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Brrrr.....its cold out there!

Hello everyone! These last few weeks have super chilly at the farm. With temperatures dipping into the teens multiple nights in a row things have been moving very sloooooow (plants, animals and yes, humans!) We have had some awesome winter storms which have left the mountains snowy and the creek running strong.

Over Thanksgiving we had Andrew's cousin Dave come to visit for a week from Cape Cod. He helped out on the farm with harvesting, planting, row making and pecan picking. We LOVED having him help out, thanks Dave, come back anytime!

Its been all about greens lately for us. Our arugula, hardy greens mix and baby salad greens have been going strong even with the cold temps. The arugula is so yummy as a pesto and I also love to stir-fry it with garlic and have it on pasta. We plan on having greens all winter so you will be able to find them at the markets each week.

Mushrooms are dragging their feet with the temps in the teens. They want to snuggle under the covers (like me) when its this cold but they are chugging along. The shiitakes are also taking their time, we may have to experiment in some different ways to get them going quicker!

Coming up to harvest are beets, carrots, snap peas and spinach! Thats all for now, I'll leave you with an incredible arugula pesto recipe.

Arugula Pesto
Yields: 1 cup of pesto (give or take)
1/2 pound of arugula (two of our bags)
1 cup of walnuts or pine nuts
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 lemon
6 cloves of garlic
salt & pepper to taste

Combine nuts, garlic, salt & pepper and parmesan cheese in a food processor. Blend until fine. Add first bag of arugula and blend while slowly adding half of the olive oil (you can add more oil if you need to). When arugula is fully blended open the processor and add the juice of the lemon and second bag of arugula. Finish blending while adding the rest of the oil or more to get to the consistency you want. Enjoy on pasta, pizza, with eggs....pretty much on just about anything! Freeze what you don't use in ice-cube trays for single servings. Yum!

 Thanks for reading!! -Nicole, Andrew and a special "snow bird".

Finally winter!

Hi Everyone. Winter is finally upon us in the San Pedro Valley. We had our first 23 degree night last week and had to rush and pull out the row covers. All our tender baby winter veggies were snug and safe under the covers. Luckily before the freeze we were able to harvest the rest of our heirloom green tomatoes. We sold some at markets and enjoyed a few dishes of fried green tomatoes, yum! The cold weather brought upon the end of our zinnias. These plants were going strong for many months. Although its sad to see the end of flower season Andrew is happy not to be out in the dark on market mornings harvesting them with a flash light!

Our winter root veggies are coming in fast, especially the radishes! We have easter egg and french breakfast this year. I harvested almost 1000 of them the other day for market, its crazy! The turnips are just about ready, we will have them this Sunday for market, just in time for Thanksgiving. They are so good mashed with a little butter, milk and salt. Or cut up and roasted. OR in stews. And don't forget to eat the greens, they are so tender and delicious! Also on the way are chioggia beets and carrots. They are a little slower so look for them in a few weeks at the market. Our winter greens are filling in and we are offering a salad mix, arugula and a hardy greens mix for cooking or salads (which is kale, tat-soi & mustard greens).

The mushroom season is in full swing. With the colder air in the greenhouse the caps are becoming super thick and dark. This is the time of the year for amazingly "meaty" mushrooms. Its finally cool enough this week to start on shitakes. Look for them in mid-December at our table.

That is all for now. I'll leave you with a beautiful sunset (and the last of the green late summer grass). Thanks for reading and see you at the markets!

Mushrooms are BACK!

Hi Everyone. We have been so happy to be offering mushrooms again at our markets! We worked so hard in the begginning of September preparing for the October mushroom harvest. We now are starting to have the usual cool weather abundance of oyster mushrooms and we will have them until about May. Once it gets even cooler we will start experimenting with shiitakes so hopefully we will be offering those around the New Year.

Sugar Baby Watermelons came and left in a hurry. We had a limited, but plentiful amount and definetly plan to grow more next year. They were the perfect size and very sweet with a classic watermelon flavor. Andrew had to protect them from a determined pack of coyotes who loved to steal from the melon patches. He even slept in a tent in the field a few nights! The things we do for love (of produce, hah!).

Our tomatoes are back again for round two! The seedlings we planted back in April got a flush of monsoon tomatoes. These plants are working so hard and producing super sweet amazing heirlooms once again. We have been getting tangled in the unruly overgrown rows trying to pick each ripe tomato. I figure I eat about half as many as I bring to the market when I'm harvesting them :)

The butternut squash have been a great fall crop for us. They have been selling great at the market and we have plenty of them curing for the holiday season. I'm thinking butternut squash soup, mashed butternut squash with herbs, stuffed butternut squash with greens and sausage. Yum!

At the end of September I went home to Long Island to visit my family. While I was gone Andrew was a complete rock star and planted most of our late fall and winter crops. He planted turnips, radishes, arugala, braising greens (kale, tatsoi, mustard greens), beets and salad greens. When I got back it was time to weed all of the new rows. I cannot wait until the summer grass goes dormant!

'Tis the season for gophers! These little guys will burrow below a row of perfectly formed root vegetables and pull them right down into their hole. Then can desimate a whole row in a matter of days. Time to get our battle gear on ;)

Well that is all for now. Hope to see you all at the markets! -Nicole & Andrew

Feels like fall!

Hi Everyone. So sorry for the delay between posts. We have been super busy on the farm trying to keep up with the summer monsoon weeding! It is pretty much all we have been doing these last few months. The rains have been good to us which resulted in lots and lots of green everywhere. Aravaipa Creek filled up to the most we have ever seen. For a little while we could hear it from our land.

Along with the rains came lots of yard clean-up. Cottonwood trees are notorious for dropping branches everywhere! We got the mower and up running with new tires and I've been having a blast buzzing all around on it. Definitely one of my favorite "chores".

Our monsoon plantings of watermelons and butternut squash have resulted in bumper crops for both of them. We have so many coming in, and they are so small and cute. I cannot wait to dig into the first watermelon! We also planted black eyed peas and they have been selling great at the market. They have great depth of flavor, very earthy, that makes them stand apart from regular green beans. Our second planting of summer squash are doing great as well. We planted a variety called Ronde de Nice which is a french heirloom. They are awesome in a pasta and perfect for the grill.

Finally our pumpkins are ready for market! We planted Long Island Cheese pumpkins back in March and they sure did take they're sweet time. We are also getting a few Musque de Provence pumpkins which we just about gave up on. As soon as it cooled down a bit the vines started to produce to our delight. Even though temperatures are still hovering in the 90s the pumpkins remind us that fall is here.

Well that is all for now. I'll leave you with a beautiful sunset and a special visitor. Thanks for reading!

Mid-summer monsoony dreams....

Our days have been filled with analyzing the weather patterns, obsessing over the barometric pressure and crossing our fingers for daily monsoons. When the sky darkens and the clouds open up we breath a sigh of relief that we do not have to water!

Luckily in Arizona we have two summer seasons which means we can have two plantings of summer crops. These last few weeks we got tons of new squash, beans, watermelons and flowers in the ground. We are kind of in between right now as our early summer crops fade out and our new plantings take hold. Right now its all about keeping the weeds at bay and making sure our babies get enough water. We expanded into our second field for our monsoon plantings and the soil over there is incredible. The previous owners had horses for many years so the land is well fertilized.

We have some early summer crops that are chugging along like the Long Island Cheese pumpkins. I love these fairytale style pumpkins and they are super delicious with a sweet light orange flesh. Plus they hail from our home, Long Island, so I love them even more. We have so many growing and the patch continues to expand out with new blossoms.

Boy are we having fun with the zinnias. Not only are they epic producers, lovers of the desert environment, but the bees and butterflies go crazy for them! We have a mellow natural bee hive in one of the cottonwood trees and its clear they are sticking around this summer because of the zinnias. Also Andrew planted some mammoth sunflowers by the mushroom greenhouse that they love. We are drying the heads to sell at market so keep your eyes out for them.

And no, we haven't forgot about mushrooms! This week we are cleaning out the greenhouse and getting ready to start making logs to be ready sometime in September. The next few weeks will bring us weeding, weeding and more weeding and hopefully many more sunsets like these.....

Thanks for reading and see you at the market! -Nicole, Andrew, Willy & Big Girl