a side bar, we are actively working towards real time accounting for farm stand members and see this as an integral piece to the future of the farm stand CSA.

Again, thank  you all for another wonderful summer and we look forward to seeing many of you at Equinox on November 7th!

Warmly,

Katie and the Native Hill Crew

This Week's Harvest

Kale

Collards

Swiss Chard

Tat Soi

Spinach

Baby Bok Choy

Carrots

Beets

Celeriac

Potatoes

Cabbage

Hakurei turnips

Winter Squash (Schnor Family Farm)

Garlic

Leeks

Eat the elephant one bite at a time

Hello Folks,

Whether this week marks October or Rocktober for you, it is hard to believe we are here!  As much as it feels like we should be winding down, we are pushing harder than ever to get our ever-growing list of things done before that unknown weather deadline.  I won't lie, I had a slight moment of panic when looking at the calendar and comparing the days left in October to how much food we needed to get out of the ground before the weather changes.  And of course, there is not only food to get out but also tunnels to move, garlic to plant, plastic to replace from the spring windstorm, and fall cover crops to plant...but we just have to eat the elephant one bite at a time.  

The transition to fall food continues this week as we say hello to new hardy greens and good bye to summer staples.  This will be the last week for eggplant, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers...but we will make room for tat soi and baby bok choy.  Both are in the mustard family and are wonderful when added to a miso soup, curry, or stir fry.  They can also stand on their own if sautéed with leeks, garlic, and some type of spicy, ginger tamari sauce.  Hakurei turnips are back for the fall and they go well with cold weather cooking.  A hot noodle bowl with turnips and turnip greens is one of my favorite things on a frosty fall evening but if you are feeling more decadent, try a twist on a classic French dish Pomme D'Anna.   The traditional version uses potatoes, but you can substitute the hakurei turnips for similar results.  

Looking forward to seeing many of you real soon!
Katie

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This Week's Harvest

• Kale

• Collard

• Chard

• Head Lettuce

• Spinach 

• Tat Soi

• Spicy Mix 

• Radishes

• Turnips

• Baby Bok Choi

• Cucumbers

• Eggplant

• Bell Peppers

• Cherry and Roma Tomatoes

• Leeks

• Potatoes (Strohaur Farm)

• Beets

• Carrots

• Broccoli

• Cauliflower

• Cabbage

Farm Land Expansion Update

A rendering of the ag-centered Montava development, which will include a 40-acre farm. (Photo: Montava)

Hello Folks,

Please excuse an extra email this week, but I wanted to give y'all an update about our farm expansion and let you know how you can get involved if you are available. 

As many of you know in the spring of 2017, after several years of working on purchasing land for a much needed permanent home for the farm we had an eleventh hour issue with the new farm land and the deal fell through. Since then, we have been actively working on plan B and have decided to work with a company that is planning to build a new community development in the last large tract of farm land in the City of Fort Collins.  The planned community is called Montava and they are currently working toward a sustainable development that is centered around a working farm.  They have agreed to sell Poudre Valley Community Farms 40 acres of prime farm land in order to create an ag-centered, sustainable community.  There are many other innovative and exciting things about this planned community such as energy conserving homes, affordable housing, raw water irrigation, planned natural areas and parks.  You can learn more about the concept on their website here.

We are excited about this new opportunity to be a part of a forward thinking, sustainable, planned community and hope that we will be able to take the next steps towards acquiring the land.  Montava is working diligently with the city and its now time for preliminary plans to be approved by City Council. 

As always, thank you all for your support for the farm and if you can't make this opportunity, we anticipate other important meetings to follow so you can make your voice heard then. 

Warmly,

Katie and Nic and the Native Hill Farm Crew

P.S. In case anyone is worried, we will still be Native Hill Farm and we will still continue to serve the larger community of Fort Collins (aka those of you who have made the farm what it is today)...we will just have secure access to farm land and water and be better, more sustainable farmers by doing so.