Oh, golly!  

Our growing season has come to an end: 

Sunday

October 18, 2020

7:00 p.m. 

will be our last day for the stand to be open. 

With the cold, wet spring we had, we were off to a late start opening to the public.  Several cool crops didn't make it and our winter squashes didn't produce as well as we would have liked, including our pumpkins and butternut squash.  However, warm weather crops kept the stand full of a wide variety of awesome veggies, green beans, cucumbers, red/green cabbages, lettuce, four varieties of potatoes, corn, a variety of summer squash, green/bulb onions, cherry/beefsteak tomatoes, celery, green peppers, eggplant, beets, the world's ugliest and tastiest carrots, winter squashes, including acorn, spaghetti, delicata, some herbs, garlic, pumpkins, gourds.  

We discovered a new variety of potato, Solar Gold.  If you liked the creaminess of our Clavellas (2019),  Solar Gold is just as creamy.  Solar Gold sold out, so we didn't save any to try to store over the winter.    

Lots of big plans/goals for 2021. (Including blogging more than once!  Arrgghh  Believe it or not, these days weeding is more fun for me than sitting at the computer. Plus, the product in the stand changes so quickly it was tough to keep up with Mom Nature.)  This winter hoping to finish a hard cover greenhouse that will stand up to the wind and get to work on our Barn restoration. 

Cover crop is planted and the rest of the gardens will be put to bed shortly.  Have a wonderful holiday season.   If you visited our stand this year, thank you for your support!  Much appreciated.  Stay safe!  Looking forward to spring, 2021 (and hopefully an open house/garden tour/product samples.   Don't forget to VOTE!  Make it a great day!  Doug and Char

       

FRESHLY DOUG VEGETABLES

 STAND IS OPEN!

10 a.m. to dusk (generally 8 p.m.) 

7 days a week.

Yay!  Finally.  

Ordered most of our seeds in January, including potatoes.

Started planting starts in greenhouse in February.

March added four additional raised beds.

St. Patrick's Day weekend planted peas, beets, carrots, lettuce, etc.

Continued planting in raised beds for planned June opening.

With the wet cold spring, and a wire worm infestation in three/four raised beds, spring crops were  devastated. No need to 'pull' plants out, they mostly fell out of the ground due no to few roots.  There went our spring opening!  Grrrrrr  The organic solution from the WSU Extension website seems to be working.  We will be out in the raised beds this winter to resolve the pest issue.   

Ah, well - try again next year!  Make it a great day!

Currently available - celery, green onions, garlic, four varieties of potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, limited green beans, summer squash.  

 

Summer and Fall produce is on the way!

For more info on available produce, please text 425-220-3904. 

Opening Some Time in June

Mother Nature sent us a cold, wet spring!  WHICH impacts how slowly/quickly our garden grows.  We are on track to open sometime in June featuring cool weather crops, Swiss Chard, beets, arugula, spinach, etc.  And, as is typical with our growing season, we will start out slow, then as the weather warms up, we will be adding cucumbers, zucchini, corn, green beans, etc.

Oh, and let's not forget COVID 19!  (Who would have thought???!!)  Washington State considers our Produce Stand an essential business, and we are allowed to open.  Early in April, when it became apparent that we're in it for the long haul, we sought safe opening guidance from the Snohomish Health District.  

To keep you and your family safe, we are requesting that our customers follow these guidelines:

• One family unit at a time in the stand.  If the stand is occupied, please wait in your car for your turn to shop.
• Each person, prior to entering, is required to wear a cloth mask.
• Please limit touching the produce to what you buy.  (As much as possible, produce will be pre-packaged for your convenience.) 
• We will continue to operate on the Honor System.

We PLEDGE the following:

• All produce will be harvested/handled/packaged using disposable food grade gloves and a cloth face mask.
• Fresh produce will be UNWASHED, but pre-packaged.
• High touch areas will be sanitized regularly.

During these trying times, we hope that you and your family are staying safe.   Take good care and Make it a great day!    Char
 

Comfort Food

Spaghetti Squash Recipe: 

As we have grown older, our produce "repertoire" has also grown.  20 years ago we had never heard of spaghetti squash.  As a spaghetti lover, the first time that I cooked it, I was surprised that it did not actually taste like spaghetti.  (Duh!!!????)  It was Doug who really, really liked it.  As a result, this wonderful winter squash is a staple in our garden.  We are trying to figure out a way to keep the 'fruit' up off the wet ground.  If the squash's outer "skin" is kept blemish free and stored in a cool, dark, semi-humid space, they can last up to six months, with no processing.  We did roast a couple of squash, let them cool, scraped out the insides, zip lock bagged them for the freezer.  We will see how it works. 

The following recipe is from one of our customers who also loves spaghetti squash.  Great winter 'comfort' food. 

Vegan Moroccan-Spiced Spaghetti Squash

In the forefront on the left is a stock tank planted with asparagus, center is a mini dwarf cherry tree, and far right is a horse bunker containing strawberries.  The white pipe is pex pipe and the bird netting clipped to it keeps the starlings/robins out.  In the background, Doug (on the Ford Tractor) is tilling the small garden by the barn and laying cover crop.  And on the John Deere is a friend cutting the pasture one last time before winter sets in.  

AND 294 cloves of garlic planted in a raised bed!  Pictures to follow.  Have a wonderful day!  

Produce Stand Closing for Season - Dusk 10-18-19

A Season of Fun and Joy!

True to our name "Freshly Doug Vegetables," our produce was harvested from our gardens in the morning and in the stand for sale within an hour or two.   We did have some trouble figuring out if the corn was ripe or not - but, we eventually figured it out!  Duh????!!!!   

Looking west at the produce stand.  Both stock tanks were planted with free samples of edible flowers, (nasturtiums).  The right stock tank was planted with a variety of cherry tomatoes and the left tank was planted with basil.  Ripe, right off the vine!      

We have begun preparing for next season.  Cover crop has been planted.  As you may or may not know cover crop adds organic matter, nitrogen and protects the soil through the winter.  Raised beds have also been planted with cover crop, except for the one where we will be planting garlic this month.  We will be picking up all of the hoses and markers from the two main gardens.  During the winter months, we will be selecting and ordering a wide variety of favorite, heirloom seed, staging planting from greenhouse to garden, building four more raised beds, bringing the total to 12.   And, looking forward to spring!

As a beautiful season comes to an end, at dusk on October 18, 2019, Doug and I are grateful to the many people who stopped by to support our efforts to grow high quality, reasonably priced, organic produce.  You rock!  Thank you!  Hugs and make it a great day!

Howden pumpkins

 

Bean Doing Okay?

Yup.  Bean doing great!  

More than several years ago, I asked my mom why she never grew green beans in the small patch of garden out behind our house where she would throw a couple of seeds and grow the biggest, tastiest tomatoes.   Her response was, "You kids never liked them."  (As an adult, fresh green {string} beans have become one of my favorite vegetables.)  Her response caused me to reflect..  As a young girl, I remember sitting on the neighbors' front porch with my sister and their younger set of twin girls, with big bowls (similar to the picture below) of fresh green beans between us, talking and laughing, all while cleaning and snapping green beans. The older set of  twins and their mom had picked the beans earlier and "our job" was to get them ready for pressure canning for winter meals.  Our ulterior was obvious, my sister and I helped the twins with their chores so the four of us could 'goof off' together.  Win/Win

Maybe it's just me, but, I could NOT recall ever eating any cooked, fresh green beans.  Oh snap! Light bulb ON.  Of course, we ate green beans - but they were store bought, canned ones, that were then boiled for another obligatory 15 minutes. (Frozen beans were too expensive.)  So, what ended up on our plate was pretty much mush.  No wonder we (I for sure)  didn't like them.  It was the mushy, flavorless, texture!  Ugh!   Don't get me wrong, my parents did the best they could with what they had and at least we had food.  And I did try to eat a spoonful or two, each with a bite of potato.  My point is that today the vegetables I eat and love have more flavor than the ones I grew up eating … asparagus is another one that tastes different fresh rather than canned and boiled the required 15 minutes!  

Lesson:  Try a vegetable that you didn't like when you were a kid - you might be surprised.    
 

3.5 pounds of Blue Lake Pole Beans, straight out of the garden.  Half were cleaned, snapped and put in a crockpot on top of a layer of bacon.   Made a great meal after a hard day's work.  After cooking for three hours ... not mushy.  

The extra table set up to accommodate the winter squashes, tomatoes and eggplant.  

Fresh sweet corn coming soon.  

Make it a great day!  

Happy Birthday, USA!

2019 Season has officially BEGUN!

What a great day to be grateful! 

Outside of the produce stand are stock tanks brimming with u-pick edibles, nasturtium flowers, basil, peppers and cherry tomatoes.  Also new this year is an herb garden.  The summer heat is pushing the herbs to go to seed. (Plus, it didn't help that a little bird nested in the parsley and snacked on the herb container next to her nest. So, as soon as we noticed she was there, we stopped watering that particular container.  The three babes have left the nest and watering will resume, plus, we have new parsley sets.  Thank you, Mom Nature for sharing.)

In the cooler is lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage, green onions, couple dozen fresh eggs, snow pod peas and on the table is some zucchini and potatoes.  

Hope you can stop by.   We will be open as we have product and close when we run out.  Great crop of garlic and potatoes on deck.  

 Happy Fourth to you and yours and make it a great day.