Blue Fox Farm

What’s at Market? Week of September 27th

Hmmmmmm, let’s see…a week ago this evening we were without internet, having finished a harvest day that topped 100 degrees, where we lost power due to the fire going on in Medford, all the while not knowing if we’d actually have a market to sell at in Ashland due to the fire going on there. Then last Tuesday when I awoke for market at 4 am the temperature was 38 degrees and the humidity was 65%. By the time I returned to the farm in the afternoon the temperature was 101 and the humidity was 6%. And now we’re looking at rain tomorrow, with a possible freeze sometime this week. So I know the sign in Grants Pass says, “It’s the Climate” but I never realized that the sign wasn’t a positive or negative sign. It’s simply just a statement, “It’s the Climate….. (emphasis on the dot, dot, dot). Our line of work depends solely on this climate, so I keep a close ear to what’s going on with it. Maybe a little too closely at times but I like to keep tabs on what’s going down in the weather world.

I think we’re all ready for a shift in weather. Melanie and I are definitely ready for a nice freeze- not only to finish off the Zucchini for the season- but to sweeten up all those Parsnips we have in the ground. We can’t wait! Parsnips are in our top five list of veggies. Our family here is very pro-”fall crop”.

We’ll have a few new veggies at market this week. Some of our first fall Broccoli- it seems to be running late for us this season as well as the cauliflower. We have some nice Napa Cabbage showing up this week- time for Kim Chi! And our first winter squash (Butternut and Scarlet Kabocha) will be coming to market this week too.

Here’s the full list of what we’ll have at market this week:

• Arugula
• Beets
• Stir Fry Mix
• Cabbage
• Napa Cabbage
• Carrots
• Chard
• Celery !!! This celery has been awesome! Our first year growing it, let us know what you think of it. Should we grow more next season?
• Cilantro
• Collards
• Cukes (Maybe the last week for these)
• Eggplant (On their way out)
• Garlic (Last week for the Red Grain- next week will be our softneck- California Early)
• Kales of many types
• Leeks
• Lettuce
• Sweet Onions
• Red Onions
• Parsley
• Shallots
• Strawberries (They keep cranking out new berries! Non-Stop)
• Bell Pepper
• Sweet Peppers
• Red and Yellow Potatoes
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Winter Squash (Scarlet Kabocha and Butternut)
• Salad Turnips
• Zukes
• Celery Root
• Kohlrabi

Hopefully the rain will stay away until after market tomorrow and Saturday. See you there!

Saturday September 19th at the Ashland Co-Op

We’re sampling our Stir Fry mix and our garlic at the Ashland CoOp tomorrow from 11 to 1. Come by and say hi.

What’s at Market? Week of September 13th

Ahhhhh fall. It was somewhat fun and interesting to have two days this past week over 100 degrees. But now it seems we’ve moved into a fall pattern. The veggies have moved into a fall pattern too.

We’re excited about two new crops we’re growing for the first time this year: Celery and Celery Root.

We hope you’ll give one or both a try and let us know what you think. It’s always fun to try new crops- especially when they work out.

Our summer crops are starting to come to an end. Tomatoes, Zucchini, Basil, and Cucumbers have a limited time left in the mix this season. Green Beans are done. But a pile of great fall food is on the way in the coming weeks:

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Turnips, Salad Turnips, Radishes, Winter Squash, Parsnips, Napa Cabbage,Baby Bok Choy just to name few.

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

• Arugula
• Basil
• Beets
• Stir Fry Mix
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Chard
• Cilantro
• Collards
• Cucumbers (Armenian Cukes are back in full force this week!)
• Japanese Eggplant
• Garlic (The Red stripe continues- such a beautiful tasty garlic)
• Kales of many sorts
• Leeks
• Lettuce
• Sweet Onions
• Red Onions
• Parsley
• Shallots (Yellow and Red)
• Strawberries just don’t stop.
• Bell Peppers
• Sweet Frying and Pimento Peppers
• Potatoes (Carola and Red Gold)
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Tomatoes
• Zukes
• Kohlrabi
• Celery Root
• Celery- This is a super full flavored variety with a lot of crispness and crunch. It’s quite tasty.

Photo Descriptions starting at top: Kabocha, Long Island Cheese, Buttercup Squash; Red Shallots; Fall Brassicas; Lettuce, Napa, and Kohlrabi; Da Boys inspecting Celery; Savoy Cabbage; and More Cabbage and Salad Mix

What’s at Market? Week of Sept 6th

We had patches of frost on the farm this morning. And it’s supposed to hit the upper nineties this Friday. Go Figure.

We still have piles of food coming to market:

• Arugula
• Basil
• Beets
• Beans
• Stir Fry Mix
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Chard
• Cilantro
• Collards
• Cukes
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Kale
• Leeks
• Lettuce
• Onions
• Parsley
• Shallots
• Strawberries
• Bell Peppers
• Sweet Peppers
• Potatoes
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Tomatoes
• Kohlrabi
• Zucchini

What’s at Market? Week of August 30th

Our son, Demian, turns 2 years old this week. Time is screaming by. We can’t believe it. Here we are at September already. Honestly don’t know where the days have gone. But we do have a lot of food. We’re definitely moving into the “fall” feel of the season. Lots of storage and root crops coming up in the near future. But don’t worry we still have plenty of greens and other goodies.

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

• Arugula
• Basil
• Beets
• Stir fry Mix
• Carrots
• Chard
• Cilantro
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Kale
• Leeks
• Lettuce
• Onions
• Parsley
• Shallots
• Strawberries
• Bell Peppers
• Sweet Peppers
• Potatoes (Red and Yellow)
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Tomatoes
• Zucchini

What’s at Market? Week of August 16th

We’ve enjoyed a break in the heat for several weeks. Luckily most of the fall planted crops have gotten themselves established enough before this next heat wave hits this week. I’m hoping that this is the summer’s last hurrah for heat. We’ll see. I’m not believing anything until I see it this year. The weather has truly been all over the place- which makes me quite glad that we grow a wide diversity of crops. If we were just eggplant or broccoli farmers this would not be our year.

This week at market:

• Arugula
• Basil
• Beets
• Beans
• Stir Fry Mix
• Carrots
• Chard
• Cilantro
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Kale
• Leeks
• Cantaloupe
• Red Onions
• Sweet Onions
• Parsley
• Strawberries
• Bell Peppers
• Fingerling Potatoes
• Salad Mix
• Spinach
• Tomatoes
• Zucchini

What’s at Market? Week of August 9th

Food, food, food. There is a whole lotta food.

This week at market:

• Arugula
• Basil
• Beets
• Green Beans- These are the variety Jade. They’re awesome!
• Stir Fry Mix
• Carrots
• Chard
• Cilantro
• Collards
• Cucumbers- No Striped Armenian Cukes this week. We’re waiting for the next succession to come on.
• Japanese Eggplant
• Garlic
• Kale
• Leeks
• Cantaloupe
• Sweet Onions
• Red Onions
• Parsley
• Bell Peppers
• Fingerling Potatoes
• Salad Mix
• Spinach is back!
• Tomatoes- Lot of hybrids and heirlooms. If you’re looking for #2 tomatoes for canning let me know.
• Zucchini

That’s about all for this week.

What’s at Market? Week of August 2nd

It is truly August. And we just survived one of the hottest weeks I can remember. Needless to say we’ll be out of lettuce for a couple of weeks. It all bolted in the 109 degree weather. Today which was 95 felt luke warm comparitively.

We have a few new veggies showing up at market this week- Bell Peppers and Japanese Eggplant. Grill time!

And I have to add a note about our rooted basil… The first several successions we haven’t been pleased with. It was a cold spring and the cucumber beetles kept anhilating the leaves….. So if you’ve bought some of our basil thus far and have enjoyed it, please make sure to come tomorrow and check out this newest succession. This is what basil is supposed to be. It really is gorgeous.It’ll knock your pesto socks off….

Tomatoes are here in full force. Really.

I sorted through this stack tonight. There are some seriously awesome beauties in the collection this week.

Here’s the full market list for tomorrow.

• Arugula
• Basil
• Beets
• Beans- just the first few Jade variety. Much nicer than the previous succession.
• Stir Fry Mix
• Carrots
• Chard
• Cilantro
• Collards
• Cukes
• Japanese Eggplant
• Garlic
• Kale
• Leeks
• The very first few melons are here and will be gone very quickly. Get’em while you can…..
• Red Onions
• Walla Walla Onions
• Parsley
• Strawberries
• Bell Peppers
• Fingerling Potatoes
• Salad Mix
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Slicer Tomatoes
• Zucchini

Boots from the Muck Boot Company

Way back in April we were contacted by Mandy at the Muck Boot Company seeing if we wanted to try out a pair of their Muck Work Boots and in return we’d write up a blog post for them. (And they said please rate our boots honestly in the blog post, good or bad).So they sent Melanie and I each a pair. I promised some good video blogging on the subject as well….that’s coming later this fall when we’ve put’em through the official “Blue Fox Farm We Wear the Heck Outta Stuff” stress tests.

Well I walked in the back door tonight and saw my Muck Boots next to Melanie’s and realized they had mud on them from late May. Remember back in May when it was raining constantly? That was the time when these comfy boots really played a part in our daily farm tromps.

These boots are designed for muck. Go figure. And we’re looking at a period of time here in southern Oregon when we’re pretty muck-free. But I just wanna put these boots back on. They really are the most comfortable slip on work boot I’ve worn. And when you go in and out of the house ten to twenty times in a day, “slip on” footwear is the key.

So they other day (high of 102 degrees) I put my boots back on to wash veggies in the “Wash and Pack” barn. Well, it just didn’t happen. Too darn hot in those boots. I put my sandals back on and continued.

So, moral of the story:

Wear your Muck boots when it’s mucky. When it’s not mucky don’t wear them.

I’ll be reinvigorating my love for my Muck boots come fall and winter. I’ll be getting a lot of good video action shots too. So be prepared this fall. It might just become Muck-a-palooza or something of the sort.

Ok, now I’m going to go sit in the river. It was 109 yesterday and 105 today.

p.s. Demian loves my Muck Boots too!

What’s at Market? Week of July 19th

I’ve decided most farmers don’t make goo bloggers. Or maybe I should reword that… farmers’ best material comes when they’re in the middle of the field on a sweltering 102 degree day picking beans and they have the eureka moments that would be great to share with the world. Yes, we could have a web-able phone in the field but then we’d have to stop and peck, tap, tap in the middle of the field. Not only would we get taunted by our fellow farmers around us, the beans just wouldn’t get picked. So instead you get to experience my take on things late Monday nights after everything is “mostly” ready for the next day.

When I finish a day like today, I do chuckle to myself when people come up to me on market day and ask, “Was this picked this morning?” And I politely say no.

Today was a great harvest day. Our crew picked with a steady pace and knew that the heat was coming. My job was to make sure the operation went as smoothly as possible. But realize this: We started picking at 6 this morning- first thing to be picked: 100 pounds of salad mix. Let that set the tone for the day. 150 bunches of carrots. 85 bunches of beets. 200 bunches of greens (kale,chard,collards, etc.)- and then the harvest of about 26 other crops.  Then once they’re picked they have to be washed and packaged either for market, a restaurant, or grocery store. We pulled out of the driveway with a full fridge truck at about 5 this afternoon- and back at the home farm the crew was picking cucumbers. All in all we wrapped harvest up around 6 this evening. That’s an unusually long harvest day for us but they happen. Our crew is awesome!

Then I sorted the cucumbers, did the final organization on the truck for market, and came up here to type up a little something for you all, our fearless supporters. (Not to mention I spent the last 10 minutes quietly tip-toeing around the house looking for replacement batteries for our wireless keyboard that decided to die right as I needed to type this up.

I’ll be up at 4, leave the farm by 5 or so and then make the restaurant and store deliveries before I pull into the market to set up around 6:45 or 7 tomorrow morning. The bell rings at 8:30. That gives an hour and a half to set up all of our food.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the pace of all this. The challenge to go from parking lot to grocery store in an hour and a half and then setting out our best produce that we did our best to extract from the heat monster the day prior is the icing on the cake.

So no, we don’t harvest the day of market. Thankfully. I might actually lose it if we did.

See you at market!

This week at market:

• Arugula
• Rooted Living Basil
• Beets
• Green Beans
• Stir Fry Mix
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Carrots
• Chard
• Cilantro
• Collards
• Cukes- Slicers and Striped Armenian
• Garlic
• Kale
• Leeks
• Lettuce
• Walla Walla Sweet Onions
• Parsley
• Strawberries
• Fingerling Potatoes
• Salad Mix
• Tomatoes !!
• Zucchini