Fall Raspberries

Today is Labor day and yes we are open. There is a wonderful selection of good food for us to pick in the gardens this week. The website is also open for orders. This is prime tomato season. You should get your canning tomatoes in the next 2-3 weeks. You will also find a beautiful selection of all sorts of tomatoes for your sandwich or salsa. We also have the sweet onions, lettuce, and hot peppers, garlic, basil, cilantro, sweet peppers and more to complete your recipes. Fall raspberries are in season from now till mid October. We are offering them u-pick by appointment. There tends to be lots of openings as we get towards the end of the month. You will also find an intermittant supply of already picked raspberries on the stand throughout the season. Daniel

Aug 25

We are starting into the big onion harvest this week. I pulled about 1000 lbs of sweet onions this morning. In the next few days I plan to also do the storage onions. After they are harvested we put them into onion crates so that the air can circulate around them for the curing process. Even after they are cured an onion still wants some air around it for it to store well. Storage temperature for onions is 32F to 80F. If an onion is kept cold for an extended period of time and then is stored warm afterward it will tend to sprout. This is part of the reason that onions sprout so much in the spring as the cellars etc warm up. So it is best to keep onions above 50 if you can not continue to keep them cold. Our market is full of lots of good produce. I hope you can get your share of this good food. Daniel

Quality food

In spite of the cool weather there is a lot of produce here. Dad just brought the first Summercrisp pears over and there is lots of beans, peppers, tomatoes and so much more. At this moment there are 60 different kinds fresh vegetables etc. on the stand.
So what does hi quality food look like? I would answer that first it needs to do its intended jobs well which include providing nourishment to our bodies so that we can go about our work with health and energy. It needs to be fresh and should be not be contaminated with chemicals. It needs to be picked at just the right stage of growth and be handled with gentle careful hands in such a way as to protect it from damage or contamination. I hope you use the energy you get from this good food for loving and bright purposes. I am constantly working to give you the best I can. I judge quality by the way the plant and fruit look, by how it feels and smells, finally I taste my produce frequently. I also value your input- please tell me what you think. Do tell me if something is disappointing even if you do not wish for me to give you money back as this helps me in refining what I do. Daniel

Where is the honey?

The online market is open for orders. We have a big planting of beans that is getting ready this week. We can fill lots of bulk orders as this planting has grown as nice as can be. It is also time to make your winters supply of pesto. Basil is abundant now. Later as the nights get cool the basil is not near as nice. Canning tomatoes should become abundant in the later part of August.
Dad had 9 hives of bees this spring of some very good Russian stock that is doing well in this climate. He has been aggressively dividing these bees so there is 4 times as many hives now as there was. This splitting weakens each hive and they will need most of there own honey for winter and to build up in the spring. If the fall honey flow is good there may be some honey for us also but Dad says not count on it. Daniel

Cucumbers galore

The online market is open for orders. Between Saturday afternoons picking and this morning it gave 40 pails of cucumbers. How many jars do you think could be filled with pickles with that big pile of cucumbers? I also have plenty of dill.

All the moisture in this last week along with a little cooler weather has made all the lettuce and spinach very nice. Red beets and summer cabbage are also at their prime. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in Him. Daniel

July 28

The online market is open for orders. The sunflowers are beautiful this morning. They would look good on a table along with a well-cooked meal. These comfortable, cooler rainy days are allowing the gardens to florish. The spinach, cilantro and such type of things are doing especially well. The sweet corn is taking a good long time to get ready. It is not ready for today but I should be starting to pick it sometime mid week. All the plantings of corn look good so there should be a steady supply for a long time. The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof… One of the best things is to just enjoy God’s goodness. Daniel

July 21

Produce, produce, lots of produce everywhere today. The online market is open for orders and there is lots of stuff at the stand. Today we have three kinds of peas ( snow, snap and hull) and lots of both yellow and green beans. The little pickler cukes are ready now. I think we will have sweet corn either late this week or early next week. Daniel

July 14

The website is open for orders. We have baby carrots, beet greens and lots of romaine lettuce right now. We picked the first summer squash and zucchini from the big outside patch. The early sweet corn has tassels and silk.

We have planted gardens and now God is giving us sunshine, rain, and warmth. We are coming into a natural period of abundance from now through fall. If you are watching prices you will find that in many cases your dollar will buy a lot more food in this time period. Eat lots of what is in season, by the time you are tired of it, it will already be fall. There is a different set of wonderful foods waiting for you then. Daniel

Half price gleaning in the strawberry field

The strawberry season is winding down. Starting tommorrow morning all the strawberry patches are open for half price ($.65 per lb)gleaning. Gleaning will last into next week some time, as long as there are any berries left to pick. We are at the stand and ready to give service from 10 AM-6 PM Mon- Sat. You can start picking before 10, It is best if it is regular stand hours when you are finished and ready to check out. Daniel

July 7

The website is open for ordering. We still have peas and all the normal late spring things. We cut the first of the early cabbage and the raspberries are starting. Carrots, beans, and new potatoes are soon ready- maybe a week or ten days yet.

There is still lots of small strawberries in the field. All the Honeyoye and Jewel patches are open for gleaning style picking this week during normal stand hours (10 AM- 6 PM). Next week these patches will be open for half price gleaning. We will have an intermitant supply of picked berries on the stand as we can get to picking them this week.