And, of course, there will be other things come up.  So far, one of the canopies over the packing area has blown over twice.  Another has broken so badly that it needs to be replaced.  Oh for the day when I can afford to replace those canopies with a pole building!  Until then… I’ll keep patching them back together.

As you can tell,  the farm is a busy place during the winter.

What a disappointment!  I was looking forward to celebrating the last day of the market season with my  customers and the market staff.  I am so sorry for having disappointed those of you that attended the market and found that I was “missing in action”.

Now….. what am I going to do with all this winter squash…….?

We’ve got wonderful red and green lettuces and the last of our flavorful tomatoes.  Plus, we’ve got several several varieties of winter squash that you can store for the winter days ahead.  We also have a special treat, bunches of sweet and hot peppers.  Hang them in your kitchen and use them in soups and stews over the winter.  Or, just enjoy their beautiful colors as they dry and turn from yellow to red.

Hungarian Wax Hot Peppers hanging above Red Kuri Winter Squash

And, we also have dried sunflower heads, a natural winter treat for your feathered friends.  Just tie a string around the stem and hang if from a tree.  No need to remove the seeds from the head, the birds can do that for themselves.   And, yes, the seeds can be eaten by people too.

Sunflower Heads

Don a cozy sweater and your rain gear and come see all the wonderful things the market has to offer.

I can tell you though that I will have lots of wonderful winter squashes at the market.  Just look for the beautiful Red Kuri Squash, the heirloom “Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato Squash, or the rare Canada Crookneck.  I also have Spaghetti Squash and Delicata too.  (If you need a recipe, don’t hesitate to ask.)

You’ll also find a medley of our splendid heirloom tomatoes  Brandywine, Cherokee Purple and Azyocha.

See you at the market!

With fall comes the time to stock your pantry for the winter months ahead.  Artisan Organics has tomato seconds available for your canning projects.  Available in 30lbs boxes, these tomatoes have cosmetic blemishes but our same great flavor.  Perfect for you canning needs.  You may pick up your box(es) at the farm or your favorite Farmer’s Market.

We have the following varieties available:
Dry Land farmed Early girls – grown with no irrigation to produce a firm, rich, flavorful tomato. Great for sauces or stewed whole tomatoes.

Dry Land Farmed Fantastic! hybrid – grown with no irrigation water to produce a firm, flavorful tomato.  Larger than Early Girl. Perfect for sauces.

Mixed Heirlooms – Brandywine and Cherokee Purple.  Great for ketchup and juice.  Sweeter than the Early Girl and Fantastic! Hybrid.

Mixed Yellow Tomatoes – Taxi’s and Azyocha (a Russian Heirloom).  Makes a beautiful yellow salsa.

You may place your order at the Contact Us page.  Please include the date you’d like to receive them, where you would like to pick them up, and the number of boxes of each variety.

In addition to our wonderful tomatoes, we will also have several new items including fennel and sweet and hot peppers.  Need recipes?  Just ask.

See you at the market.

I am conducting a formal Dry Land Farmed Tomato Trial to identify additional tomato varieties that work well in a dry land farmed system.  As part of the study, I must evaluate the flavor of the variety being tested against a control.  So, stop by my booth and have a taste of Variety 1 and Variety 2.  While you’re there, stock up on your favorite, plus all the other great things I have to offer.

See you at the market!

Our wonderful dry land farmed tomatoes are now available at the market.

“What are dry land farmed tomatoes?” you might ask.  They are the most delicious tomatoes available.  Because they are grown with no supplemental water, they have a much more concentrated tomato flavor.  Think  “intensely tomato”.

Growing a crop with no supplemental water means that it is not irrigated.  It gets only the amount of water that falls out of the sky.

How do we do dry land farm tomatoes?  First, we begin with the right varieties.  The roots of the plants will have to penetrate the soil many feet in order to continue finding water after the top layers dry out.  Only a few tomato varieties have strong enough root systems to do this.

Second, we have the right kind of soil.  This system only works with silty or clay soils. Sandy soils drain much too quickly for dry land farming.

Third, we spend many, many hours working the soil to ensure there are absolutely no weeds to compete for moisture.  In the process we create a dust mulch on the top two inches of the soil. The dust mulch breaks any capillary action that may promote evaporation of the precious water.  Our aim is to hold the moisture in the soil as long as possible.

Producing dry land farmed tomatoes is a lot of extra work.  But the wonderful flavor is worth it.

I’ll also have our usual gourmet squashes in all sorts of shapes and colors plus cucumbers too.

What does one do with kohlrabi or Rattlesnake beans?  Come visit my booth at the Tanasbourne, Orenco, or Hillsboro Downtown markets and find out!

We will have very little lettuce this week.  As the grass dies back in this warm weather, the deer become more desperate for food.  So much so, that they braved the shock of the electric fence and munched on our lettuce.  Fortunately, most of it was covered with a second layer of protection.  Unfortunately the plants they could reach were the only ones  ready for harvest.

We fortified the fence this morning.  Hopefully, it will hold and there will be more lettuce in a week or two.

As I walked the fields today, I stopped to admire our beautiful cantaloupes.  They are a small, cool season melon with a wonderful flavor.  They are beginning to get their netting which indicates they are maturing right on schedule.  It appears that this will be the year of the cucurbit.  All of the items that are doing well this year; squash, cucumbers and melons are in the cucurbit family.  Items from other plant families are a bit behind schedule due to the cool, damp weather at the beginning of the season.

See you at the market!