The Weekly Harvest: The Harvest Hustle

Big smiles under this face covering!

Hey Folks, 

Well, I guess it is still very much summer. This week of heat has your farmers on their toes, keeping things watered and as happy as they can be and continuing the daily harvest push.

This week we harvested the big summer crop of carrots and they look great. These couple tons of carrots should get us all through the end of September when the Fall carrots come in. We take our carrot growing seriously here and are proud of growing some great carrots for y'all. The carrots you will see from here on out will be bagged and won't have tops, but not to worry, they are superbly fresh. The lack of tops and the fact that they are in a sealed bag will help them last for weeks in your fridge, but hopefully they only have to be there for a few days.

Another crop coming in for this week, that we spontaneously threw in this Spring, are some August leeks. Please don't feel like you need to make potato leek soup...these young leeks will be well suited to go into a cold salad or be crisped up to top off a burger or pizza from the grill. 

This season has been marked by very hot and dry weather, which is to be expected some in Colorado, but days over 90 degrees have certainly increased in frequency over the last decade. This puts stress on the crops and the farmers. Not much likes this heat besides eggplant and hot peppers. Here's to hoping we can all start to cool off some next week. 

We will also start having potatoes from our partner farm Strohauer Farms in La Salle, Colorado. A number of years ago we finally read the writing on the wall after struggling unsuccessfully to grow potatoes in our soil type and decided to find another way for you all to get some really great organic potatoes. The Strohauer family has been farming the sandy loam soils near Greeley for over a hundred years. They have perfected the art of growing organic potatoes and have the perfect soil type for it. We hope you enjoy their great potatoes as much as we do. This week we will have mixed fingerlings and Yukon Gold potatoes from them at both the Farm Stand and the Farmers Market. 

Stay cool, eat local & be well, 

Nic and The Native Hill Farm Crew


This Week's Harvest:

• Red Romaine Head Lettuce

• Green Summer Crisp Head Lettuce

• Leeks

• Carrots 

• Beets (red, gold, and chioggia)

• Kale

• Zucchini

• Yellow Squash and Patty Pan Squash 

• Heirloom hardneck garlic

• Candy Sweet Onions

• Cucumbers

• Green Beans! 

• Yellow Wax Beans

• Dragon Tongue Roma Beans

• Bell Peppers

• Herbs at Farm Stand: Parsley, Shiso, Lovage

• U pick Basil at the farm stand

• Flowers! (Bouquets at Market and Farm Stand)

• U Pick Flowers at the Farm Stand

• Tomatoes at the Farm Stand (the first trickle of cherry, heirlooms, red slicers, and romas) 

• Heirloom Tomatoes at Farmers Market

• Hot Peppers (jalapeño and serrano)

• Asian and Italian Eggplant (limited quantities, just starting)

• Shishito Peppers (limited quantities, just starting)

• Yukon Potatoes (starting Friday afternoon and Saturday)

• Mixed Fingerling Potatoes (starting Friday afternoon and Saturday)

• And likely some other surprises 

The Weekly Harvest: “Overwhelming abundance”

Working members make it all possible!

Hey Y'all, 

We are in it folks. Harvest season has begun and the runway looks to go all the way to Thanksgiving. There is so much to pick, harvest, wash and pack, the Farm is like a busy bee hive as we bring in the produce of summer and start storing food away for the coming winter.

Overwhelming abundance is the best saying that captures this time of year and we are honored to steward this food on its path to nourish you. When you grow this many crops this many times of year, you win some and you lose some with the vagaries of the weather and the season, pests, economics, etc. But let me tell you folks, we hit a grand slam with our summer broccoli trial, these heads are huge and beautiful and are headed your way!(pun intended). This season we have seven plantings of broccoli to see what is possible from early spring all the way to deep fall. Need I say that grilled broccoli is amazing or simply eaten raw. 

Another crop coming in this week is hot peppers, which I personally love. In my opinion, there is really nothing better than some quick pickled banana and jalapeno peppers on that summer burger right off the grill. 

Enjoy the harvest and eating truly with the seasons! 

Eat Local & Be Well, 
Nic and The Native Hill Crew

This Week's Harvest:

• Salad Mix

• Broccoli

• Carrots (late week)

• Beets (red and gold)

• Kale (green curly)

• Rainbow Swiss Chard

• Zucchini

• Yellow Squash and Patty Pan Squash 

• Heirloom hardneck garlic

• Candy Sweet Onions

• Cucumbers

• Green Beans! 

• Yellow Wax Beans

• Bell Peppers

• Herbs: Parsley, Shiso, Lovage, Basil

• U pick Basil at the farm stand

• Flowers! (Bouquets at Market and Farm Stand)

• U Pick Flowers at the Farm Stand!

• Tomatoes at the Farm Stand (the first trickle of cherry, heirlooms, red slicers, and romas) 

• Hot Peppers

• Asian and Italian Eggplant (limited quantities, just starting)

• Shishito Peppers (limited quantities, just starting)

• And likely some other surprises hitting the farm stand

The Weekly Harvest: "The first trickle of tomatoes"

Hello Folks, 

Well, it's finally here....I know a lot of y'all have been waiting and asking since it stopped snowing...the first trickle of tomatoes are finding their way into the Farm Stand this week! Cherry Tomatoes, Heirlooms, Red Slicers, and Romas are all starting to come in.  As we start riding this harvest wave, hopefully the abundance will allow us to offer bulk boxes of tomatoes, although this doesn't really happen until September, but who wants to stand in front of a boiling vat of water and a hot stove till then anyway? 

Also making their appearance this week are the first of the bell peppers. I know folks are waiting for sweet bell peppers but we will have to wait a couple more weeks, because peppers have to be green (or purple or yellow etc) before they change to their sweet and ripe color. They are still great and super crunchy and juicy and I hope they find their way to your dinner table and daytime snacks. 

This week also marks a change on the Farm where we now pretty much harvest almost all the time. You can feel the angle of the sun change here at the beginning of August, even though it may still be warm, the quality and intensity of the light changes as the days grow shorter. It's always a huge relief when the big Fall carrot planting (think almost two miles of carrots)  have germinated in clean beds. Phew. These carrots will be harvested in October and will be with us until next April along with many of the other storage crops. We also start seeding spinach, arugula, radishes, etc again. And don't worry, I check the cantaloupes daily for ripe ones! I'm guessing these gems will start to trickle in the beginning of August as well. 

Also this week, the U Pick Flower patch is open at the Farm (2100 CR 54g). There will also be beautiful bouquets at market and the farm stand ready to grab and go. But if you want, come on out, the flower patch out at the new Farm Stand is looking great and is loaded. We provide cups and snips and you fill a cup for $15. Tell your friends!

Eat Local & Be Well, 
Nic and The Native Hill Crew

This Week's Harvest:

• Salad Mix

• Carrots

• Beets (red and gold)

• Kale (green curly)

• Rainbow Swiss Chard

• Zucchini

• Yellow Squash and Patty Pan Squash (Farm Stand only - limited quantities)

• Broccolini (Farm Stand only - limited quantities)

• Heirloom hardneck garlic

• Candy Sweet Onions

• Cucumbers

• Green Beans!

• Green Purple Bell Peppers

• Herbs: Parsley, Shiso, Lovage

• U pick Basil at the farm stand

• Flowers! (Bouquets at Market and Farm Stand)

• U Pick Flowers at the Farm Stand

• Tomatoes at the Farm Stand (the first trickle of cherry, heirlooms, red slicers, and romas) 

The Weekly Harvest: "Middle of the lake"

Carrots are back y'all!

Hello Folks, 

We are officially in what we call on the farm "the middle lake" season. We are so far into it but there is still a ways to go in the season; we can't see either shore and there is no choice but to swim on to the seemingly distant shore of Fall and Winter.  So give your farmers at Market and in the Farm Stand a socially distanced elbow bump, they are working hard to get you this great food in a safe way. 

Carrots are back y'all! It has been a seemingly long time but it's good to have them around again. Make sure to grab some at the stand and market and simply snack on 'em. Storage tip: take the tops off and store the carrots in sealed bag in your fridge and they should last many weeks. I hear you can make carrot top pesto but I have never done that myself. Green beans have started in earnest as well. Full size sweet onions will show up this week as well, great on the grill, onion rings, and caramelizing to name a few. 

We are seeing the very first cherry tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes and they are pretty much on schedule as well as delicious and we hope to start in on harvesting them the very beginning of August. And, I did spy a cantaloupe sizing up very nicely. August is looking to be a tasty month!

Flowers are coming in strong and beautiful bouquets will be at the Farm Stand and Market. Making good flower bouquets is a work of art and Christa is arranging some stunning displays. We hope to open the U pick flower field in the next coming weeks so stay tuned.  

Heck there are lot of great things in this weeks harvest, please enjoy them! 

Eat Local & Be Well, 
Nic and The Native Hill Crew

This Week's Harvest:

• Salad Mix

• Carrots

• Beets (red and gold)

• Kale (green curly)

• Rainbow Swiss Chard

• Zucchini

• Yellow Squash and Patty Pan Squash (Farm Stand only - limited quantities)

• Broccolini (Farm Stand only - limited quantities)

• Heirloom hardneck garlic

• Candy Sweet Onions

• Cucumbers

• Green Beans!

• Herbs: Parsley, Shiso, Lovage

• U pick basil at the farm stand

• Flowers!

The Weekly Harvest: "Turning the river into food"

Hello Folks, 

What a gift yesterday was - a nice cool day with clouds for us all to take a breather from the heat wave. It looks like heat will still be here, but yesterday your farmers were super thankful for a breather (and the crops as well). Farming teaches us to celebrate the now of the weather, of our current achievements, and to look and plan diligently for the future even though we know not what it will bring. Right now is that time on the farm that we celebrate the beautiful nourishing crops coming in from Spring planting while also diligently planning and planting so that our coolers and your fridges are full well into next March. I think we can all agree Tuesday was some seriously nice weather though!

New to the line up this week is a crop that is new to us, Red Long of Tropea (called Red Longs on the farm) - an Heirloom sweet onion which comes from Calabria on Italy's very southern tip. These elongated onions have a sweet, mild taste and are great for the grill, braising, caramelizing, salads, and general cooking. Also on the list this week is our heirloom hardneck garlic. Hardneck garlic has less and larger cloves with less wrappers which make them easy to peel. This variety, Duganski, have violet tinged cloves that burst with a fiery fresh flavor and then mellow out. Its purple striped skins make it even beautiful to admire on kitchen counter. Definitely pick some up as this years garlic crop was really good. 

This is the time of the season that my thoughts often turn to the river (the Cache La Poudre) as we irrigate nearly around the clock and are gifted this clean, abundant and cool water. We literally turn this amazing river of ours into food for you and your family. What a blessing to have water with which to grow good food on good land for our community. Cheers to that. 

Eat Local & Be Well, 
Nic and The Native Hill Crew

This Week's Harvest:

• Salad Mix

• Green Summer Crisp Head Lettuce

• Red Romaine Head Lettuce

• Carrots

• Beets (red and gold)

• Kale (curly and tuscan)

• Rainbow Swiss Chard

• Zucchini

• Yellow Squash and Patty Pan Squash (Farm Stand-limited quantities)

• Golden Cauliflower

• Broccolini (Farm Stand-limited quantities)

• heirloom hardneck garlic

• Cucumbers

• Red Long of Tropea heirloom Sweet onions

• Napa and Personal Size Green Cabbage (Farm Stand only)

• Basil

• Parsley

• Shiso

• Lovage