Every season we create a crop plan that allows us to organize both the varieties and the timing for everything we will be planting. We are putting the finishing touches on our fall crop plan so that planting can begin very soon! Typically our first round of fall crops are those that are more heat tolerant and can weather the transition from summer to fall. This includes veggies like radishes, kale, arugula, bok choy, and turnips. Farmer Matt is especially looking forward to the first planting of carrots since they are his all-time favorite veggie. We hope you are as excited for this seasonal transition as we are!

We installed new plastic sheeting on the greenhouse this week in anticipation of fall planting. The greenhouse allows us to control the elements as much as possible with our seedlings which is vital during the first stages of life. The plastic sheeting protects our plants from wind and rain while also naturally and evenly diffusing sunlight. And, in the colder months, it helps to keep our seedlings warm. The greenhouse is vital to the lifecycle of our plants as it allows us to give them a stronger start which can lead to more robust plants and better tasting crops in the field!

In Season at the Farm Stand: Poblanos Peppers, Jalapeno Peppers, Shishito Peppers, Serrano Peppers, Okra, Long Beans, Cantaloupe (limited), Italian Eggplant (limited), Cucumbers (limited), Mexicana Squash (limited), and Baby Butternuts

Even though we have a couple of nights coming up this weekend with freezing temperatures, we wanted to give you an update on how the farm fared this week. As of right now, everything we covered in the field with frost cloth looks good! There are a few crops that we’ll be trimming and monitoring over the next week to see if they bounce back. If not, it gives us even more space to prepare for spring planting.

The greenhouse was sealed up in preparation for the freeze. We covered everything with frost cloth and greenhouse film as an added layer of protection. We’re happy to report that all of our seedlings look great! A fully stocked greenhouse will allow us to be able to plant a late winter succession of veggies in addition to the first spring crops in a few weeks.

The high tunnel was sealed up as well and almost every crop was covered with frost cloth. The first thing we checked were our carrots (below) and they look great! We couldn’t help but sneak a carrot or two just to make sure they’re still sweet and delicious. Overall, we will have lean offerings the next few weeks as the farm bounces back. The great news is that we’ll be planting some delicious quick-growing veggies this weekend!

In Season at the Farm Stand: Brussels Sprouts, Kohlrabi, Swiss Chard, Kale, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Turnips, and Watermelon Radishes. 

We hope you’ll join us on the farm on Saturday, November 4th from 9am-12pm for the Live Well Health and Fitness Expo! Hosted in partnership with the Jordan Ranch Lifestyle Team, this event will feature 20 local vendors, live music, activities, food trucks, and of course, our Farm Stand. We’ll be offering special veggie kits and recipes at the event to inspire you to cook with our seasonal produce. This event is free of charge and open to the public so we hope to see you there!

Fall plantings continued this week as we prepared more of our beds. We were excited to direct-seed a row of snap peas in the field, and as you can see below, they’re already germinating! Just like with our bush beans, we’re able to sow both spring and fall successions of snap peas in our climate. These snap peas will take between 50-60 days to yield the first harvest. Assuming we don’t get a hard freeze before the end of the year, we should have some for you by mid-December! 

In order to have a steady supply of crops throughout any given season, we seed multiple successions in the greenhouse. It’s hard to believe we’re already on our third round of fall planting! This round included scallions (one of Farmer Anna’s favorites!), spinach, kohlrabi, fennel, lettuces, and Tokyo Bekana (pictured below). All of these crops will thrive in the cooler temperatures of fall and early winter and lend delicious diversity to our harvests.

In Season at the Farm Stand: Bok Choy, Swiss Chard, Arugula, Radishes, Eggplant, and Okra

Coming Soon: Bush Beans, Kale, and Turnips. 

The greenhouse is starting to fill up with summer crops! Even though we just started harvesting our first round of summer squashes, we’re already planting seeds for the next one. This is called succession planting and it helps to lengthen our harvest window and maintain more of a steady supply of produce throughout the season. In addition to summer squashes, we’ve also been starting seeds for hot peppers, melons, and okra (pictured below). Before you know it, it will be time to plant these crops in the field!

Our onion crop sized up nicely in the field so now it’s time to harvest and cure them. Curing involves spreading the onions out in a single layer with plenty of air circulation so that their papery skins dry and tighten around the bulbs. We’re doing this on the tables in our greenhouse. After the curing process, the onions become a storage crop and can last up to a few months if kept in a cool, dry spot. This was a bountiful harvest so make sure to stock up on onions next time you’re at the farm stand! They make the perfect addition to so many recipes and can even be cooked down into a savory and flavorful onion jam. 

We know you enjoyed our baby carrots so we’re happy to share that we will have bunches of full sized carrots at the farm stand this weekend! Did you know that you can eat both the root and the leafy green portion of carrots? Once you bring your carrots home, make sure to separate the greens from the carrots. The greens can be used like an herb and they make an especially delicious pesto. Farmer Anna recommends roasting your carrots, then pairing them with a carrot top pesto for a simple and tasty springtime side dish.

In Season at the Farm Stand: Carrots, Zucchini, Zephyr Summer Squash, Beets (red, golden, & Chioggia), Fennel, Spring Onions, Cabbage, Collards, Kohlrabi, Celery, Kale, Turnips, and Icicle Radishes.

Remember the first round of tomato seeds we planted a few weeks back? As you can see in the photo above, they’ve started to germinate! Keeping them tented in an extra layer of greenhouse film definitely helped keep them warm and happy in the greenhouse throughout the freeze. In order to make sure we have plenty of tomatoes for both the high tunnel and the field, we planted seeds for the second round last week. This planting included Jolene (a deep red beefsteak) and Juliet (a red mini-Roma variety).

A new year brings the perfect opportunity to experiment with new crops on the farm. The seeds of the first new veggie we’re trying can be seen soaking in water in the photo below. Any guesses? They’re artichoke seeds! Artichokes are an edible variety of thistle that are native to the Mediterranean. The part that we consume is the heart or inner portion of the unopened flower buds. We are incredibly excited to see how this experiment goes! Our hope is to be able to share some artichokes with you in late spring or early summer.

Since our greenhouse didn’t incur any losses during the freeze, it’s packed with plenty of veggies to plant in the field! Once we remove our frost-damaged crops and prepare our beds, we’ll be planting the next round of winter crops. This round is a colorful mix of broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, scallions, spinach, lettuces, and herbs like cilantro. Make sure to come to our free farm tour on Saturday, January 14th from 9am-noon so you can see how much progress these crops have made!

In Season at the Farm Stand: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, bok choy, hon tsai tai, beets, and watermelon radishes.

Upcoming Events:

• Free Farm Tours on Saturday, January 14th, 9am-noon

We’ll have something new for you at the farm stand this weekend: butternuts! These are a smaller variety called “Butterscotch” and they have a deliciously sweet and nutty flavor. Farmer Alex recommends roasting and stuffing these butternuts with a mix of your favorite protein, herbs, and goat cheese. Or, you can roast them until the flesh is tender and blend it up to use in baked goods just as you would pumpkin puree. We will have limited amounts of these at the farm stand so first come, first served!

Over the past week we direct-seeded several different fall crops in our prepared rows. Direct-seeding simply means that we planted the seeds directly in the field rather than starting them in trays in the greenhouse. We often do this with crops that we want to plant densely (like arugula and other baby greens) and root vegetables. Here’s what we direct-seeded: carrots, dragon’s tongue beans, arugula (pictured above), watermelon radishes, icicle radishes, and Easter egg radishes. Since the arugula and radishes grow fairly quickly and have already germinated, we should have them ready for you in the next 2-3 weeks!

We finished installing the new film and shade cloth on the greenhouse just in time to plant the next succession of fall crops. We’re really excited about this round of seeding because it includes a few new varieties as well as some old favorites. We sowed seeds for broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, head lettuce, fennel, scallions, celeriac, and celery. We also planted some cooler weather flowers like nigella, larkspur, and strawflower. It’s shaping up to be an incredibly delicious fall season!

In Season at the Farm Stand: Butternut Squash (limited), Okra, Asian Eggplants, Italian Eggplants, Cucumbers, Sweet Peppers, Roselle Greens, Egyptian Spinach, and Zinnia Bouquets.

Our greenhouse received a makeover just in time for fall! Over the past couple of weeks, we replaced all of the original panels with greenhouse film. Over time, the extreme heat of this summer warped some of the panels making it harder for them to withstand the wind while also disrupting the seal. The new film will allow us to control the environment inside better and will hopefully lead to improved germination.

In order to have space for all of the fall crops that are filling the greenhouse, we’ll be mowing down our cowpea cover crop. Cover crops in the legume family like cowpeas have the ability to fix beneficial nitrogen to the soil as they grow. You can see the evidence of this in the photo below! The nodules on the cowpea roots that fix nitrogen are in the center of the frame. Once the cowpeas are mowed down, we’ll tarp them so that they break down and are incorporated into the soil as organic matter. At that point, this section of our field will be ready for our second succession of fall planting!

You might have noticed that we’re a little lean on offerings at the moment as we transition from late summer into fall. Despite having a smaller variety of items to cook with in our kitchens, we’ve still been whipping up some incredibly delicious dishes. Farmer Alex recently made a lasagna with thin slices of eggplant and Egyptian spinach that was really delicious. And, one of our volunteers, Anna, has been making batches of fermented pickles with our cucumbers. We’ve also been making a few small zinnia bouquets each week in case you’d like to add some farm beauty to your home! You can find the full list of what we have available below.

In Season at the Farm Stand: Okra, Asian Eggplants, Italian Eggplants, Cucumbers, Sweet Peppers, Roselle Greens, Egyptian Spinach, and Zinnia Bouquets.

Though the urge to lean into all things fall might be strong as soon as September hits, we still have many delicious summer crops available on the farm! We’re growing a new variety of cucumber for you in the high tunnel called Summer Dance. It’s a Japanese burpless variety that yields long, dark green cucumbers. It’s just starting to set female blossoms (which you can see in the photo above) so we should be harvesting them for you very soon! Aside from these cucumbers, the high tunnel is planted with other delicious late summer crops like beans and peppers. If you’re curious what is currently in season at the farm stand, check out the list at the bottom of this post!

We’re planting a new squash variety for you this week: Tromboncino. It is a long and thin squash with a bulbous appearance on the blossom end (sort of like a stretched out butternut). The seeds are concentrated at the base so the long neck is supposed to be denser and less watery with a more complex and nutty flavor. Since Tromboncino squashes are a moschata species, they produce a solid stem rather than a hollow one which tends to be more resistant to the destructive squash vine borer. We can’t wait to share these delicious squashes with you!

The greenhouse is teeming with life as the seeds we’ve planted for fall have begun to germinate and grow. At this point, the greenhouse is nearly full! We hope you’re as excited as we are for the return of fall crops. Here’s what you can look forward to as the weather cools down: cabbage (pictured above), Swiss chard, collard greens, kale, scallions, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, beets (pictured below), and flowers for fall bouquets.

In Season at the Farm Stand: Spaghetti Squash, Egyptian Spinach, Roselle Greens, Sweet Peppers, Jalapenos, Habanada Peppers, Fresno Peppers, Cayenne Peppers, Okra, Armenian Cucumbers, Zucchini, Watermelons, Long Beans, Italian Eggplant, Asian Eggplant, and Sunflower Bouquets.

The arrival of January means it’s time to start our tomato seeds! We plan on having tomatoes in both our high tunnel and the field. We started seeds for our field tomatoes this week while we potted up our high-tunnel tomato seedlings (the photo above) that were started a couple of weeks ago. Here’s a selection of the tomatoes we’ll be growing this year: Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye (Farmer Alex’s favorite!), Black Krim, Sungold, Black Cherry, Cherry Bomb, and Big Beef.

We did a lot of direct-seeding this week to replenish what was lost in the freeze. Direct-seeding means that we planted seeds directly in place in our rows rather than starting them in transplant trays in the greenhouse. This method is helpful for planting root crops in addition to veggies we want to sow thickly like lettuce mixes. Here’s what we direct-seeded: arugula, salad mix, baby kale, baby bok choy, turnips, Pink Beauty radishes, and Purple Plum radishes.

We’re harvesting a lot of beautiful edible flowers at the moment! We have multiple varieties of nasturtium and stock growing, both of which yield delicious, edible blooms. Nasturtiums (the photo above) are members of the brassica family and they produce large blooms with a mild peppery flavor. Stock (pictured below) is also a member of the brassica family and produces spikes of small blooms that taste similar to a radish. Edible flowers can be added to salads or used as a garnish for cocktails or baked goods.

In Season: Spinach, Mini Little Gem Lettuce Heads, Cauliflower, Sprouting Broccoli, Kale, Cabbage Beets, Carrots, Fennel, Slicer Tomatoes, and Edible Flowers

November 4th, 2021

We noticed that some of our Napa cabbages are in the beginning stages of forming their heads! In the early stages of growth, cabbages produce large, broad leaves like you see in the photo below. Eventually, the inner leaves will begin to curl inwards and grow tightly together to form the cabbage head. We have both green and red Napa cabbage varieties planted. We’re hoping to be able to make the first harvest in the next few weeks.

The cooler weather that arrived this week means we must bid farewell to some of our remaining summer crops. Each crop has its own seasonality and while we’re able to keep summer crops around for much longer here than in northern growing zones, eventually there comes a time when they must make their way out of season. This is the last week you’ll be able to find the following veggies at the farm stand: yellow squash, cucumbers, hot peppers, and sweet peppers. Make sure to come stock up at the farm stand on Saturday from 10am-noon!

We did a big round of seeding in the greenhouse last week and we’re already seeing really good germination with what we’ve planted. Germination is a term for the process of a planted seed developing after being in dormancy. Upon germinating, the first leaves to appear are the cotyledons (like you see in these Merlot cabbage plants below). Here are some other delicious varieties that are germinating in the greenhouse: Kohlrabi, Barese chard, Cegolaine lettuce, Belstar broccoli, and Amazing cauliflower.

Currently In Season: Cherry Tomatoes, Slicer Tomatoes, Broccoli, Kale, Tokyo Bekana, Arugula, Lettuce, Hakurei Turnips, Shishito Peppers, Padron Peppers, Jalapeno Peppers, Poblano Peppers, Eggplant, Yellow Squash, Cucumbers, and White Icicle Radishes

May 26th, 2021

The farm received at least 11 inches of rain over the last week and despite seeing standing water in the furrows, we’re happy to report that our drainage is much improved over last year! Now that the sun is out, we’re confident that it won’t be long before things begin to dry out. Once they begin to dry out we’ll be able to recommence planting because our greenhouse is looking lush with summer greens, peppers, and other exciting things like ginger.

We made the first eggplant harvest of the season with our Money Maker variety. Money Maker is a Japanese variety that produces glossy purplish-black eggplants. The flesh is tender and perfect for all types of culinary applications from grilling to roasting to pickling. A classic Japanese eggplant dish is Nasu Dengaku, a side dish made with halves of eggplant that are scored, grilled, and brushed with a sweet and savory miso glaze. You can find a recipe here if you’d like to try it!

Our perennial row is adding beautiful pops of color to the farm as our zinnias, sunflowers, and celosia bloom. We’ll be offering a limited amount of fresh flower bouquets at each farm stand crafted from our cut flowers. We’ll also be offering a variety of fresh herbs from our perennial row now that they have put plenty of healthy growth since they were transplanted! We’ve been harvesting dill, sage, Texas tarragon, rosemary chives, lemon basil, sweet basil, and Thai basil. You can find these beautiful herbs at our farm stand on Saturdays from 10am to noon and Wednesdays from 4-6pm.