After a welcome winter rest our seeds arrived yesterday, officially starting the 2011 season.  Seeding will begin in the greenhouse the last week of February.  CSA sign ups are now open.  A  share in the CSA will begin with a bag of veggies weekly starting the last week in May through the last week in October with a final bag the week before Thanksgiving.   The cost of a share is $620.00.  Pick ups will be in our beautiful new harvest shed here on the farm.  Any questions drop us an email or give us a call at 541-382-8059.

The Lundy’s are planning to butcher 1 or 2 beef in February.  If you are interested in a 1/4, 1/2 or whole please give them a call at 541-548-6949.  For more specifics see their listing on our website under LocalMeats.  Someone called them earlier but they lost your number, please call again.

Jim and I want to wish all of you a very happy new year.  2010 even with it’s cold spring was a good year and we appreciate all of you who have participated in the farm whether buying vegetables, volunteering, field trips or sharing a good story.  We look forward to 2011 and all the challenges working with the natural world brings.  Eggs and wild rice will be available through out the winter.

Looking at the white landscape out my window shows winter is upon us but interestingly enough our chickens have finished moulting and the egg supply is up.  Right now there is plenty of eggs for everyone.  I’ve just put out the first of this season’s gourmet garlic powders.  Shallot powder will be out by the end of the week.  They are $6.00/bottle.  If you want several bottles or any of the specialty blends let us know so we can have them ready when you come.  Bags of carrots, brussel spouts, collards and wild rice are also still available.

We are busy harvesting the last of the carrots, broccoli, brussell sprouts and cabbage before the big chill sets in.  The grey refrigerator is full of all those items as well as kale, collards and eggs.  Wild Rice and shallots are yummy additions to your Thanksgiving stuffing.  Look for them on the harvest table in the new shed.  

Chilly fall nights makes sweeter, even more delicious vegetables!  We’ll have the refrigerator well stocked this weekend with carrots, brussel sprouts, kale, collards, parsley, shallots and eggs.  We’ll also have a basket of my brother’s  Wild Rice out for sale.  Come after 10:00, Jim’s been gone two weeks on a trip to buy some unique equipment for small farm and I’m taking him out for breakfast.

After a weekend of very successful mushroom hunting Felicia has loaded the refrigerator with bags of the unusual white Chantrelle mushrooms.  We had them sauted with sliced cauliflower last night…mmm delicious!  $4.00/bag

We would like to invite our Farmer’s Market customers to come by the farm as we still have a variety of veggies available.  We will have an abundance of tomatoes for a couple more weeks including heirlooms, green zebras, yellow peach, romas and cherry tomatoes.  All for $3.00/halix.  There is plenty of greens including kales, collards, mizuna, all for $2.00/ bunch or bag.  Brussel sprouts for $2.00/bag or $3.00 on the stem.  Green peppers for .75 and carrots for $2.50/bunch.  Large garlic heads for $2.00 and bags of shallots for $3.00. As always eggs for $4.00.
Our new harvest shed is keeping the sun wind and rain off us.  Sometime this week we will get the gravel for the floor and have to move everything out for a few hours.  The stand continues to be self service but don’t hesitate to come get us or honk if you need assistance.

Field’s Farm does a lot of stuff well.  There’s the interesting potato varieties and all the different brassicas (broccolis + cauliflowers), which number somewhere around 12.  But maybe the best thing at Field’s Farm is their garlic.  Field’s Farm grows Georgian Crystal Garlic.Of course I am going out a limb saying its the best in the world because just doing a brief Google search I found there were more varieties of garlic than I ever imagined, but it is the best garlic I ever had.  I do not even have to taste garlic to know it is great.  I only need to see that it has purple stripes, if it does it will taste great.  (Some bulbs won’t get the stripes, but still taste great.)  The thing that really sets this garlic apart is its massive size.  It is as big as elephant garlic but is as pungent and flavorful as your good traditionally sized garlic.  Elephant garlics appeal, like the Georgian Crystal is that the large cloves are not so annoying to peel and prepare.  Elephant garlic has about as much flavor as a potato though, never caught on and has disappeared from the market.  Field’s Farm is popularizing the Georgian Crystal and other Oregon organic farms are picking up on it, but Field’s is the only grower at the Bend Farmer’s Market that has it.  Central Oregon is a great place to grow garlic, it keeps a long time, maybe even to spring, so do yourself a favor and stock up on it.  I couldn’t imagine my lacto-fermented vegetables without a roughly chopped clove or 2  added.

CSA/Volunteer Potluck
We want you all to know even with our moist weather we are still planning our CSA and volunteer potluck tomorrow at 3:00.  Let’s eat some good food together.