The Weekly Harvest: Gather 'round the table

Hey Folks, 
Wow, it is mid September y'all, what happened?! This is a great time of year as the autumnal equinox approaches where we literally have almost all seasons worth of crops available at once. Katie and I actually decided that this coming weekend and the next weekend was the best to get married 8 years ago because it typically has really reliable weather and there is so much good food available with some of the summer stuff still lingering, long term fall crops coming in, and our spring crops making an appearance again, plus the general availability of flowers. You go one week earlier it can be hot, wait another week and it could snow. 

Your farmers have been busy bees, as always, getting ready for the winter by harvesting storage crops, cleaning up fields and getting them seeded to winter cover crops, moving tunnels over greens for the winter. 

So, gather round the table with family and friends as the seasonal eating reaches its peak of choice. It always amazing to me the bounty that this land and place can produce, so please celebrate it with us and enjoy some super fresh and amazingly tasty seasonal goodness. 

We still have seconds of green cabbage available for $1 per lb (min. 10lb) for the sauerkraut lovers out there. Email to place order for pick up at Farm Stand or Farmers Market. 

Lat but not least, the wafting aroma of chilies roasting always signals the start of Fall here on the Farm, a welcome scent as temperatures cool and nights grow longer. Join us this Friday and Saturday from 2-4pm at the Farm Stand for fresh roasted chilies. We would love to see you there!

Eat Local + Be Well, 
Nic and The Native Hill Farm Crew

This Week’s Harvest:

- Kale (green curly and Tuscan)
- Rainbow Swiss Chard
- Spinach
- Arugula
- Red Beets
- Carrots
- Radicchio
- Garlic
- Cippolini Onions
- Walla Walla Sweet Onions
- Fennel bulbs
- Celery
- Green Cabbage
- Red Cabbage
- Savoy Cabbage (last week)
- Napa Cabbage (last week)
- Eggplant (Italian and Asian) (last week?)
- Hot Peppers (last week?)
- Shishito Peppers (last week?)
- Roasted Green Chile
- Roasted Poblano 
- Yukon Potatoes
- Fingerling mix potatoes
- Red Potatoes
- Bell Peppers (last week?)
- Jimmy Nardello Italian Sweet Peppers
- Delicata Squash (by Saturday)
- Acorn Squash (by Saturday)
- Spaghetti Squash (by Saturday)
- Beefsteak and Roma tomatoes 

The Weekly Harvest: Seasonal Whiplash

Hey Folks, 
Well, as the calendar stands it is still Summer for about two more weeks, then Fall, then Winter...but I guess we got a taste of it all these last few days. The forecast was looking pretty dire for a veggie farm: highs near 100 degrees with a forecast low of 24 degrees with snow just 48 hours later. We are pretty used to wild weather swings in Colorado, but this was extreme and almost a month before it would be expected. It could have been devastating for farms in the area of all types. Even frost tolerant crops would have been pushed to their limit after it has been in the 90s and above for the past two months, they wouldn't have been hardened off to the cold. 

With only the info of the forecast and it being somewhat unbelievable as it was nearly 100 degrees with smoke and ash falling, we made a plan, mobilized our AMAZING staff and working member crew and went to work harvesting things that we couldn't protect. In the span of 4 days this group did about a months worth of work and by my estimations we may have harvested something like 60,000 lbs of produce into our walk ins and green houses in order to get them through the storm. We then covered a couple acres of frost tolerant crops and waited. Well, it seems as if the dust has settled. It didn't get as cold or snowy as they thought it would but our town broke some records. A record high temperature on Sunday and then a day with smoke and ash falling and then a record early low and the earliest snowfall in 130 years. We seemingly dodged a bullet and we are very thankful for the break in the heat, the moisture both on our fields and the snow and rain that fell in the high country on the fire (which has broken its own records). This year seems to be one for the record books. 

In the haste of the weekend and Monday weather, we brought in all the winter squash (we hope to be able to start selling these next week), all the chilies and Poblanos for roasting (we hope to start roasting soon, stay tuned), tons of eggplant, peppers, the last of the tomatoes, all the beets for winter storage, all the cabbage for winter storage, celery, all the storage onions, and a number of other crops. On this muddy day, we are sorting through what happened and getting crops cleaned up and packed for the Farm Stand and Market. So, keep a look out for some new crops coming into the Farm Stand and Market and saying goodbye to most of the Summer crops. 

We are super grateful for the community that has gathered around the Farm to help us get through all these uncertainties.  All the members, customers, grocers, restaurants, staff, working members, our families, partners, and cheerleaders. Thank you. 

Some specials (will be first come first serve until supply is gone):

• Orders must be over 10lbs - we will get as close to your poundage as possible and will note amount due on the package.  Orders pick up at Farm Stand or Farmer's Market. 

• Orders must be received by 5pm Friday for pick up at the Saturday Market and pick up at the Farm Stand during specific times (please note when we should set it out in the stand for you to pick up as it wont be able to be in the coolers). Your order will be confirmed via email. Please email Nic@nativehillfarm.com

• Seconds Green Cabbage for Sauerkraut $1 per lb

• Huge Napa Cabbage for Kim chi  $1 per lb  

Keep your eyes on your emails for when we will start roasting chilies at the Farm Stand. 

Eat Local + Be Well, 
Nic and The Native Hill Farm Crew


This Week's Harvest:

-Fall Greens Mix: Kale and Swiss Chard
-Arugula
-Rainbow Swiss Chard Bunches
-Green Beans (last harvest)
-Green Cabbage
-Red Cabbage
-Savoy Cabbage
-Napa Cabbage
-Beefsteak Tomato Quarts
-Roma Tomato Quarts
-Celery
-Bell Peppers
-Hot Pepper Mix (jalapeño, serrano, banana, suave)
-Heirloom Softneck Garlic
-Cippolini Onion mix
-Italian Parsley
-Poblano peppers (not roasted)
-Anaheim Chilies (not roasted)
-Italian Eggplant
-Escarole
-Cauliflower (hopefully more in a couple weeks)
-Fennel 
-Cherry Belle Radish
-French Breakfast Radish
-Kim chi napa (special order)
-Seconds Green Cabbage (special order)
-maybe some other surprises

The Weekly Harvest: It's finally happening

Hey Folks, 

Well, it's finally happening - Fall. Thank goodness it has cooled off a bit. The never ending heat of July and August was intense. Your farm crew and produce are thankful for cooler nights, cooler days, and shorter days. We are still very much in the harvest hustle but the crops are shifting with the weather. There are still tomatoes and peppers in abundance but summer crop days are numbered as we start to prepare for the first frost sometime this month, which feels hard to believe given that it might be 95 degrees this Saturday.  These cooler temps and the coming Fall are such a welcome time of year on the Farm as we say goodbye (or good riddance!) to cucumbers, zucchini, patty pans, and summer squash and we start to bring in the winter squash to cure in the greenhouse. 

I love this time of year as we bring in big bulk harvests and start to store things away for the Fall, Winter, and early Spring. We seed the outdoor vegetable fields to their Winter cover crops and seed all of our tunnel space (almost a half acre!) to hearty winter greens. We can start to think again of turning on that heat producing oven thing in our kitchens, yet we can still enjoy the lingering fruits of summer. This overlap in September makes for some great eating. There are still tomatoes for preserving (available this week), so make sure to get some if you are interested as we are for sure over the tomato crest. 

Come mid-September, we are hoping to be able to roast chiles and poblanos on Fridays at the Farm Stand for y'all. So keep your digital ears peeled for that announcement. 

Eat local + be well, 
Nic and The Native Hill Farm Crew
 

This Week’s Harvest:

• Roma canning tomatoes - 20lb box

• Red Canning tomatoes - 20lb box

• Heirloom Canners - 10lb flats

• Head Lettuce

• Cantaloupe (last week!)

• Salad Mix

• Carrots 

• Beets (last week of bunched beets)

• Kale (Tuscan and Curly)

• Rainbow chard

• Heirloom garlic

• Sweet Onions

• Bell Peppers

• Broccoli

• Italian Parsley

• Flowers! (Bouquets at Market and Farm Stand)

• U Pick Flowers at the Farm Stand!

• Red beefsteak slicer tomatoes 

• Heirloom Tomatoes

• Cherry Tomatoes

• Hot Peppers: Jalapeño, Serrano, Fresno, Banana, and Habanero types

• Asian and Italian Eggplant

• Shishito peppers 

• Yukon Gold potatoes

• Fingerling potato mix

• Sweet Corn at Farm Stand (last week!)

• Napa Cabbage

• Green Cabbage

• Red Cabbage

• Frisée

• Escarole

The Weekly Harvest: Preserve Summer

Hey Folks, 

Hope this note finds you doing well with all that is going on and with "school" starting right about now. My feeling is that all your kiddos could use a great science lesson on how to can tomato sauce and blanch and freeze green beans.  It is the week folks - the walls of roma tomatoes, tunnel tomatoes,  and green beans are peaking and it is time to squirrel away some of this summer goodness for the coming Winter....Fall and Winter are still coming, right?

This is the week to work on freezing and canning. At Market and the Farm Stand we will have 20 lb boxes of Roma Tomatoes, 20 lb boxes of beefsteak canning tomatoes, and 10lb flats of heirloom seconds ready for your creations. We will also have some 5lb bags of green beans for those of you who make dilly beans or want to blanch and freeze for Winter. There is nothing better than enjoying some of Summer's bounty on a cold snowy night and sharing that with friends and family. 

This week on the Farm, we've had little relief from weather and smoke as we harvest and prepare for Fall. But there is hope, I did see that the pie pumpkins are ready. It did surprise me a bit as they are two weeks early, but it was a comforting reminder that cooler days are ahead. The first seedlings of spinach, arugula, spicy mix, and radishes are up and cultivated. Before long we will be seeding greens in all the tunnels that we will be harvesting off of for the Winter CSA till next March. Big harvests are on the horizon - onions, shallots, beets, winter squash, chilies, celeriac, parsnips, Winter carrots, Winter radishes, cabbage, popcorn, and more!  And a number of fall treats are still on the list for the Summer season...

Speaking of Winter CSA, we have been working on finalizing the details of how it will operate in this new world which we live in. Our goals are to make it safe for you and us and convenient for you and your lives. We will be doing the box pick up starting the first week of November (only two months away!). We love doing the pick up at Equinox Brewing and the massive community gathering that it becomes but that is not in the cards for us this year. 

The pick up will be over 4 days Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday at one of our walk in coolers at the home farm (2100 CR 54G) during daylight hours. Our hope is that this gives folks enough days to grab their share as well as allowing folks to spread out pick up times and avoid crowds. More details to come. But if you are interested don't forget to sign up, we have less than 40 Winter Shares left and we always sell out. 

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


This Week's Harvest:

• Red Romaine Head Lettuce

• Green Summer Crisp Head Lettuce

• Carrots 

• Beets (red and gold)

• Kale (Tuscan and Curly)

• Rainbow Chard

• Zucchini

• Yellow Squash and Patty Pan Squash 

• Heirloom hardneck garlic

• Sweet Onions

• Cucumbers

• Green Beans! 

• Dragon Tongue Roma Beans

• Bell Peppers

• Broccoli

• Italian Parsley

• U pick Basil is taking a week off to recover

• Flowers! (Bouquets at Market and Farm Stand)

• U Pick Flowers at the Farm Stand!

• Red beefsteak slicer tomatoes 

• Heirloom Tomatoes

• Hot Peppers: Jalapeño, Serrano, Fresno

• Asian and Italian Eggplant

• Shishito Peppers 

• Yukon Potatoes

• Fingerling potato mix(Starting saturday)

• And likely some other surprises 

The Weekly Harvest: A season of curve balls

Photo credit: Jimena Peck

Hey Folks, 

It's hot out here. This must be one of the hottest Augusts we have experienced and now there is a wildfire. What a trying year for all of us in our community and the world for that matter. I am amazed at how humanity can band together on the micro and macro scale to deal with adversity. 

This season feels like we are just getting curve ball after curve ball thrown at us with now exceptional heat in August and wildfire smoke which all makes for very challenging conditions to work in, let alone the stress on the crops. Our team is hunkering down, hustling, and doing an amazing job harvesting all of this bounty.

Speaking of the bounty, it is time for y'all to dig into this abundance. We have green beans, Roma beans, heirloom tomatoes, and Roma tomatoes coming in heavy, and yes cantaloupe. Cantaloupe will be at both the Market and Farm Stand this week. This is a relatively new crop for us at the Farm so we are learning about when and how to pick it. These babies will ripen more after picking so don't be afraid to let it do that. We should have these only for a couple weeks so enjoy them while they are here. 

We are starting to have boxes of Roma canning tomatoes (20 lb box for $30) coming in, so keep an eye out for those at Market and at the Farm Stand later in the week. We will also have 10 lb flats of heirloom tomato seconds which are great for a salsa session in my opinion. 

Enjoy the harvest, 
Nic and The Native Hill Crew


This Week's Harvest:

• Red Romaine Head Lettuce

• Green Summer Crisp Head Lettuce

• Salad Mix at Farm Stand

• Leeks (Farm Stand)

• Carrots 

• Beets (red, gold, and chioggia)

• Kale (Tuscan and Curly)

• Rainbow Chard

• Zucchini

• Yellow Squash and Patty Pan Squash 

• Heirloom hardneck garlic

• Sweet Onions

• Cucumbers

• Green Beans! 

• Dragon Tongue Roma Beans

• Bell Peppers

• Broccoli

• Italian Parsley

• U pick Basil at the farm stand

• Flowers! (Bouquets at Market and Farm Stand)

• U Pick Flowers at the Farm Stand!

• Red slicer tomatoes 

• Heirloom Tomatoes

• Hot Peppers: Jalapeño, Serrano, Fresno, Suave

• Asian and Italian Eggplant

• Shishito Peppers (limited quantities)

• Yukon Potatoes (starting Friday afternoon and Saturday)

• And likely some other surprises