Well, not a huge farm stand, but traffic is still building and we’re slowly putting out more produce.  This Thursday’s was nice… Chard, Kale, Red Onions, Yellow Onions, Patty Pan squash, Yellow Crookneck squash and Zucchini, Bok Choy, Salad mix with edible flowers, Cucumbers, Anaheim Peppers, Jalapenos, Beets, Yellow Beans… and copies of the Rocky Mountain Growers Directory.

A very big thank you to all of you who have been supporting our farm by stopping by the farm stand… and a bigger thanks to all of our repeat customers!

We are starting to get more and more summer squash and will have more available for our CSA members and farmstand soon.  We have zucchini, yellow crookneck, and scallop squash (aka patty pan).  For those of you who have seen our garden, you know that things are growing like crazy!  The tomatoes are doing well, and we hope to have those available in the next week or two.  The peppers are also starting to produce fruit, but it may be a few weeks before those are available.  We have a couple types of bell peppers, and several types of hot peppers, I can’t wait!  The winter squash are going completely nuts, and I’m sure everyone will enjoy those this fall.  The winter squash are good for storage, so if you get a ton, don’t feel like you have to eat them right away.  Red and yellow onions are also getting close!  And today I saw that our cucumbers are producing!  Woo hoo!

The past couple weeks we’ve been pulling a lot of plants that are past their prime.  We still have lettuce, but the variety for the salad mix is slim right now.  Tracy & I have reseeded a bunch of lettuce and other items which will probably be ready in late August and go through September.

One sad note… the broccoli didn’t do so well and was mostly just taking up valuable space.  I had chosen a variety that was supposed to be a early and prolific producer, but it wasn’t producing for us.  Since we were only able to harvest less than a half pound every couple weeks, and it was getting attacked by bugs, we decided to pull it  and plant more items for the fall.

So that is the news for now!

If you are commuting down Arapahoe Road in Lafayette near HWY 287, don’t miss our farmstand!  We are 1/4 mile west of Hwy 287, or about 1 mile east of 95th Street.  We are on the south side of the road and there is a large sign out front that says “Hearteye Village CSA Farmstand”.  We have our tent up just behind the berm next to the sign.  Stop in, by fresh veggies, and support your local farm!

I was working in the garden Friday and heard a jet… which isn’t surprising since there is a lot of air traffic over our property.  It actually sounds like some big military aircraft… then again it didn’t sound like an aircraft at all.  I stopped what I was doing and looked toward where the sound was coming from… holy crap!  It was thousands of bees flying my way.  I made a beeline (ha) to the garden shed and just watched as they moved across the garden and into the big cottonwood tree on the south end of the garden.

Once I realized I wasn’t in some Hitchcock movie (or Irwin Allen in the case of the 1978 classic, The Swarm), I headed back out to watch this amazing event.

The basic idea of a bee swarm is that the bee colony has grown to big for their original hive.  The work bees raise a new queen, scout bees look for a new location, and once they find a suitable new home, the new queen, worker bees and drones fly off to greener pastures.  You can learn more about swarming on the Beemaster site.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves… (click an image for a larger view)

We will be opening our farm stand this afternoon!  It will be open Thursday’s from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. as excess produce allows.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am always amazed at how much things have grown in the garden when I’ve been away for a few days.  Tuesday I got down to find everything a lot bigger that it was last Friday, and veggies popping out all over the place!  As I walked through the garden accessing the growth, I started laughing.  Partly out of joy at how well things are doing on our first farm, and partly because the rapid growth is just plant nutty!

This tomato plant (one of nearly 150!) has 25 tomatoes just in the two branches show here.  I don’t think we’ll not have enough tomatoes for our CSA members, the farm stand, and the couple restaurants and food co-op we’re selling to.  I think adding canning class will be in order (proceeds going to support Colorado Local Sustainability).

Then we have the zucchinis… indeed they are producing, and I don’t recall seeing a single flower on them last Friday. We didn’t go nuts with the number of zuke plants, like some folks tend to do, but we definitely have enough for the CSA, and probably the farm stand.  We to have a lot of winter squash planted and we are starting to lose our farm volunteers in the jungle of Delicata, Baby Hubbard, and Sweet Dumpling squash.  The green beans and yellow beans are also producing and I’m thinking we should have some for our next CSA boxes.

And then there is the Tomatillos… after looking a bit shocked after they were transplanted, they are doing great.  At least one plant is chest high (four foot something?) and is growing like no tomatillo we’ve had in our personal gardens.  With the tomatillos, tomatoes, peppers, and more cilantro later this season, I know there will be some great salsas being made!

Yes, the summer crops are starting to grow even faster than they had been.  Here is a shot of a Delicata squash, just a wee little one that I photographed on the June 26th. The winter squash plants are filled with blossoms and growing like mad.  The beans too… flowers when I last looked, and a few tiny beans popped out last week.

I’m usually on the farm four days, and then back up at my cabin in Eldora working on my Colorado Local Sustainability projects and trying to move them forward.  Usually during the few days I’m away from the farm, new growth keeps popping up, and I’m blown away when I get back down there.  Just the other day Tracy said not only are the winter squash growing like mad, but the beans are producing, and the zucchini plants have a bunch of zucchini’s growing!  Wow, kind of crazy since I didn’t even remember seeing flowers on those plants last Thursday.  

I’ll have to see where things are at when I’m back at the farm Tuesday, but is sounds like zucchini and green beans might not be that far off for our CSA members, wholesale customers, and the farm stand!

I’d also like to mention that as the heat of the summer hits us, some of the cool weather crops are winding down.  Many of the greens are starting to bolt (go to seed), and are near the end of this life cycle.  When I last checked, there are still several varieties of lettuce that seemed fine.  Hopefully the slower to bolt varieties will keep producing a bit longer.  We are also out of radishes and getting close to the end of the turnips.  I’ll be replanting all of those items for late summer & fall harvests.  With those items going away, we have the summer crops to look forward to!  Two varieties of beans, three varieties of summer squash, three types of eggplant, five or more varieties of tomatoes, a couple types of bell peppers and a whole bunch of hot peppers.  Can’t wait!