Produce Update - Beets and Turnips

Hey everybody. We've had a nice week, full of good harvests, accomplishments, and a little bit of rest! We have a few good employees out at the farm now, so that takes the load off. We actually got home by 6:30 today!! Wow. Our tractor, whose name is Levi, by the way, is up and running. The cooler is still a little ways off, but at least we finished something this week!

Here is a picture of our beautiful Chioggia Beets, an Italian variety that is sweet, mild, and striped :) These are great to grill with . We marinate thick slices in Italian salad dressing before grilling. Did you know you can grill Turnips too? Marinate in a bit of lemon juice and salt for a few hours. Best way to eat a turnip hands down.

We are getting excited about all the summer crops that are coming along. Here is a picture of our baby green beans. They might even be ready for the Saturday market. A little bit of rain tonight and a lot of sun will do it, I think.We are also looking forward to sweet corn, zucchini, patty pan squash, okra, tomatoes, black eyed peas, and melons but those things are at least a few weeks away. Tomorrow at the Brookside farmers' market (41st and Peoria 8am to noon) we will be selling shelled english peas, Detroit Red Beets, Chioggia Beets, Turnips, Kale, and delicious baby red lettuce. We've been eating red salads all week; the lettuce is so sweet and tasty we don't even use salad dressing.

Another accomplishment this week was putting in our tomato stakes. We are using the "stake and weave" system to prop up our plants. Our stakes are 6 feet apart, so that means that between Don and Dan (our friend who is working for us) they pounded in 100 T-posts! We'll do at least 100 more for our heirloom tomatoes that we planted a few weeks ago. The rows you see here are Beefsteak and Brandywine.

See you all at the market tomorrow.

Chelsea