Sunflower shoots and looking for interns

Intern(s) Needed:

We are partnering with the deli in Queen Creek to resume farming operations in the fall at our Queen Creek location. We need one or two hard working interns to help us with this endeavor. This will be a volunteer opportunity (no monetary compensation) assisting with field work. Duties may weeding, planting, soil prep, harvesting, composting, irrigation, etc. Hours will vary as needed and will be somewhat flexible. This is a wonderful opportunity for students seeking practical field experience or anybody that has a few extra hours, a couple days a week, to learn more about farming and gardening.

If you or anyone you know is interested or would like more information please feel free to call or e-mail Clark at clark@crookedcarrot.com or (602) 615-6892.

Sunflower Shoots at the deli

We dropped off some freshly harvested, nutrient dense, and organically grown sunflower shoots at the deli this week. According to Christopher J. Kline at suite101.com, sunflower shoots are a nutritional “super food” made up of almost 25% protein and are a rich source of vitamins A, B complex, D, and E minerals including calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, and zinc. Yes, but can they leap tall buildings in a single bound?

Maybe you should leap on down to the deli in Queen Creek and give them a try. Ask Chef Blake for the special with the “sunflower shoots” from Crooked Carrot Farm.

Backyard Gardening and Sunflower Shoots

Backyard Gardening

Our families backyard garden is in full swing. We are harvesting fresh lettuce, cabbage, swiss chard, broccoli, bok choy, green onions, beets, and more. Also eggs from our four chickens happily housed in our portable chicken tractor. We also have tomatoes, squash, peppers, melons, cucumbers, and garlic growing for future harvest, all in our 288 sq. foot of raised beds. This shows that you can grow much of your own veggies even in a small backyard.

We would like to see more people growing their own food. Future blogs will have updates on specific crops, chickens, etc.... in an effort to inspire you to GROW!

Sunflower Shoots

Look for our sunflower shoots in a sandwich special at the deli this week.

From the Crooked Carrot Folks

New appetizer at the deli

Chef Blake Mastyk at the deli tells us the corn fritters featuring our corn shoots were a hit. This week try his "Shrimp, Prosciutto & Corn Cakes with a Creamy Fresh Herb Sauce", also featuring our corn shoots.



This week we are growing sunflower shoots for Chef Blake. Sunflower shoots are popular in our home. They add a crunchy nuttiness to salads and sandwiches. So look for sunflower shoots in next week's special at the deli.

For those of you who loved our soaps, they will soon be available at the deli as well.

Thanks,

From the Crooked Carrot Farm Team

Popcorn shoots at the deli.

We are now custom growing microgreens and popcorn shoots. Our popcorn shoots are being featured in the appetizer special, sweet corn fritters, at the deli in Queen Creek this week. Please stop by the deli and tell Chef Mastyk that we sent you.

Popcorn shoots are baby popcorn plants and are extremely sweet. We grow them organically in a nutrient rich compost mix and harvest them the day they are delivered.

Please stay tuned for updates and more information on new products that we will be offering.

Thanks,

The Crooked Carrot Team.

Hello, and welcome back to the Crooked Carrot Farm blog. We have been away for a while but now we're back and with big changes, for us and the farm.

Crooked Carrot Farm is now on an indefinite hiatus while we explore new ventures. Our newest is a partnership with a group of experienced farmers who want to preserve our farming heritage and introduce the community to the joys of backyard gardens and "real food". Please check us out at www.CityPlantations.com


Many of you may remember our CSA (community supported agriculture) when we first started our farm. That is the direction we are moving again. - only not using our land but using yours!

What kind of fruit, veggie, or egg is fresher and more nutritious than one from your local farmer's market? Once that is grown in your own backyard!

Gardening can be somewhat frustrating here in the low desert. That is why we are focusing our farming/gardening expertise on developing the most beautiful and productive backyard gardens that we can and sharing what we learn and grow with you, our loyal customers and blog readers.

City Plantations kicks off on September 12 - don't miss the fun!

We hope you have all had a great summer and we look forward to an abundant fall!


The Furlongs

Septembe 20, 2008

Welcome to Fall!

Quite a bit has happened since we last sent out a blog (but not out in the fields because it has been so hot).

Seedlings are being transplanted into the ground and we are looking forward to a great harvest. We are not planting at Crooked Carrot this fall. All of our farming is currently at Agriptopia (northwest corner of Higley and Ray). While Agritopia has always grown their produce organically, we are now in the process of becoming a certified organic farm. That is exciting for us.

We don't have an exact date that the farm stand will open here in Agritopia but we are estimating mid October. Even more great produce than what was available at Crooked Carrot but grown with the same care and attention.

We will send out another blog when we have exact dates for the opening. In the meantime, Agritopia has an e-mail alert of their own and you can get on that e-mail list by sending a request to gayle@agritopia.com. We are setting up an Agritopia blog and will let you know when that is available, but for now it is still via e-mails.

If you haven't visited us here at Agritopia, please do. It is a beautiful, peaceful farm.

We are not closing our Crooked Carrrot Farm down. We expect to plant there in the spring but everything is still fairly tentative. Our farm stand at Crooked Carrot will not be open at all this fall - we are sorry for any inconvenience but the drive to Agritopia will be well worth it.

We hope you all had a great summer and we look forward to seeing many of you here at our new home.

The Furlongs

Update

Can you believe June starts tomorrow?



Sadly enough our season has come to an end. Our farm stand will close this weekend. We will be open all day Saturday and Sunday with the following produce available:

• cabbage


• garlic


• carrots


• squash (costata romanesco, zephyr, raven)


• tomatoes


• green onions


• bulb onions


• cucumbers


• beets


• fennel

Clark has been hired on as the head farmer at The Farm @ Agritopia in Gilbert. Agritopia is a housing development located at the northwest corner of Higley and Ray that has incorporated a farm into the development. He will be managing both Agritopia and Crooked Carrot farms as one. We haven't quite worked out how the farmstand at Crooked Carrot will fit into this yet. It is our desire, if practical, to reopen the stand in the fall.

For those of you who live close or are willing to make the drive, the Agritopia farm stand is currently open on Saturdays from 8:00 - 1:00. You can check out their website at:

The Farm at Agritopia

Also please sign up for Agritopia's e-mail updates. Just send an e-mail to Gayle at gayle@agritopia.com.

We appreciate all our loyal customers this past year - we hope to see many of you at Agritopia. Please feel free to e-mail us with any questions. We will keep you posted through our blog about what is going on at Crooked Carrot Farm.

Thank you~

The Furlongs