Fall fall!

Hey! Autumn is definitely here. Cooler temperatures, and a ton of harvesting!! Loving it so much. We are trying to get the last bests out of our tomatoes, and also pulling all the fruit off our pepper and eggplants! I had Thursday and Friday off this week, my first days off of the season, for my anniversary, so I only have some bomb pics for the first days of the week! A new bed of carrots is ready for harvest in Fischer and we have been scrambling for heirlooms and Valley Girl tomatoes in Pie Four. We had a half day rain day on Wednesday- I have a pretty great outfit for that pic. Also, we said goodbye to Justin last week and I missed that, also Megan this Tuesday. We will miss you guys, two of the veterans!! That said, here are the pics of the week...

Sept 24

Austin, Chris, Arlo, Kristin, Rachel. Val, Joshua, and Ryan on the back of the tractor lifting the carrots out of our Fischer Field early on Monday morning.

Sept 25

Steph with an awesomely huge heirloom tomato in Pie Four on Tuesday!

Me and Rachel ready for rain on Wednesday morning! I look like I am five years old... but then again,
 at least I am not wearing the garbage bag footwear!

Thurs..?Fri..?Bonus Foto(s):

Beautiful sunset picking green beans on Tuesday night.

Rachel, matching the harvest picking carrots on Tuesday morning (Megan's last day)! Also from left,  Ken, Joshua, Tanea, Ryan, Mitty, Steph, and Megan.

My buddy Megan's last day was Tuesday. Here's a retro picture from April! Can't wait to see what you'll do next girl!!! Love you!

Justin left this masterpiece for the Intern House, an awesome functioning cob oven and bench. Here is the Peacock in the foreground, modeling it for us! Good luck on your future building projects Justin!!

I have had two extra days off of the farm this week and I have missed it so much! It's really ridiculous. Can't wait to get back up to Wellington tomorrow and get back to harvesting! Harvestival at Grant Family Farms is next weekend, October 6 & 7! Please come up if you want to learn more about our farm and what we do! Should be pretty fun, and oh, also, welcome to October!! It's the first tomorrow...What??!! 

XO,

Val

The Last Week of Summer

The first day of Fall was yesterday. I know the harvest season isn't over yet, but I feel sad to see the summer go. Fall has always my favorite time of the year, but this has really been the best summer of my life, and I don't want it to end! Our crew had long long days all week the week harvesting and we have seen the start of broccoli crowning! New and old harvesting tasks combined this week to include the last few harvests of our tomatoes in Pie Four (no!), apple picking in the orchards (the east orchard has our sweet free range turkeys bopping around in it), corn and cucumber harvesting, peppers, eggplants, green beans for preserving shares and a crazy amount of broccoli harvesting! We worked for the first time on Wednesday past sunset. Here are the pics of the week:

Sept 17

Mitty and Joshua in the orchard by Lou Grant's house, during apple harvest. Sarah and Emma on the side.

Sept 18

Joshua and Katie harvesting jalapenos in Pie Four at the days end Tuesday.

Sept 19

Megan throwing a broccoli crown up onto the wagon for bunching and packing in Pie Five. Tanea, Luke, Joshua and Katie harvesting with her.

Sept 20

Mitty and Ryan harvesting Cortland apples in the East Orchard on Thursday. Our young turkeys are enjoying an apple snack on the ground around them.

Sept 21

Isaac and Katie deciding to end a long day of broccoli harvest at 4:30. It was a nice break for Friday after a week of brutally long days!

Sept 22 

Emma, harvesting Anaheim peppers in Fischer field.

Bonus Foto(s):

Joshua is like the photo star of the week! Here he is with a bouquet of bunching broccoli during a break on Wednesday.

Can you believe these colors are real?! Heirloom purple cauliflower and Dr. Wyke's Yellow heirloom tomatoes for the farm dinner on Friday.

Ken enjoying a little corn in transit after harvesting Thursday.

Rachel and Sarah picking apples in the East Orchard.

Great week, as always, as you can see! Still there is so much to do, and I am so happy about that, tons of harvesting still ahead! Welcome to Autumn whether you are ready for it or not... I love fall and can't wait to see how the work will change in the coming weeks as the season cools us down and crops start to come to an end. Thanks for reading, have a wonderful week!

XO,

Val

Peak Season

It's a been busy and heavy harvesting work up at Grant Farms this week. The packing shed where we take our vegetables and fruit to be received for shipment has been bustling and mad busy with huge cartons of squash going out for wholesale and skid steers zooming around everywhere taking wooden pallets full of boxed produces off wagons and onto trucks. The parking lot of the main office is filled with semis awaiting shipments, and there is a waiting line to get our goods into the shed for processing and storage. Isaac says that this is the height of the season right now. The next two weeks will be the busiest of the year and it definitely shows. We had a rain day this Wednesday, but it doesn't feel as though we were doing any less work, harvesting melons, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant and green beans! We also said goodbye to Richie this week, and had a great send off party on Tuesday for him. Good luck in Steamboat man! We'll miss you! Here are the pics of the week:

Sept 10

Emma, spokes modeling some potatoes for us. Note that we have the magic school bus hooked up to tow the wagon on this day as well! Ridiculous. Chris, Kristen, Sarah, Katie, Arlo and Tanea's arm also featured.  

Sept 11 

Richie and Victoria on the wagon holding down boxes of wholesale eggplants on the way to the packing shed. Richie's last day. 

Sept 12

Rain Day!! No Pic.

Sept 13

Chris with a huge basket of leeks in Diamond One that we hand planted way back in April in the brutal wind!! Our boss told me I looked like I was gonna quit that day. I can't believe they are all grown up and ready for harvest! Yay!!

Sept 14

Kyle with the largest and most terrifying spider I've ever seen in Fischer Field. I was about to wipe the web aside to grab a tomato when I saw him. He was eating a bee!!!

Bonus Foto(s):

Leave it to Nate to find another weird tomato face! Pretty cute smile though, I must admit!

Five thirty harvesting green beans in Pie Three.

Rachel, Ryan, Nate, Tanea, Sarah, Stephanie, and Emma harvesting green beans for our preserving share members, Friday afternoon.

Have an awesome last few days of the summer season! The first day of fall is next Saturday, September 22nd. I am so, so sad to say goodbye to summer! Most typically, autumn is my favorite time of year, but this has been the best summer ever and it's hard to let it go. I can't believe we will only get about two more weeks out of our tomato plants this season. Mind blowing!! So, soak up the last rays of our sunny summer next week and get ready for a change in the weather, I already feel a nip in the air!

XO,

Val

September Plums and Pocket Melons!

I'm not gonna lie, this week kicked my butt in so many ways! We are harvesting like crazy every day, all day, for wholesale, restaurant orders, and CSA boxes! We are also alternating between doing many different things in one day, and spending larger chunks of time on one task, as we are losing people from our group as the season progresses, and it can take longer to complete one thing. For example, on Tuesday we harvested red and yellow tomatoes, potatoes, plums, musk melons, peppers and cherry tomatoes all in one day! Then on Thursday we focused on carrots all morning, and cucumbers all afternoon! We've also spent time on eggplants and peppers in our fisher field this week, and I've gotten some tractor time harvesting our small melons and cucumbers (my favorite!). We said goodbye to Abby and Eric this week, and also Richie, though he will be back to see us on Tuesday next week. Good luck with your future adventures guys! Here are the pics of the week:

Sept 3

Justin, harvesting plums on Monday. Happy Labor Day!

Sept 4

Joshua and Abby picking plums in the orchard. We'll miss you Abby!

Sept 5

Nate with a smiley monster heirloom during wholesale harvesting Wednesday. We packed one hundred boxes for sale to Whole Foods! Crazy!

Sept 6

Harvesting green beans in Pie Three in the late afternoon Thursday after a long day in carrots and cucumbers. The sun came through the clouds to give us a final push to finish.

Sept 7

Completing our green bell pepper wholesale order on Friday afternoon. From left, Tanea, Joshua, Stephanie, Megan, Ryam Emma, Alyssa, and the top of Katie's head!

Bonus Foto(s):

CSU beat CU in the Rocky Mountain Showdown last Sunday, and this is the result of me losing a bet to Richie that my team would beat his. I wore this stupid foam Ram's head all day. And bought him beer. Go Rams! There, Richie, are you happy now? 

Emma, driving the tractor for the first time during cucumber harvest on Thursday! She killed it. Yeah, Emma!!

A box of our gorgeous heirloom tomatoes I got to put together for a wholesale order on Monday.

Emma and Ryan harvesting plums in the orchard on Tuesday!

Love this picture of me! If only I didn't have the stupid ram's head on. Darn it! Katie in the wagon behind me during melon harvest.

Those melons are called Eden's gem of Rocky Ford. They are an heirloom pocket musk melon and probably the tastiest melon I've ever eaten! The name alone makes it worth mentioning though... I feel as though we are teetering on the top crest of the roller coaster ride that has been the full height of the season before zooming downhill on the other side. We still have two full months of harvest ahead of us, so is it crazy that I am already beginning to feel a little nostalgic? I don't want the season to end! Losing friends we've had all season to new adventures I'm sure plays a part as well. Here's to wishing everyone well and looking forward to next week for now and all the bounty yet to be had!

XO,

Val

Count down to Autumn

This Saturday heralded the first day of September. We can't believe how fast August flashed past! This week we spent harvesting eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and extra large zucchinis for a soapbox style derby race where the zucs are the cars!! The weather was super hot again, strange after so many cooler days. We reluctantly said goodbye to Chris, who will be teaching a garden program at a school in Albuquerque! Good luck Chris! Here are this weeks pics:

Aug 26

Rachel, amazed and confused by the first tiny kohlrabi of the season,
after a long day in Fisher, harvesting Nadia Eggplants
for a wholesale order!

Aug 27

Chris and me on his last day after harvesting Taxi Tomatoes all afternoon. We
harvested 143 RPC's (reusable plastic containers) this day- incredible!!

Aug 29

Our freshly weeded Turnip and Rutabaga fields in Fisher Wednesday afternoon.

Aug 30

Rachel, me, and Katie, taking a small siesta after lunch in our Coolie Field. This wagon is set up to harvest the German Butterball Potatoes we planted here in the spring.

Aug 31

Ryan and Richie harvesting our first Pocket Gem Rocky Ford Melons in Pie Four! I think we ate about half of them as we harvested, they are so sweet and juicy!

Bonus Foto(s):

Justin. posing, Jersey style, during potato harvest on Tuesday!

Arlo, holding our Taxi tomatoes  secure on the wagon heading to the packing shed to be receied for shipment.

Haircut farm style! Me giving Chris a trim on the side porch of the intern house
Friday night after work. Lookin' handsome Chris!

So, we're still lovin' life up here! Can't believe we are in September, but excited too, it's my favorite month!! Isaac just brought us a huge orange pumpkin last week from Heil Field, and broccoli and cauliflower are also beginning to crown. So exciting!!! As always, here's to a great week at Grant Farms, and to next week's adventures!

XO,

Val