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Located at the base of Buckhorn Mountain at 6700' elevation, Buckhorn Gardens is a small, organic vegetable farm 13mi. south of Montrose, Colorado. Our farm is an active part of a 12,000 acre ranch; however, we only manage 3 acres with intensive vegetable gardening.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Saturday's hailstorm put a bit of a damper on the Montrose Farmers' Market, but up at the farm it was fifteen minutes of pure panic! Breigh, Abby, and I were prepping the cucumber bed when we heard the storm coming. We wondered aloud why it was unusually noisy, then took off toward the dome at a full sprint as we dodged the mothball-sized hail. It wasn't enough to get ourselves under cover though -- we had to keep going out in the storm, braving the hail to bring in all the pepper and melon starts sitting outside to harden off. After the storm passed and our adrenaline rushes subsided, we headed outside to survey the damage to our crops outside. The chard, cabbage, and broccoli were hit the hardest, with some holes poked in their large leaves, but everything seems to have made it through ok. Then, to soothe our frazzled nerves, Abby and I went home to make delicious farm-fresh kimchi! You can read about our food adventure on Abby's blog.

Despite the unpredictable weather, we managed to have a productive week of planting. After much weeding, we transplanted eggplant, summer squash, winter squash, pickling and slicing cucumbers, over a hundred tomato plants, and five kinds of basil. We've all been working long hours to get all the crops in as soon as possible, but the days of planting rows and rows of vegetables are some of the most satisfying. Many thanks to CSA member Gail for coming out to plant summer squash! We're planning a big final push to get everything weeded and planted on Saturday, so this weekend would be a great time to come out and get your work day in.


A warm welcome to our fourth full-time intern, Mindy! Mindy is a Ridgway native who has been volunteering on weekends for over a month. We're so glad to have her around all the time!

The Telluride Farmers' Market Kicked off last week, and we had a great time. We sold out of all our root crops, and had to pick more beets, carrots, and turnips to have enough for the Montrose market. We'll be there every Friday, so come check out the market and pick up some extra treats to supplement your CSA share. All of the interns will rotate working at Telluride, so you'll have a chance to meet the whole Buckhorn crew!

Now that the days are so hot, we've been having lots of salad for farm lunches. Here's a quick and easy salad recipe using our root crops and herbs. Items available in this week's share are in bold. Enjoy!


Beet and Radish Salad

8 small beets or 2 medium beets
8 radishes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lime or lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped mint
1.5 tbsp chopped chives
salt & pepper to taste

Trim and roast the beets in foil until tender (about one hour). When cool, peel and cut into wedges. Cut radishes into bite-size pieces and combine with beets. Make dressing by combining olive oil, lime or lemon juice, mint, and chives. Toss dressing with beets and radishes, season with salt and pepper and serve!

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