Picking on the Farm

Nothing says summer like this!

Britney and I have joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) through a local farm here in Denver, about an hour away. It's called Monroe Organic Farm and is in Greeley, CO. The way the program works is you buy a share of the farm and receive 18 weeks of fresh produce delivered to a local location where you go and pick up your produce each week. We split the price between the two of us and are super excited for our first pick up date (maybe me more than Britney but she's getting excited by-proxy). Unfortunately due to a hail storm last week the crops are little delayed so we won't be starting until July but it'll be awesome nevertheless.

When I was at the Boulder Farmer's Market, I saw the booth with from Monroe Farms. I told them how I'm part of their CSA Program and how excited I am about it. They asked if I was going to go pick strawberries on the farm and I said no since I didn't buy a fruit share. Well, I guess since I'm a member of the farm, that's all that matters. Britney and I made reservations for the following weekend. The night before we went, Britney remembered she had to work so I was going solo.

I grabbed some strawberry flats from a local grocer and drove to the farm. It was a warm day and I had sunscreen. I did not have bug spray though and there were SO MANY mosquitoes near the asparagus (which I also had the pleasure of picking). I picked nevertheless and gave my body up for free fresh asparagus.

Then I went over to the strawberry patch with a few other CSA-ers and we picked our own row of strawberries each. Due to the storms, the plants had been hurt by the storm and the berries were super small; I was expecting strawberries like those on Silverado Trail. Who cares though?! They were fresh and I PICKED THEM! It was hard too! I was exhausted after 2.5 hours on the farm and barely made it home.

Luckily Britney was home and she helped me clean them up and we made a little mixture of strawberries and sugar to add into her yogurt, my oatmeal, etc. We also gifted a few bouquets of asparagus to our coworkers since we have SO MUCH!!

A family picking strawberries. You can't even see the end of the row but let me tell you it was LOOONG!!

The farm (right) and the farm owner's house (left)

 

Doesn't look like much but it felt like a lot and our fridge is totally stocked now!

Working one by one, she's crazy!! I was tired Ha

Do they remind you of Strawberry Shortcake the cartoon character? That's what we were thinking of!

STRAWBERRIES! So small they look like cherries!

Cleaned and sorted strawberries: center=good to eat right now, two sides=use for strawberry jam stuff

Dirty towel, strawberries probably stain, who knew?!

SO MUCH cleaned Asparagus!!

Asparagus bouquets!

All the extra asparagus we had after all we used it for and gifted away. We probably had about 5 bundles worth and each bundle at the store can cost about $4, so that's a bag of $20 worth asparagus!!

Britney and I are HOOKED. Too bad our  bathroom constantly reeks now.... haha

I taught Britney how to roast asparagus as part of her cooking tutorial while living with me!

This is the strawberry + sugar mixture we made. So yummy and almost like jam!

Practically a Smucker's commercial, minus the Albertson's jar and the fact that WE MADE IT!!! :)

The aftermath of all the strawberry cleaning and prep work

Strawberry oatmeal, fresh and homemade. Take that Quaker Oats!!

I LOVE SUMMER AND FRESH ORGANIC PRODUCE!!! :D