CSA Deliveries Have Begun!

A beautiful patch of salad greens and head lettuce.

Last week we kicked off our 2011 CSA deliveries with a bang. Boxes included early crops such as radishes, broccoli, various greens, and an herb pot. As we look to the next few weeks, spinach, snap peas, kale, head lettuce, carrots, beets, and hopefully some raspberries (if we ever have heat again) should make an appearance.


The correlation between eating seasonally and joining a CSA is one of the greatest aspects of this endeavor. Right now cooler weather crops are doing quite well, while many of our summer staples are only weeks in the ground. This is not a bad thing! All too often we expect to eat what we can find in a grocery store (which is everything) rather than what we can find on the farm (which is what we do). I am a vegetable lover. If I could have tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers right now, I would. That said, going months without tomatoes, or at best tomatoes without flavor, makes me appreciate August's bounty of heirloom tomatoes even more.


In my four years of selling at farmers markets, not a single May has gone by without a customer asking the question, "Is sweet corn getting close?" Usually it's not even planted.


We grow right around 50 different vegetables here at the Bike Farm, and well over 100 varieties of those vegetables. We've learned to appreciate the versatility of crops like arugula, kale, and swiss chard and use them in some of the best meals we've ever had. We hope that you do too. Given the choice between broccoli picked less than 48 hours coming from within a maximum of 70 miles from your home, picked by someone whose name you know (Suzannah, Jefferson, Joe), and week old, unripened, flash frozen, produce that needs to clear customs before eventually hitting the supermarket shelves, eating seasonally sounds like the sanest, freshest, and best tasting way to enjoy your food.

Greenhouse Growth

Tables of vegetable and flower starts flourish under perfect growing conditions.

After finally finishing construction of the greenhouse in late February, it wasn't long before the first seeds sewn began to sprout. Onions, leeks, broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower were some of the first seeds to be started here this spring.


In addition to starting all of our plants here at the Bike Farm, we also sell bedding plants at our early local farmers markets. Vegetable and flower starts are grown in peat pots, as well as decorative impatiens pots, and hanging baskets of wave petunias. We also grow many herbs and perennials for the home gardener. 


Along with our early markets, this year we will be selling bedding plants at Coffee Talk in Taylors Falls, MN over the course of two weekends in May; the 13-14th and the 20-21st. For those unfamiliar with Taylors Falls click here. For more information about the plant sale check out our Spring Plant Sale Flier

Dog Days of Winter

Winter gatherings celebrating good food.

This is the payoff. All the work that goes into a season of growing vegetables eventually ends like this; Roasted potatoes, pork with sweet and sour sauce, green beans and pine nuts, fresh warm rolls, and a beets and greens salad. Most of the items on this stove we're grown (or raised) here at the Bike Farm.

For the past month or so we've been alternating dinner parties with our friends at Tiny Planet Produce. Each week we try and choose a  loose theme, this particular dinner came on the heels of butchering a pig, a la spicy pork roast with sweet and sour sauce. The week before was taco night, then Thai night, and somewhere over the past few weeks was lamb night (though at last check the lamb was still stewing).

We have lamented often this winter that the summertime, when fresh fruits and vegetables are bountiful and many times picked minutes before consumption, is a difficult time to spend cooking gourmet meals due to our very limited free time. However the winter, when raspberries and garlic lie dormant, there is endless time to bake homemade breads, marinate vegetables, and slow cook chili's and soup.

Not to sound like a salesman, but these are the perks of becoming a member of a CSA or shopping at local farmers markets. You enjoy the benefits of the freshest food on the planet (not shipped from 2000 miles away) purchased from people you know and trust (not faceless brand names). Growing up in Chicago in the 1980's, local food was never a possibility outside of you or your neighbors garden. This has changed, particularly in the Twin Cities and surrounding areas. Small towns and neighborhoods alike have farmers markets, and through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA shares) you can become a member of a farm that grows produce for you.

Winter at the Bike Farm

Snow in the orchard.

Hello Folks! Welcome to the inaugural post of our new website. Hope everyone is enjoying the dog days of winter. Here at the Bike Farm we're beginning to come back to life after a short hibernation. We've been putting together all of our 2011 CSA information over the past couple weeks, as well as creating budgets, pouring over seed catalogs, and digging up long buried greenhouse hoops.

Make no mistake, we've had plenty of time for the fun stuff; skating, cross country skiing, hiking, enjoying warm fires at the cabin, indulging in fine wine and beer, and occasionally watching a football game or two on the weekends (some of us). We've lamented many times about how ironic it is to have so much time to cook extravagant meals over the winter and no basil, tomatoes, or fresh greens to harvest from the field. Oh well, we did do a fair amount of  canning, pickling, freezing, and drying during the summer and fall to make 2010's bounty last into this year's spring.

Be on the lookout for CSA membership information and other exciting news here at the Bike Farm in the coming days and weeks.