It’s that time of the year when summertime crops are trickling in and springtime crops are coming to an end. A magical time where we are graced with the opportunity to have a brief yet scrumptious taste of two seasons at once. This year has been an amazingly productive year yielding produce of the utmost quality (knock on wood that Mother Nature holds onto that mild temperament). Which brings us great relief with the past two years as a harsh juxtaposition. Our tomato harvest is so massive that the farm crew is daunted by the seemingly endless fields! They’re wondering who’s planning all this ‘mater craziness!? It is hands down the best harvest yet, so get to planning your favorite tomato dishes, we are in for a succulent summer season.

What’s coming to markets soon? Want updates on our market staples? Here’s a quick rundown:

Potatoes. This crop has been outstanding this year.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Squash. Heirloom varieties, yellow squash, zucchini. Everyone get ready! In the next week or two, spaghetti squash and acorn squash will be available as soon as we cure it. Our first butternut squash of the season will coincide with the watermelon harvest, too! CSA members - let us know if you want squash blossoms, we could offer these vibrant delicacies as swap items.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Cucumbers! Pickling cukes and slicing cukes will be flourishing oh so soon.

Eggplant. This crop should be at market in a couple of weeks!

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Peppers! They are just starting to get ripe, so they should be ready in a couple of weeks. Limited supply now, but if you CSA folks are interested in them as a swap item, email us and we can harvest them for you!

Okra. We picked some of our first of the season recently... look for it in CSA boxes.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Melons! We have quite the array this year. We will have three types of watermelon: Yellow doll, Tiger baby, and Pata Negra. The melon menu for 2017 is: traditional cantaloupe, mini cantaloupe, Galia (an Israeli melon with a tropical taste and green flesh… it is the earliest harvested melon), Korean melon (yellow striped look), honeydew, canary melon (bright yellow), French Chantenay melon (heirloom melon that is so fragrant and small, it’s like eating dessert). Talk about sweet summertime!

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Tomatoes! This is the best tomato crop that we have ever had. The tomato menu for this year is: red slicer tomatoes (perfect for the everyday tomato sandwich, pizza, and/or salsa), three different kinds of Roma (San Marzano, traditional red Roma, and mini yellow Roma. FYI, these mini yellow Romas best eaten fresh, they are so tasty!), 10 different varieties of cherry tomatoes (some heirloom varieties), and plum tomatoes. Although you have probably seen some green tomatoes already in CSA boxes or at the market stands, starting next week, the tomato harvest will really start to arrive. Expect red tomatoes in your CSA box in the coming weeks!

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Green beans! Loads of green beans coming in to market.

Fennel and tons of it!

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Root crops. A very strong harvest of black Spanish radishes, scarlet turnips, purple top turnips, and daikon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Mint! Tons of it right now.

Celeriac. It’s looking awesome!

Cabbage. A monster harvest of green and red cabbage is headed to markets this weekend!

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Onions. We are harvesting and curing them currently. We planted late, so not looking as big as we would like, but this crop is coming!

Beets. They are mammoth! We have your red beets, heirloom Chioggia, and sweet goldens.

Mixed carrot bunch. Our mixed carrot bunch is usually orange, yellow, and white. This year, we tried out a new variety and new colors!

Rainbow carrots are on the way!

A post shared by Brenton Johnson (@farmerbrenton) on May 16, 2017 at 9:58am PDT

Grapes! They are looking amazing. We cannot wait for this harvest.

Sweet potatoes. They are planted, and we are awaiting patiently for the first harvest! We will have the greens before we have the roots.

Zinnias and sunflowers. Adorn your home with summer blooms. You will see them populating and beautifying market stands to a larger degree very soon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

What crops are at the end of their season? Here are the crops that are unfortunately leaving us for summer respite:

Curly kale. Surprisingly, we still have awesome curly kale. This trend will continue for another couple weeks. If you’re an kale aficionado, get this delectable green at market before it’s gone.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Cilantro and parsley. They are almost done for the season… unfortunately, in this central Texas climate it’s really difficult to maintain tomatoes and cilantro in the same season. We hypothesize that they’ll be around for another week or two.

Broccoli. This quick spring crop is almost done for the season! Such a bittersweet goodbye!

Collard greens. These puppies are at the end of their seasons. They’ll be around for maybe two more weeks.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

CSA Members! We are trying to keep an eye for hot weather greens that people like… We will have malabar spinach and amaranth. Any greens that you know and would like to have access to at markets? Let us know!

Looking for seasonal and part-time work? Getting out of college and need a job? Check out our jobs page for more information!

PS - We have tons of exciting events coming up in June! Think: workshops galore and the long anticipated return of the Tomato U-Pick at the farm! Check out our events page for more info.