Weingärtner MicroFarm

With the forecast for lots of sun and heat, it’s finally time to get the dripline installed.

This ruffled pink poppy is quite neat!

Planted some basil, radish, and beans around the cucumber/squash/zucchini zone! Next step is wrapping the frame with some fencing to help support it and for the climbing plants to use as a trellis. I also transplanted most of our tomato plants, also with basil and will need to build some trellises over these boxes as well. Happy to see poppies and dahlias blooming finally too! It’s a great time of year!

Facts.

Two years ago I won a blue ribbon at the local fair for one of my Española Chile peppers, and this year I’m hoping to enter again! Last year I didn’t enter due to my plants being way too far behind. But things are going much better again this season! Same type of chile is one of the first growing well this season again, so I’m hoping for a repeat! No leek or other miscellaneous veggie shall stand in my way of victory!

Corn and beans seeded here on Sunday!

Backyard flowers! Which version do you prefer? Focus on the poppy, or focus on the lavender?

Our first zinnia is opening! The next two aren’t far behind!

Dinner this evening featuring microgreen salad from .familyfarm! So good!

Full Chile field!

After CSA harvest today I got some cucumbers, squash, zucchini and melons planted into the ground where my greenhouse was (see previous posts for dealing with the POS from ). Since I covered the ground, it killed off grass and weeds really well and I plan to put some fencing along the right side of the janky frame and use it as a trellis for my cucumbers. Acorn squash and melons will be encouraged to go out over the clover/grass and current tarped off space on the left.

Bek and I went out for a fantastic dinner at ! Delicious as always! Lots of new folks there since I was last around, but nice to see and say hello to very briefly. Thanks for the excellent meal chef! Lots of fresh greens and berries directly off !

Future hot sauce growing nicely!

This weeks CSA includes our first legit carrot harvest, a full container of snap and shelling peas, herbs, garlic scapes, a beautiful salad mix with edible flowers, the garden is so amazing even the goats and more bee swarms want to get in! (Swipe to last two pics if this statement is confusing…) we are also very stoked to be including this months bonus collab feature, a micro salad with dill dressing by .familyfarm, another awesome maple ridge farm growing organically and specializing in the finest microgreens around! Also it’s not raining and cold this weekend finally!! happy Saturday!

This week’s salad mix for the CSA!

More Chiles in the ground! This plot is almost full, still have open beds on the upper north end of the field, then gotta untarp and build out the adjacent section. Chiles already growing on many of the plants… I can almost smell the roaster already! 🌶️🔥🥗

Lots of Chile plants in the ground this weekend, and I couldn’t have done it without Bek helping a bunch! All beds for the first big section are done and almost fully planted out now! I also got some weeding done on my strawberry bed, as they were getting a little lost in there. So we have about 300 something Chile plants in the ground now, and about 365ish left to go…

Chiles!!!

Can’t beat some beautiful round beets!

Bek has been getting most of the peppers planted today while I was doing my CSA harvest. We have Aji Amarillo, Aji limo, cayenne, Chimayo, and starting to put Joe E Parker and Española in now!

This weeks CSA bags ready to go! We got lots of herbs, garlic scapes, carrots and beets, berries, peas, and tons of salad greens!

School is out, Chiles are IN! Well, we’re starting to put them in. Got quite a few (hundred) more to go, but feels good to start to switch over into full time summer farmer mode!

After a week and half dealing with Covid and two final concerts at the teacher day job, it felt really good to get out and prep some more beds and finally get my tomatillos in the ground!

This weekends CSA package, getting a little more diversity in the mix! Added in garlic scapes, mixed peas, strawberries, and a little alyssum and marigold for colour and extra edible sparkle. Lots of salad greens and kale going strong still too, as well as onion tops! Now if this rain will just chill a bit so we can get more things in the ground!

These strawberries are making me blush… ;p

Salmon berries are appearing on the farm! While native to the west coast they seem to not be as well known as blackberry and raspberry. I’m looking forward to picking and trying these soon!

Welcome to the jungle… of salad. 🥗

Pest control at work. I have spotted some aphids on things in the farm recently, but also lots of young ladybugs. All about encouraging a balanced ecosystem, not drenching food in chemicals.

Today’s CSA goodies!

Super excited I was actually able to bring this idea to fruition! Although my ghost peppers this year turned out to be an interesting hybrid, I won’t hold that against them (they might even be better now!). After carefully saving seeds from many of them for next season, I sautéd the ghosts in a dash of oil (warning, make sure fans are on, windows are open and you’ve got masks ready BEFORE starting this process). I got the right amount of charred skin I was hoping for, added in garlic, ginger and spices, then diced up some red and orange bell pepper to thicken it up (and tame it down). Boiled for about 20 minutes in vinegar, blended it up, and strained. I’ll let it sit overnight before reheating and adding a bit more vinegar to the exact consistency I want, then will bottle up! This sauce is inspired by Indian cuisine, and I essentially took all the spices listed for Tandoori chicken and blended them into this sauce. I definitely get the Indian food vibe more than Mexican here, and I love it! So I will call this sauce “Tandoori Oven” due to the blazing heat brought to it from my ghost peppers!