The Pick Your Own Field

We plant a Pick Your Own Field for our wonderful CSA members. We have many different types of herbs, including parsley, dill and basil, peas, cherry tomatoes, flowers, and green beans all available for members to harvest themselves. Throughout the summer we allow our members to go to the field to pick their own vegetables as a part of their share.

We love planting the Pick Your Own field because it allows our members to get into the field and see what crops look like growing in the ground. They get to see the farm from the perspective of a beautiful field, feel the soil under their feet and listen to the birds that frequent that part of the farm. I have noticed that kids always get excited about harvesting vegetables and we love to get young people interested in growing food at a young age.

We like to think of the farm as a community space in many ways and the Pick Your Own field allows people to spend more time here. 

Our Crops Look Beautiful!

Huge spinach harvested today!

June is coming at a close and as we pass into July, everything looks gorgeous and lush! We are a little sad that our strawberry season is over, but we have so many amazing crops that are coming in.

Our spinach is huge and deep dark green this week for our CSA members! It is almost as big as our hands! Can you believe it?

And we are now into cucurbit season. We harvest summer squash, zucchini, and cucumbers three times per week and the plants are really starting to put out a lot of fruit. The patch looks big and healthy and the fruits themselves taste so good.

Cucumber, summer squash, zucchini patch.

Our next succession of brassicas is also coming in nicely. We love seeing such healthy looking broccoli plants and knowing that the crop will be productive. It's a nice treat to look forward to.

So things are going well here at Mighty Food Farm. We also began harvesting cabbage this week and our CSA members get tomatoes for the first time this week as well... very exciting. Come visit us at the farmers' markets this weekend: Bennington on Saturday from 10-1 and Dorset on Sunday from 10-2. 

New broccoli succession!

Watermelon radishes!

The Tuesday Bennington Farmers' Market Just Got Better!

Our tomatoes and strawberries.

Nick and I enjoyed a lovely day at the Tuesday Wallomsac Farmers' Market in Bennington yesterday. At the Mighty Food Farm tent, we had garlic scapes, strawberries, tomatoes, summer squash, zucchini, scallions, kohlrabi and many more exciting things. All so yummy this early in the season.

True Love Farm and Wildstone Farm.

We were particularly excited because we were joined by two new vendors. Thus far the market has simply been us, Wildstone Farm and True Love Farm. New to the market, Sweet Brook Farm in Williamstown will be selling produce, maple syrup, and alpaca products. Paper, Cake and Scissors offered bread, granola and other delicious treats. Emily has also teamed up with Isabella's on Main Street to bring delicious pizzas.  Her baked goods are so wonderful!

The addition of new vendors really created a lively atmosphere at the market, a rare feeling for a mid-week event... all the more reason to come out and enjoy what we all have to offer! Support your local farmers' market!

Sweet Brook Farm

Paper Cake Scissors' treats.

 

 

 

 

(Oh, also... we gave our box truck a little makeover. It looks awesome!)

Friday in Pictures

We had a wonderful Friday harvest. It was especially enjoyable because we began harvesting some wonderful new things, like peas and parsley.

Our melons are looking beautiful and healthy.

MMF Crew!

Berries and A New Sink!

Many exciting things happened at the farm this Thursday!

Loving the berries!

1. We are picking berries like crazy and so are our CSA members. Not only are we harvesting many pints of berries per day to fill wholesale orders and to have them at the farmers' market, we have also opened the patch to members to come and pick berries in their share. So much fun in the strawberry patch. Look for our berries at Wild Oats Co-op in Williamstown, Honest Weight Co-Op in Albany, at Mezze Restaurant, and at The Walloomsac and Dorset Farmers' Market.

2. We got a new sink in the packing shed. This may not sound very exciting, but it totally is. Now we can have double the amount of produce chilling in cold water, which preserves its freshness. Ultimately, a wonderful thing for the farm and for our customers!

Our new sink!

3.  We got rain! Our soil was looking dry and our plants were looking very thirsty. The downpour we had this afternoon gave the soil and our crops a much needed soak. We transplanted a lot of vegetables into the ground this week, so we are just so glad they finally got a drink! And it brought in some cooler and less humid air, which we appreciate immensely.

 

Harvest Season is Here

Kelly and Ariel harvesting radishes.

We are finally into full-swing of the harvest season. All of this gorgeous sunny weather means that our crops are doing well and we have a lot of food to offer both our CSA members and our customers. That makes us so happy.

Nick harvesting broccoli

On top of our normal harvest these days, we have also been frequenting the strawberry patch, avidly picking the first-to-ripen berries. They have slowed down a bit with the cooler weather in the last couple of days, but they are definitely ripening and they are so tasty! But we know for sure that the crop will be prolific this year because the patch is just loaded with unripe berries and it is just a matter of time before they all pop. (I can't stop thinking of strawberry jam, and strawberry pie!)

Haukerai radishes soaking

Along with harvest comes lots of time in the packing shed, washing and organizing the vegetables before they go out to the public. The packing shed is a very important place. Not only is it necessary to wash our amazing soil off the produce (it is definitely not dirt!), but it is also the place where we monitor quality, check bunch sizes, finalize our counts, and pack wholesale orders. It's fun!

Hope you all are enjoying our food!

First Strawberries at Market

Yesterday at The Bennington Farmers' Market, we had strawberries. They were not just any strawberries: they were our own, organic, lusciously ripe, early berries! And they did not last long because almost every customer to visit our booth treated themself to the taste of June. I kept telling people that they taste as good as they look, because they do. Maybe better. I must say that as I have been picking I have tasted a few before they get to my pint container, and the taste is unreal: they are so rich in flavor. It was wonderful to add some red color to our very green display!

Our brassica field!

Yesterday, we also uncovered our beautiful brassica (broccoli, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi) field so the plants could get some fresh air. Also, they are big enough for the flea beetles to no longer be a threat, which means they are getting close to being ready for harvest. The plants look beautiful under the sun!