September Color

This is such a beautiful and exciting time of year! Summer and Fall merge, in a glorious display of color.

You can find pumpkins, strawbales, gourds, apples, and apple cider at Kirby's. A great start to the Fall season!

 We love growing a variety of pumpkins and gourds...

This giant gourd variety grows into some very interesting shapes and colors.

 

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Little orange and white pumpkins are adorable, in just as many shapes and sizes.

Our large Mums are exploding with color!

And there are a lot of colors to choose from. Complement your mums with some interesting foliage plants from our perennial area. Perennials are all 25% off!

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Produce Update

Tomatoes are at their peak, while peaches are beginning to come to a close. Right now we have Cresthaven peaches, which are a freestone variety that's excellent for baking, eating, freezing, and canning. We also Babygold, a clingstone variety that is our personal favorite for canning. They have excellent flavor, you don't have to peel them, and their firm flesh holds up well in a jar.

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Apple Varieties Available now:

Honeycrisp, Autumn Crisp, Gingergold, McIntosh, Paula Red, and Jonamac

Other homegrown produce in season:

Sweet and Hot Peppers, Eggplant, Lettuce, Kale, Beets, Broccoli, Garlic, Cauliflower, Plums, Pluots, and Nectarines.

Locally grown produce in season:

Potatoes, Onions, Carrots, Parsnips, and Shiitake Mushrooms

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July Field Update

Early sour cherry variety.
Early sour cherry variety.

Hello from the farm! The persistent rain this Spring is a continuing challenge. It slowed things down and delayed the harvest on Spring crops like peas, lettuce, and beets. And then, it shortened the strawberry crop! I don't mind waiting for peas, but I am disappointed that strawberries are already done here.

We've said good bye to Spring crops of Rhubarb, Strawberries, and Spinach - it's time to embrace Summer!

To help you keep up with the changing seasons, here's a loose prediction of what the next month or so will look like.

Peas, Regular and Edible Pod

: Right now we're in our third planting with one more to go. We should have peas for two more weeks (mid-July)!

Lettuce: Our fresh lettuce will be available until mid-July.

Zucchini and Summer Squash are here now and will be until at least the end of July.

Sour Cherries showed up at the end of June. There isn't a lot of the first variety, so they won't be around too long. Later varieties will be here in mid July, and should last about 2 weeks.

Sweet Cherries arrived on June 28th, and they'll be around just into the beginning of August.

Broccoli

Fresh broccoli crowns, available by the pound.
Fresh broccoli crowns, available by the pound.

: our broccoli plantings are shaping up to be pretty epic this year, with a total of about 400,000 broccoli plants in the field.  We're in the first harvest right now! 

Recipes: 

Broccoli Soup, Broccoli Salad, and Roasted Broccoli

 

Coming Up:

Pickles

will start showing up in about two weeks.  We're doing a planting each week for the entire month of July, with the last one going in on August 1st. This means we should have a steady supply for all of August and well into September, if Mother Nature cooperates.

3,000 feet of Beets were planted two weeks ago. We're looking forward to having lots to pick in about six weeks!

In our next update, we'll have news on tomatoes, peppers, sweet corn, and peaches.

Field Update, May 31st

So far the weather has set us up for a pretty average Spring as far as timing goes. Patches of hot weather got things started, alternating with those cold snaps that slowed everything right back down. The rain we had earlier this week was very much appreciated by the plants, fueling the burst of bloom in our strawberry and pea fields. Read on for more details!

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Spinach! Now filling a basket on our produce table, it's freshly pulled from a field behind the market and rinsed in clean, cold water. We only have one planting so it will be here for just a short time... but it WILL be back in the fall! Homegrown spinach is so tender and delicious. And full of nutrients of course!

 

 

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Next up: Peas! The very first blossom showed up one week ago today. We expect to pick about three weeks after the first bloom, so look for peas around June 14th.



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Our strawberries began to bloom right before the coldest weather hit in May. Even with the added protection of a row cover (light-weight fabric that provides a layer of insulati0n) our very first strawberries were killed by the cold. We were sad to lose what is always the biggest berries of the season, but the hundreds of blossoms in our field right now makes us feel a lot better! The strawberries out there right now are already getting some pretty good size to them. We should be picking in about two weeks if Mother Nature continues to be kind.

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The quilt of lettuce growing in the greenhouse has been planted in neat rows in the field. When you drive by, you might notice two rows of white plastic next to rows and rows of black plastic. That's the lettuce! White plastic will prevent the tender leaves from burning. Black plastic absorbs heat, which can be great to get plants going in the Spring, but it's just too hot for lettuce. Lettuce will be ready for sale around June 14th as well.

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Broccoli is the undertaking of the year! Every week for eighteen weeks, our Captain of Seeding, Ron, is planting 15,000 broccoli plants. This photo shows you just a small percentage of what is soon to be acres of glorious broccoli. We'll start picking around July 1st.

March on the Farm

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Even though the ground is still frozen (and no doubt snow will be flying before March is done) we're already seeing the first signs of Spring. With the mild winter we've had this year, green things are popping up pretty early. Have you noticed the daffodils poking through the ground? Maybe a patch of snowdrops or helleborus blooming? At Kirby's, it always gets green long before the rest of WNY thaws out completely. In our greenhouse, the first batch of hanging baskets has been planted. Happy little annuals are growing vigorously on the benches, gaining some size before we hang them up.

14 trays of onions were seeded this morning. Onions are a first for us! Farmer Tim was inspired  by our CSA program to add a few new crops. He's excited about the idea of giving our CSA members as much variety as we can throughout the season. There will be more plantings of lettuce and spinach too. Our regular customers will benefit as well, when that amazing homegrown lettuce stays around for a few weeks longer then usual, and homegrown green onions and beans show up on our market tables.

Soon there will be trays of tomato, cauliflower, broccoli, and pepper seedlings growing in the greenhouse. And before you know it, we'll be out in the fields harvesting delicious produce for your table!

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In Season Now

Dark Sweet Cherries showed up last Saturday.

Freeze them, dry them, blend them with lemonade, toss some onto a salad - if they make it home that is!  When the Sweet Cherries show up, Sour Cherries can't be far behind.

July is fast approaching!

We've had strawberries for several weeks but they won't be here much longer. Now is the time to purchase by the flat for jam, juice, and freezing. Freezing is my favorite way to preserve strawberries for the winter. Last year I somehow ran out of time and only got around to making jam. Let me tell you, I missed them alll winter. And I learned my lesson - there are eight quarts in my freezer right now!

Our lettuce is grown right behind the market,

so we can take a short walk out back and pick more whenever we need to. We keep at least two heads of each type available (Green Leaf, Red Leaf, Ithaca, and Buttercrunch), and you know it's fresh! I didn't know what good lettuce was until we started growing it ourselves. It is so sweet and tender and beautiful!

Regular Peas are still going strong!

We'll have them for a few more weeks, so take a few pounds home to enjoy a little pea-shelling meditation on the front porch.

Ode to a Busy Saturday Morning

Five bushels of edible pod peas, still warm from the sun.

Twelve flats of strawberries, surrounded by a cloud of sweet perfume.

Crisp lettuce, like huge, ruffled, green roses, lined up patiently in a crate.

A pile of curling garlic scapes, like the discarded jewelry of faeries, ready to add garlicky flavor to anything cooking in the kitchen.

A wagon loaded with forty pounds of strawberries, picked by three generations!

The last of the asparagus: short, tender and sweet, like a final good bye from Spring.

They all disappear one by one, in the hands of a steady stream of fruit and vegetable lovers. Our customers!

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Baked Goods from Greg'ry's, Bergen, NY

Aside from the beautiful produce coming in on this beautiful day, I am excited to share the news with you that we are once again carrying baked goods from Greg'ry's Bakery in Bergen. For years we sold rows of their delicious fruit-filled pies, stacks of cookies and plenty of loaves of bread. Once again our display is full of their high quality treats. (I have spent the entire morning resisting the urge to try one of everything! Now I just have to make the choice between giant cinnamon rolls, coffee cake, scone or a little strawberry rhubarb pies...what to pick...).  Stop by on any Friday, Saturday or Sunday and savor a treat from Greg'ry's!

Delicious Days of June: Field Update & Recipe

Things are really picking up speed on the farm! You can practically watch the crops grow with the sunshine and warm temperatures we've been enjoying.

Kirbygrown produce available in the market right now:

  • Strawberries
  • Edible Pod (Sugar Snap) Peas
  • Lettuce
  • Spinach
  • Asparagus
  • Rhubarb
  • Peppers (field grown in our high tunnel)
  • MacIntosh, Empire and Crispin Apples (last years, from CA storage)

We also have locally grown gourmet mixed field greens (that's a delicious mouth full!),  and hothouse tomatoes.

We are expecting regular peas to be here by the weekend in about ten days if the temperatures stay above seventy, and we'll start Pick Your Own peas and strawberries in the next week or so. If you're interested in pick your own, give us a call at (585)637-2600 to check on picking conditions.

 

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Last week, Betty, one of our market salespeople, brought this salad in for us to try. It features two of our favorite early summer ingredients, and was so refreshing that we had to share it with you!

For the Salad

  • 1 lb fresh, washed Spinach
  • 2 cups sliced Strawberries
  • ¼ cup slivered Almonds

For the Dressing

  • ½ cup Miracle Whip
  • ½ cup Orange Juice concentrate
  • 1 Tbsp Honey

Preparation:

Combine Miracle Whip, honey, and orange juice in a small bowl. Set aside.

Tear the spinach into bite sized pieces and place in a large bowl or on individual salad plates. Arrange strawberries on top of spinach. Drizzle with dressing and sprinkle with Almonds. Enjoy!

June Produce

Almost everything is early this year so we have to keep you informed! That warm weather early this Spring gave everything a little bit of a head start.

  • Cherries: in the market since 6/20, we'll have sweet cherries for several weeks yet. Sour cherries will be here before July, we hope. A little later and with a shorter season then sweet, you definitely want to catch some before they're gone. We like to eat them fresh, make some into a cobbler and of course... cherry pie!
  • Strawberries: I picked a few quarts this afternoon and there are plenty of big beautiful berries out there.  If you're not interested in picking your own, we have plenty in the market already picked.
  • Lettuce: fresh Kirbygrown lettuce is so tender and crisp. (I have been tempted to eat an entire head for lunch on more then one occasion, dressed simply in a cider vinagrette). Red leaf, green leaf and buttercruch!
  • Peas: Sweet and Edible Pod are here at the moment. Our second planting is just getting started.
  • Coming soon: zucchini, summer squash, early peaches.

As always, call ahead if you're coming for a specific item! You never know when we might sell out of something and we don't want anyone to be disappointed. Feel free to place an order by phone or in person ahead of time and if it's in the field we'll have it ready to go at any time, on any day.