We were able to squeeze in a round of planting over the weekend before the storms arrived! Some of our vacant beds were planted with a round of late winter crops that will be able to make the transition into spring. In addition to the Swiss chard you can see in the photo above, we planted Song cauliflower, kohlrabi, and lettuce. Our remaining vacant beds will eventually be prepared for the first spring crops in a few weeks.

Our high tunnel was sown with a few different quick-growing crops. We direct-seeded radishes, arugula, and salad mix and transplanted heads of Salanova lettuce (above). We’re focusing on quick-growing crops to ensure we have plenty of space for our tomatoes! A radish can go from seed to harvest in just about a month which will give us plenty of time to prepare for the first tomato planting.

You can find the first kohlrabi of the season at the Farm Stand! Kohlrabi (above) is a member of the Brassica family along with other winter favorites like cabbage, broccoli, and kale. It has a mildly sweet broccoli flavor with a crunchy texture and can be eaten raw or cooked. To use kohlrabi, trim away the greens (you can prepare them as you would kale or collards) then carefully cut away and discard the outer skin. You can see what a prepared kohlrabi looks like below! Farmer Anna loves adding it to salads while Farmer Reuben prefers to grill thick slices of it.

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

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. 

Our first Farm Tour of the year is this Saturday, January 13th, at 10:30am! Come join us for an informational stroll around the farm on what looks to be a cool and mostly sunny morning. We’ll discuss which tomato varieties we’re planting this year and how we’re keeping them nice and warm in the greenhouse. This tour will also highlight some of our prep for the upcoming freeze along with which crops you can expect to see over the coming weeks. Our Farm Tours are open to the public and free of charge so we hope to see you there!

You’ll have another opportunity to see us this weekend at our pop-up at the Heights Mercantile Farmers Market on Sunday, January 14th from 9am-1pm! We will have first of the season Brussels sprouts for you so we highly recommend stopping by if you can. In addition to our produce, you’ll be able to peruse local goods like honey, coffee, gourmet chocolates, and so much more! The Heights Mercantile Farmers Market is located at 714 Yale Street in Houston. 

We are happy to report that our carrot crop is coming along beautifully. We thinned our carrots this week to give them the opportunity to size up which means we’ll have beautiful bunches of baby carrots available for you! These baby carrots are sweet and crunchy and a delicious preview of what’s to come. We recommend enjoying them in their raw form paired with your favorite dip or sliced and added to a salad. We’ll have bunches of baby carrots available at the Farm Stand and at our pop-up at the Heights Mercantile Farmers Market on Sunday.

In Season at the Farm Stand: Brussels Sprouts, Watermelon Radishes, Baby Carrots, Scallions, Cauliflower, Broccoli (limited), Kohlrabi, Hakurei Turnips, Swiss Chard, Collards, Cabbage, Kale, Lettuce Heads, Salad Mix, Spinach, Cilantro, Dill, and Parsley.

Upcoming Farm Events:

• Monthly Farm Tour: Saturday, January 13th at 10:30am
• Pop-up at the Heights Mercantile Farmers Market: Sunday, January 14th from 9am-1pm
• Pop-up at the Heights Mercantile Farmers Market: Sunday, January 28th from 9am-1pm

This transitional time from winter to spring is the perfect opportunity to crop plan! During these cold and rainy days, we’ve been mapping out all of the spring varietals (like cucumbers and summer squashes) that we’ll be growing as we begin to gain more daylight hours back. We’ll be focusing on a mix of tried-and-true favorites along with several experimental varieties! If you’d like to get a jump-start on your spring garden planning and are interested in growing from seed, we highly recommend checking out High Mowing Organic Seeds or Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

A huge thank you to everyone that attended our Farm Tour in January! We had a great turn out and got to answer plenty of awesome questions. We really love these opportunities to connect with others about farming so we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! If you missed out, you can join us for our next Farm Tour on Saturday, February 11th at 10:30am. Our Farm Tours are free of charge and open to the public but we ask that children be accompanied by an adult. Looking forward to seeing you on the farm!

Radishes are making their way back into season this week just in time to add their vibrant hue and peppery snap to winter dishes! These radishes are among the quick-growing crops that we planted in the high tunnel and they only took about 30 days to reach harvesting size. How’s that for some fast food?! These radishes are perfect for eating raw but if you’d like to mellow their spicy flavor, make sure to roast, sauté, or pickle them. You can score some to enjoy at the farm stand this weekend.

Upcoming Events

• Farm Tour on Saturday, February 11th at 10:30am
• Pop-Up Farm Stand at Heights Mercantile Farmers Market on Sunday, February 12th from 9am-1pm

In Season at the Farm Stand: Radishes, Sugar Snap Peas, Rainbow Carrots, Arugula, Scallions, Lettuce, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Kale, and Cilantro.

It’s already time to pot-up our tomatoes! “Potting-up” is a process that involves removing the seedlings from their trays and replanting them in larger four-inch pots. This allows more space for their roots to develop and prevents them from getting root-bound. Our goal is to plant our high tunnel tomatoes in mid-February and our field tomatoes in early March. If you want to add tomatoes to your garden this spring, we’ll have plenty of extra transplants for sale at the farm stand in March!

Salad mix is making its way back into season this week! This is one of the many quicker-growing crops we seeded in our high tunnel right after the freeze. It took just about a month to reach harvesting size! Our salad mix is nice and tender and perfect for whipping up a winter salad. Farmer Alex loves dressing it with a homemade maple dijon vinaigrette. You can pick up some salad mix at the farm stand this weekend.

Remember the onion starts that we planted at the end of November? It’s already time to thin them out! Thinning out our onions allows more space for the remaining bulbs to develop and grow. The great thing about this process is that we can eat the immature onions that we remove! As you can see in the photo below, these young onions look similar to a leek but have a mellow flavor like a scallion. Farmer Alex recommends thinly slicing and sprinkling them over a bowl of ramen or using them to make onion confit.

In Season at the Farm Stand: Sugar Snap Peas, Rainbow Carrots, Arugula, Scallions, Lettuce, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Kale, and Cilantro.

We are incredibly excited to announce that we will have rainbow carrot bunches for you at the farm stand this weekend! While the freeze at the end of last year slowed down their growth, it also left them nice and sweet. Certain crops like carrots will convert their starches into sugar in freezing weather as a way to protect their cells and prevent damage. Lucky for us, that natural defense mechanism yields a sweeter carrot! Farmer Alex recommends picking up a bunch and either roasting them with za’atar or pureeing them into a smooth and silky soup along with some coconut milk and your favorite spices.

Are you curious what it takes to grow food year-round in our climate? Or maybe you’re interested in immersing yourself in the environment of a small local farm? Come volunteer with us! We welcome volunteers on the farm on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 9am-noon throughout the year. Our awesome volunteers help us with myriad tasks around the farm planting like planting, weeding, and harvesting. If you’re interested, please send us an email at JordanRanch@Agmenity.com.

Sugar snap peas just made their way back into season as well! While peas are often grown as a spring crop, our high tunnel allows us to extend their season. That means we’re able to grow and harvest peas for you during the winter! Sugar snap peas are one of our favorite veggies to snack on raw, especially with hummus. If you’d like to enjoy them cooked, Farmer Anna recommends stir-frying them with some of our other veggies and hoisin sauce for a quick and flavorful side dish.

In Season at the Farm Stand: Sugar Snap Peas, Rainbow Carrots, Arugula, Scallions, Lettuce, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Kale, Purple Broccoli, Cauliflower, Beets, Turnips, Watermelon Radishes, and Cilantro.

Our first farm program of the year will be a Farm Tour this Saturday, January 14th, at 10:30am! Join us for an exciting and informative look at what we’re currently growing and harvesting on the farm. Farmers Alex and Anna will lead a walk from our farm stand through our main vegetable field and orchard to explore all of our crops. And, you’ll even get to taste some in a true farm-to-mouth experience! This tour is free of charge and open to all ages but we ask that children be accompanied by an adult. We hope to see you there and stay tuned for more farm programs and events for this winter and spring season!

Who’s ready for some tender and delicious baby arugula?! The arugula we seeded in the high tunnel just before the freeze has reached the baby phase and is ready for harvesting. That means you’ll be able to score the first arugula of 2023 at the farm stand this weekend! Farmers Alex and Anna can’t get enough of this arugula’s tender, buttery texture and mild spice. Farmer Alex recommends using it to make a winter salad with citrus, toasted walnuts, and goat cheese.

The warmer weather and sunshine we’ve had over the past week has been incredibly beneficial in helping our crops bounce back from the freeze. Though we did lose some of our crops, we’ve been working diligently to plant all of the remaining beds with winter veggies, like this kohlrabi! Kohlrabi is one of our favorite crops due to its unique flavor and satisfying crunch. While this kohlrabi won’t be ready for a couple of months, the first succession we planted before the freeze should be ready for harvesting in the next 3-4 weeks. We can’t wait to share it with you!

In Season at the Farm Stand: Arugula (new!), Scallions (new!), Lettuce, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Kale, Purple Broccoli, Cauliflower, Beets, Turnips, Watermelon Radishes, and Cilantro.

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

It’s hard to believe that just last week the temperatures were in the mid-teens on the farm! We spent the first half of last week preparing for the Arctic Blast by sealing up both the high tunnel and greenhouse and covering our crops in the field with frost cloth. While we didn't have any losses in the greenhouse or high tunnel, the extreme cold did cause some of our field crops to die. Of the vegetables that survived, some (like the onions above) have little to no damage while others like our kale and cabbage will bounce back over the next few weeks. While this is a significant loss, we were able to harvest a good portion of our crops ahead of the freeze for long term storage.

Over the next few weeks our offerings at the farm stand will be leaner as the field recovers and our quicker growing crops come in. While there will be less variety than you’re used to during this time of the year, there are still plenty of delicious veggies available for you at the farm stand like these Brussels sprouts! Farmer Anna loves to halve and roast Brussels sprouts until they’re nice and caramelized. She coats them in a glaze of soy sauce, honey, and chili flakes before roasting for a delicious sweet and salty mix.

We’re continuing planting in the high tunnel this week. Our goal is to stick to quicker growing crops so that we have plenty of time to grow and harvest before we need the space for our tomatoes. The arugula that we seeded before the freeze has already germinated and looks lush and healthy! You can see it in the photo above. Now that we have the front half of the high tunnel mostly planted, we’re preparing the back half for veggies like radish and broccoli raab. We can’t wait to start harvesting these crops for you!

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

Spinach is officially back in season! We made the first harvest of the season last week and it was truly an exciting moment. We might be biased, but we think it’s an incredibly delicious and versatile leafy green. Farmer Alex loves to make palak paneer, an Indian dish made with spinach and paneer cheese. Here’s a recipe if you’d like to try it! As for Farmer Anna, she likes to make a huge spinach salad with toasted pecans, tangerines or pears, and a balsamic vinaigrette. You can grab a bag or two of our spinach at our self-serve farm stand!

Remember our plan to fill the available space in the high tunnel with quicker growing crops? At least one of the rows is being planted with spinach. Our goal for this succession of spinach is to harvest it in the baby stage. That means we’ll plant the seeds much more densely using our Jang push seeder. We should be able to harvest our baby spinach in about 40 days.

Earlier this month we attended the Heights Mercantile Farmers Market and it went really well! Our goal in the new year is to attend this market once a month. It will allow us to broaden our reach in the larger Houston community and provide more people with our delicious farm fresh veggies! We’ll make sure to keep you updated on our next market attendance. In the meantime, make sure to take advantage of our self-serve farm stand.

In Season at the Farm Stand: Spinach, Beets, Radishes, Hakurei Turnips, Tromboncino, Scallions, Collard Greens, Cabbage, Napa Cabbage, Bok Choy, Hon Tsai Tai, Salad Mix, Kale, Mustard Greens, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cilantro, Dill, Sweet Peppers, and Eggplant.

Upcoming Events:

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

In order to get a jump on spring, we transplanted the first tomatoes and cucumbers in the high tunnel. The warmth provided by the high tunnel allows us to extend the season of crops that are more temperature sensitive. Tomatoes are one of Farmer Alex’s favorite crops to grow so we are super excited to have the first ones in the ground. If all goes well, we’ll be able to share the first tomato and cucumber harvest with you in the next couple of months!

If you love tomatoes as much as we do and want to have some in your own garden this spring, make sure you stop by the farm stand on Saturday! We’ll have tomato transplants for sale along with our produce. Tomatoes can be planted as soon as you bring them home, just make sure you’re able to protect them and keep them warm in the event that the temperature drops to freezing. Next week, we’ll be adding more transplants for you like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and Swiss chard.

We harvested a couple of new things for you this week: spring onions and radishes. Spring onions are simply bulb onions that have been harvested while they are young. We harvested a mix of 1015 yellow onions and red Southern Belle onions. They have a beautiful delicate flavor that is also a bit sweet. You can get both radishes and spring onions at the farm stand this weekend. We hope you enjoy them!

In Season: Spring Onions, Radishes, Carrots, Spinach, Cabbage, Sprouting Broccoli, Kale, and Brussels Sprouts

The sun is plentiful and the temperatures are pleasant making it the perfect time to catch up on some transplanting this week. This will be our last round of winter crops for the season before we shift gears for spring. Among the varieties planted thus far are Romaine lettuce, kohlrabi, dill, and cilantro. We also seeded a colorful mix of orange, yellow, and purple carrots along with some beets.

New to the lineup this week are sugar snap peas. Their crunch and sweetness has been a delicious and welcome contrast to our winter vegetables. We have a mix of purple and green snap peas that are perfect for snacking, adding to salads, and a quick stir-fry. Or, you could try them in this pasta dish alongside lemon and ricotta. Make sure to stop by the farm stand to get your own first taste of spring!

We have several crops on the harvesting horizon that we’re super excited to share with you. Here’s what you can expect over the next few weeks as we transition from winter to spring: radishes, arugula, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, spring onions, and cone cabbage. Check out the baby radish just beginning to peek out of the soil in the photo above!

Did you know that you can use our self-serve farm stand option anytime you have a hankering for some of our produce? While we love being able to see everyone in person at our farm stand on Saturdays from 10am-noon, we also want to make it as convenient as possible for you to shop. That’s where our self-serve option comes in! There are detailed instructions above the I-pad so that the process is quick and simple.

In Season: Sprouting Broccoli, Kale, Cabbage, Spinach, Beets, Snap Peas, Rainbow Chard, Collard Greens, and Little Gem Lettuce