Blue Fox Farm

What’s at Market? Week of June 28th

We’re quickly moving into July here. Melanie and I saw the first ripening tomato today. This is a good sign. There’s one variety that always has one tomato ripen before all others in the entire collection. Every single year it’s this same variety. And it’s one tomato. Indicator species maybe. Dunno.

Our basil is growing fast. A couple of weeks away. And the potatoes are flowering like mad. Fingerling potatoes soon to follow flowering. It’s all about indicators and observation of said indicators. That’s farming in a nutshell. We love it.

Here’s what’s happening at the market this week:

• Arugula
• Beets
• Stir Fry Mix (Let me know if any of you have tried this from the co-op, we’re bagging it up there now and would love some feedback)
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage of all types- savoy,green, red, and Napa
• Carrots
• Chard- This has been a world class year for our chard this year. It’s rockin!
• Cilantro
• Armenian Cukes
• Slicing Cukes
• Kale of many types
• Lettuce- Red Leaf, Green Leaf,Red Oak (my favorite), Romaine, Red Butterhead, Green Butterhead
• Walla Walla Sweet Onions
• Parsley
• Snap Peas (This is the last of the peas)
• Radishes (The last of the radishes)
• Salad Mix
• Spinach (Maybe the last or 2nd to last week for spinach)
• Zucchini- Yellow and Green

I hope you’re all enjoying the bounty. It’s fun seeing the garden unfold so differently each season. Hopefully we won’t ever get it figured out and the farm will continue to challange us. Come to think of it…. I’m sure we won’t ever get it figured out. It’s farming after all.

That was my deep thought of the week. See you at market.

p.s. Strawberries are on their way back……

What’s at Market? Week of June 21st

These are our cukes growing in the hoophouse. Yum!

It really is summer now. I think it could start feeling like it at any moment. We seem to have piles of food this week. We’ve been non-stop busy for, well, awhile now. I’m excited, we just received a new HD video camera in the mail from a research project we were a part of through OSU. The idea being that we (farmers involved in project) can start collaborating via the web to educate other farmers and share what we’re doing. I like the FLIP Camera, because you can basically do one click uploads to the web with it. Read here as: We’re farming we don’t have time to upload… So hopefully I’ll get some cool HD video of the farm. I’ll also be posting over on my farm resource blog I’m continually (yet slowly) adding to: wannafarm.com

So anyway, technology continues to creep into our simple (ha!) farming lives. For the better though I feel.

Anyway, on to the food….

This week at market:

• Arugula
• Beets
• Stir Fry Mix
• Broccoli
• Cabbage of all types
• Cauliflower
• Carrots
• Chard
• Cilantro
• Collards
• Slicing Cukes
• Striped Armenian Cukes
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Scallions
• Walla Walla Sweet Onions
• Parsley
• Snap Peas
• Radishes
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Zucchini
• Napa Cabbage

And that’s a pile o’ food.

See you all at market!

What’s at Market? Week of June 14th

Our Tomatoes are seriously growing now. Fruit is set on the plants. It’s just a matter of time.

Luckily I have my helper to aid me in closing the hoophouse up each night.

He’s got the rolling of the plastic down…

We’ve had our salad mix in the Ashland Co-Op for awhile now. We just started offering a new product there this past week. It’s our stir fry mix. (Some of you may remember it’s previous name as “Braising Mix”) Same great mix of cooking greens. If you can’t make it to market for our veggies, we always have them at the Ashland Co-op and at Gooseberries in Grants Pass.

Food is good. Real food is even better.

Remember the field of weedy winter squash a week or so ago? They were saved by our master weeders.

So here’s what we’ll have at market this week:

• Arugula
• Basil (This is loose not rooted. Just the first taste out of the hoophouse)
• Beets
• StirFry Mix
• Broccoli (Just a bit coming to market. We’re between rounds)
• Scallions
• Cabbage (Green, Savoy, Red)
• Cauliflower
• Chard
• Cilantro
• Collards
• Cucumbers!!!!!! Yes!
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Walla Walla Sweet Onions
• Parsley
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Radishes
• Salad Turnips (The last of the last)
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Napa Cabbage

See you at market!!!

What’s at Market? Week of June 7th

Someone, who hadn’t seen me in awhile, asked the other day, “So, what ya been up to?”

“Not much. Same stuff”, I replied.

Which is somewhat true, but then I thought about it and realized, “What haven’t I been up to?” Things are busy on the farm. We’re having a weeding extravaganza this week, getting the weed scene under control, and then the veggies can just grow.We almost have the garden filled out, and winter squash are starting to grow and fill in their space. We’re working on getting a hedgerow established along the highway side of the farm for beneficial insects to over winter in, as well as a sound barrier. And there’s summer cover crops to be planted as well. Lots of fun stuff for sure.

This past weekend our crew was short because of various necessary family obligations for some of the folks on the crew. Saturday involved driving the market truck to Ashland, setting up, having our friend run that market while I drove his truck to Grants Pass to work that market with once of our other peoples. And, then drive back, get the market truck and head home.

Friends commented that I was crazy, but I realized that this life of market farming is all about adapting to your daily surroundings and the necessary madness that ensues when your daily surroundings involve fresh produce. It’s just par for the course. And we love it.

Well, the weather has been phenomenal growing weather, so we’re embracing it and pulling out a pile of food from our fields.

Here’s what we’ll have at market this week:

• Arugula
• Beets !!! The greens on the beets are awesome too! eat’em up.
• Stir Fry Mix
• Broccoli
• Green and Savoy Cabbage
• Napa Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Chard
• Cilantro
• Collards
• Cucumbers !! Yep the first few in the first flush are here.
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Scallions
• Snap Peas. A limited amount for the first pick. Get there early if you want some of these sugary snacks
• Walla Walla Sweet Onions
• Parsley
• Strawberries. Again a limited amount . These are first year berries just starting to get things going.
• Radishes
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Turnips

Carrots aren’t too far off. Zukes will maybe be ready to pick next week. Red cabbage is coming. And our favorite variety of cauliflower is just about ready. Oh and the potatoes are starting to flower. Fingerlings won’t bee too far off. Maybe the end of the month.

Ahhhhh summer is fast approaching.

See you at market!!!!

What’s at Market? Week of June 1st

Today (Monday) was a day of interesting and exciting times. First, uncovering our row cover that was shrouding our winter squash and summer squash from cucumber beetles, we discovered a interesting carpet of weeds. Ah yes. the cover encourages growth of the wanted plants as well as the unwanted plants. This is the before shot. I’ll post an after shot in another day or so.

But onto better things: Broccoli and Cauliflower. It’s like a farmer’s Christmas: Waiting for new crops to come in. Well today was a jackpot. Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cilantro, Napa Cabbage, Parsley, Scallions, Walla Walla Sweet Onions, and even a few Strawberries! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah. (I reserve the finger press on the ‘h’ key for very special occasions like this)

So that was nice. We’d been in a spring “I can’t wait for more summer like crops and neither can our loyal market goers” funk.

Hope this helps.

Then to finish the day we had a serious storm front move through with rain. Yeah, that’s right. I said rain. In June. Go figure. It was awesome. Thunder and everything.

So now I’m amped up to be at market with our tables full with all the produce. Bring on the bounty!

Here’s what we’ll have tomorrow:

• Arugula
• Stir Fry Mix (Braising Mix in a naming transition)
• Broccoli
• Napa Cabbage (Kim Chi time for us)
• Cauliflower
• Chard
• Cilantro
• Collards
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Sweet Onions
• Scallions (Green Onions)
• Parsley
• Strawberries!!!!
• Radishes
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Turnips

See you at Market!

What’s at Market? Week of May 24th

We’re in full on “GROW” mode now. The tomatoes are growing, it seems, double every week and the cukes are growing even faster. I love leaving the farm at the end of one day, returning the next, and noticing measurable change.

We must be getting close to summer, as everyone here in the Applegate Valley is cutting their “first cutting” of hay. And the folks down the road with the acres of sweet corn have a nice stand emerging from the soil. Summer approaches quickly.

It does seem that we see a lull at markets this time of year. Maybe it’s the fact that everyone is already tired of the spring crops, waiting for all the super summer crops to come on. Or maybe people are busy with end of school, beginning of summer vacation madness. Who knows…. just something I’ve observed over the past few seasons.

But don’t worry, we’ll be at market every week, with every type of produce we can manage to bring. Hopefully we’ll continue to improve on these offerings as our years in the valley build. Wish us luck. We’re going to be here doing this a long long time.

This week at market:

• Braising Mix
• Chard
• Green Garlic
• Red Russian Kale
• Italian Kale
• Green Kale
• Red Butterhead Lettuce
• Red Oakleaf Lettuce
• Romaine Lettuce
• Red Leaf Lettuce
• Green Leaf Lettuce
• Spring Sweet Onions
• Radishes
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Salad Turnips
• Purple Top Turnips

Strawberries, Cilantro, and Napa Cabbage are getting close!

See you at market.

What’s at Market? Week of May 17th

I’ve recovered from the odd congestive cold thing I had and oddly enough no one else in the family caught it. I have definitely been loopy over the past week so hopefully I represented myself as partially sane at market last week.

A few things:

If you’re attending the Grants Pass Growers’ Market you’ll see that I won’t be there much on Saturdays now. This is due to Ashland Saturday market starting. (more on that in a minute) Who you will find for the rest of the year at market is Anna. She comes with loads of previous market experience back in the Pennsylvania/Maryland area. She’s worked lots of markets but wants to gain more hands on field knowledge with us this season…..so it works out for us and her. Now don’t be mislead, the fellow working with her for the next several weeks at market is ironically named Chris and has a red berad as well. Not my brother, cousin, or uncle. No relation actually but we’re excited to have him along to help out at markets too. It was his family’s farm that Anna marketed for back east. I’ll get around to introducing the other folks who are helping us out this season in the coming weeks.

So Ashland Saturday Market is happening once again. Much earlier this year and going later. Tell your friends and family. It always takes work to change our patterns in life but if you can’t make it to the Tuesday market then this one is perfect for you. We’re hoping to see an increase in community support this year and think that this market will become just as integral to the community dynamic as the Tuesday one has become.

The hours of the Saturday market are 9 am to 1 pm and it’s located in the parking lot across from the post office in downtown Ashland.

Now…on to food……

This week we have:

• Arugula
• Braising Mix
• Chard
• Green Garlic
• Kale
• Lettuce- Red and Green Butterhead, Romaine, Red and Green Leaf, and Red Oak Leaf
• Spring Sweet Onions
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Rhubarb
• Salad Turnips
• Purple Top Turnips

We’ve just tilled under our last patch of cover crop from the winter. It was oats and peas. A really nice stand indeed. That area will be planted to all the summer/fall crops- peppers, eggplant, winter squash, summer squash, melons, cukes, etc.

And even though we’ve been busy, we’re still finding time for the finer things in life…..like taking a lazy Sunday afternoon and playing some serious hoops as well as some hard core dunking.

Life is good…..

What’s at Market? Week of May 10th

The Ashland Saturday market starts this weekend. We’ll be there as well as at Grants Pass growers market.

We’ll be bringing:

• Arugula
• Braising Mix
• Chard
• Green Garlic
• Kale
• Leeks
• Lettuce
• Spring Sweet Onions
• Radishes
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Turnips
• Summer Jean
• Tomato Plant Starts

See you there!

What’s at Market? Week of May 3rd

We planted a lot of onions on Friday. 118 flats to be exact. That’s 200 onions (give or take) per flat. A fair amount of onions.

Gladly, we got them all stuck in without much of a drop of rain and now it’s been dumping. Grow onions grow. I’m sure the entire garden will explode with growth once these rains are finished. Out comes the sun and whamo!, everything grows, weeds included. We’ve got our arsenal of tools ready for the moment it dries out enough to get going on weed patrol.

He’s just set on driving this thing. He even loves wearing the hearing protection head phones when riding with me. He’ll be on here before we know it.

He’s quite the happy kiddo. We’re loving every minute of it. Well there was that one minute, but it was only 58 seconds long.

And last but not least, the Cukes are in the ground- having grown much even since I took this picture. We’re aiming to have them here to crunch and munch early early early. Wish us luck, this is another of our greenhouse experiments. (One of the other greenhouse experiments- a success by the way- is all the early Kales and Chards we’ve had this spring.)

So what’s at market this week:

• Arugula
• Baby Bok Choy (The last week for the Baby Bok)
• Braising Mix
• Chard
• Green Garlic
• Spring Sweet Onions
• Kale
• Leeks
• Radishes
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Salad Turnips
• Summer Jean

We’re hoping for head lettuces next week! See you at market.

What’s at Market? Week of April 26th

It’s currently raining as I write this. Hoping for a break in the weather for market tomorrow, although we really do need the moisture. Speaking of moisture, someone asked how we irrigate in our hoophouses these days. We always moved pipe around in the past although I’m trying out a new system this year with inverted Wobbler sprinklers. They’re hanging from the ceiling of the hoophouse, staying out of the way of the tractor and us, and we don’t have to move anything around, the system just stays put in the rafters.

All the markets we’ve attended so far have been great! People really do like to eat real food. Good on ya! If you  haven’t had a chance to sneak a peek at the springs bounty, check these out:

What is at market this week?

Goes a little something like this:

• Arugula
• Baby Bok Choy
• Braising Mix
• Sprouting Broccoli (The alst week for this spring delight)
• Carrots
• Chard
• Green Garlic
• Kale- Dino,White,Red
• Leeks
• Radishes
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Tatsoi
• Salad Turnips
• Rhubarb
• Summer Jean (This is an asian green- A cross between a tat soi and a broccolini of sorts)
• And we have piles of tomato starts. All the varieties we grow for tomatoes we have as starts too!

We’re feeling good about the spring bounty so far. WE’ve seen a few things get hit by that spike in heat back down to sub-freezing temperatures, but luckily we have a ton of produce planted. Get ready to eat! It’s on it’s way.

See you at market!