The Short Post...

This week will mark the shortest post ever! I worked a mere two days this week due to the long Thanksgiving holiday and a run of four birthdays in succession in my family, starting with Garett's on the 21st. We spent our days tearing up the black plastic we laid down in the spring to warm our nightshade vegetables and cantaloupes. We worked in Fischer and removed five acres of plastic bedding in two days, heaping it into large lumps for pick up and disposal. It was great to come full circle and tear out at the end of the season what we put in at the start! We also said goodbye to Rachel on Tuesday, boo! Good luck Rachel, we're gonna miss you next week! Please enjoy the abbreviated pics of the week below:

Nov 19

One of the large lumps of plastic we pulled up and rolled up by hand in Fischer on Monday. Isaac on the tractor, Rachel and Joshua on the ground.

Nov 20

It was so ridiculously beautiful on Tuesday, Rachel and I stripped down to our leggings in the field. Here we are in our yoga pants! Sweet.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope your Thanksgiving was filled with blessings, and your bounty was great. I'm thankful this year for the health of my amazing family and my wonderful friends, and that I have found a true passion in organic vegetables and farming. It's been a great year, I have a great life. Wishing the same to all of you this holiday season and in 2013... Right around the corner! Until next week.

XO,

Val

Winding up.

We finished planting twenty-six acres of garlic on Friday. Through the bitter cold, uncomfortable implement, frozen fingers and probably about a million sunflower seeds between the seven or eight of us, we persevered!! We also moved a bunch of row cover, and by a bunch, I mean a ton... from one of the silos to a trailer for the winter on Monday. We finished the Brussels sprouts field on Tuesday. Did we do much else besides that this week? Nope! Season's winding up! Corn, carrots, parsnips and rutabagas all harvested and cleaned from the fields. Winter is eminent! Here are the pics of the week:

Nov 12

The last seven standing... or riding, that is. The shadows of our last seven interns in between moving row cover on a flat bed pulled by the tractor.

Nov 13

Small "field trip" into the dried commodity corn at Black One during lunch Tuesday. We were in adjacent Black Two harvesting Brussels sprouts.

Nov 14

Our crew leaving what feels like an endless field of garlic in Pie One on Wednesday. From Left, Chris, Mitty, Joshua, Isaac, Katie and Rachel.

Nov 15

Another day's wrap up after some cold garlic planting. Katie, Chris and Rachel, walking to the truck past one of the farm's natural springs.

Nov 16

Austin, Nate, and Mitty, throwing cloves in celebration of completing 26 acres of two varieties of garlic over two different fields on Friday.

Nov 17

So, this Saturday marked a pretty special day... Garett's and my first day working on what will next year be the site of our market garden, the first step toward our own farm! We are cultivating about half an acre in Golden with the aim of doing farmer's markets and having a small garden membership. We planted two varieties of garlic Saturday, courtesy of Grant Farms!

Garett (my husband!), planting soft neck garlic. Roger (my dad!) with a hoe on the left.

Keeping pests out of the field! Me with Teddy and some hard neck garlic (my fav!) with my dad hard at work in the background! 

Bonus Foto(s):

Rachel, making it rain with our commodity feed corn from the top of the grain silo on Monday!

This field be planted, yo! Garlic in your face next spring in Pie One!!

A blustery, cold, garlicky week! We nevertheless had a great time though, as always. I think this week's pics definitely speak for themselves. Gearing up for a short but sweet week next week, and getting ready to enjoy the bounty of our season's harvest for Thanksgiving!! 

XO,

Val

Mid November Blues

Here we are at the almost end of the season, and I can't help but feel a lot nostalgic for the heavy harvest time of September and the hot days of July. It's wintery and windy now, and the light seems colder, even when the sun is shining. We are planting garlic for next year to overwinter, and harvesting brussels spouts, turnips and cabbage. Stephanie came back to the farm to visit this week, and brought her mom along to help us seed garlic on Thursday morning. Check out their pic in the bonus section this week. Also, we said goodbye to Sarah, bringing our crew down to a mere seven people. Some of us will try to stay throughout the winter season, based on the workload available, and the rest of us, myself included, will be wrapping up at the end of November. The season has seemed both long and gone in a flash, and I feel ready for the break of the winter season, but also anxious, not knowing how I can bear to be out of the dirt and away from the fun of vegetable production for three whole months! Here are the pics of the week:

Nov 5

Katie, harvesting turnips Monday in Fischer Field.

Nov 6

Nate, in the back of the box truck after we broke our backs palleting
110 RPC's of heavy turnips for CSA shares on Tuesday.

Nov 7

Sarah and Katie lounging momentarily on the garlic seeder on Wednesday, Sarah's last day.
They're both sporting a Sarah favorite- sparkly stickers, on their cheeks, courtesy of Isaac.

Nov 8

Rachel, harvesting Napa cabbage at sunset on Thursday.
It looks like she has a tiny Austin on her back!

Bonus Foto(s):

I missed Friday this week, but have some great shots from earlier days. We finished seeding the garlic field on Thursday, worked in the dark on Wednesday, and generally looked pretty photogenic the rest of the time. Enjoy:

Monday's sunset over Owl Canyon, viewed from Grant's plum orchard.

Wednesday afternoon in the garlic field at Matsuta 8.

Working to plant garlic by the light of the tractor Wednesday night.

Steph and her mom helping us out Thursday morning.

Me with a million carrots Tuesday afternoon.

Finishing the garlic field on Thursday! Joshua, Rachel. Me, and Austin.

Isaac and Ike, harvesting Napa cabbage at sunset.

Thanks for reading! Until next week...

XO,

Val

Planting Garlic and Other Delights

As Colorado weather usually operates, after a few weeks of cold, wet, and windy weather, the sun came out to shine last week, giving us some tremendously beautiful autumn days to enjoy. We are down to eight interns after saying goodbye to Steph and Tanea this week, and will be even smaller soon! The past week brought a nice variety of activities, including mucho garlic planting, but also harvesting carrots, turnips, napa cabbage, lavender cauliflower, and a treat on Friday... Brussels sprouts!! Days are getting shorter, and the sun seems a lot further away these days, but the farm has been beautiful this time of the year, and I think I got some good shots. Here are the pics of the week:

Oct 29

Sarah, harvesting purple cauliflower in Fischer Field.

Oct 30

Stephanie in the Napa cabbage patch in Matsuta 8. Sarah, working in the background. We'll miss you Steph, good luck!

Oct 31 Happy Halloween!

Our boss, Isaac, looking like a '90's rapper from space, loading soft neck garlic onto the tractor for planting. Joshua, working in the foreground. PS- this was not a costume...

Nov 1

Chris and Joshua, sifting the soft neck garlic on the wagon before loading on the tractor.

Nov 2

Me and Tanea on her last day, harvesting Brussels sprouts. Now that she is onward, I am officially the record holder for earliest intern of the season. She had me beat by a week! Good luck Girlie!!

Bonus Foto(s):

Looks like a God's Eye or a spaceship on Halloween afternoon! Planting garlic in Matsuta 8.

Mitty and Chris.

And, again, preparing to plant some garlic!!

First week of November is under our belts now, and it's surprising how much there still is to be harvested as we haven't had a truly hard freeze yet. Hoping for some more gorgeous sunny days next week, and more cabbage, cauliflower, sprouts, and of course, root veggies. I think it is officially the holiday season... It's so fun to still be able to say I work on a farm.

XO,

Val