Weekly news from the farm!!!

*|MC:SUBJECT|*

Greetings Everyone,

In order to streamline our harvest day, we’re implementing store hours for order placement. We’ll open up the store right after sending our newsletter, then close it Tuesday at 8 AM. To assure the quality of your veggies, it’s important on Tuesday mornings for us to have our harvest schedule ready as early in the morning as possible, that way we are able to harvest crops before they heat up from the sun. Going forward, if we don’t have an order from you by Tuesday AM, we’re assuming you don’t need any CSA groceries for the week!

We know our CSA works differently than most, in that we require you to place an order, so it may be helpful for you to set an alert Monday PM reminding you to place an order. This can easily be done using your phone alarm or a calendar notification. If you are the personality type to keep a paper “To Do” list, simply add it to your Monday evening task list each week.

Here is a link to the online store to place your order.

Your Farmers (and cleaning staff),
Carl and Julie


NOTE: Your’re receiving this eNewsletter because you’ve either been a subscriber to MHO in the past OR if you’ve registered for our newsletters from our website.  Feel free to unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive this eNewsletter!  All orders are due by 8 AM on Tuesday.  Pick-ups in Spring Creek are either Wednesday from 1pm – 8pm OR Friday from 8am – 8pm. 


What is new or abundant this week!

The first harvest of Slicing Tomatoes…. Because they are just starting to mature and we want to share the bounty with everyone, we’re reducing our normal amount from 1 pound to 3/4 pound portions and limiting it to one per order. We’re hopeful next week we’ll have more of these.  We love tomato sandwiches and practically live off these all summer long.  During the summer, our meals are quick, mostly because like you we have a gazillion jobs to do. If you find some a little less ripe, just leave on your counter top and they will ripen over the next couple of  days.

Spring Broccoli is here!  This crop has been through a lot of cold and hot weather so we’re very surprised they formed heads.  This crop is super tender so it won’t need to be cooked as long as the varieties found in the grocery store.  While your broccoli may end up on a salad, consider, steaming and tossing with lemon juice and garlic as it is quick and delicious. We’re big fans of grilling it along with other veggies such as yellow squash and zucchini. Our “go to” spring meals is making a simple stir-fry with it or using it in fried rice. This recipe for caramelizing broccoli might be worth a try because It seems that almost anything roasted or caramelized is fabulous so perhaps you might consider try.

Have you ever tried sprouting broccoli?  Broccoli used to be among Carl’s favorite crops to grow, but in recent years we’ve found it very finicky to grow, many times it flowering before forming heads because of the crazy temperature swings between nighttime lows and daytime highs that we’re starting to experience here in the mountains. This week in the Farmer’s Choice Shares, we’re including a sprouting broccoli that is known for it’s tender stems.  We’re hoping to harvest side shoots of tender stems from this crop over a period of time. We’ll be interested in hearing your feedback from this crop!  

This Weeks Farmer’s Choice!

Above is Bok Choi salad featuring bok choy, the last of overwintered carrots, radishes, turnips, cilantro and onions!  The farming season is changing, we’re moving from the Spring Crops into Summer crops, so we won’t see radishes and turnips again until late summer/early fall! 

This week’s Farmer’s Choice Share includes: (share contents are subject to change based on our actual harvest.)

We’re offer both a Farmer’s Choice Veggie and Farmers’ Choice Veggie & Meat Share.  Items common in both shares are listed first, followed by items specific to the veggie share the finally the veggie/meat share. The Farmer’s Choice Veggie & Meat share normally has smaller portions of vegetables. )

The following are included only in the veggie share:

The following are included only in the meat share

What’s happening on the farm!

We had a surprise visit!

We were surprised to have an extremely special guest book a stay in the Swallows Nest this past weekend via AirBnB! Above is Caree, who apprenticed with us over 10 years ago, so she spent an entire season living in the loft.

When she apprenticed with us, she had a gift for IPM (Integrated Pest Management) and could easily spot and identify the tiniest insects. She came to the farm studying horticulture, and her family already had land, tractors and other equipment. Normally access to land is the largest barrier for young people in becoming a farmer; however, her father wouldn’t allow her to farm the land or use the equipment. If she chose to farm, she’d be responsible for acquiring land and equipment. At that time, we couldn’t comprehend her parents not supporting her dreams in becoming a farmer.

After having farmed for over 20 years, we now totally understand her parents practicing “tough love” in not having to watch their daughter become a struggling farmer. Today, we realize how wise her parents were, because her parent’s instincts kept Caree on the right path, so she won’t end up like the farmers at MHO in struggling to hold onto the land as they reach retirement age. We’re so proud of Caree, because she now has a fulfilling career as a surgical nurse, yet continues to homestead on 2 acres of land using her farming and horticulture experience to have a large garden, raising pigs and chickens, and sharing her bounty with family and friends! Above is Carree’s son Wyatt, hanging out with Argus!

Kids, Hot Dogs and a Fire is one of the most fun meals on a Farm Vacation!

Leave a Reply