We are very grateful to the Lord for the harvest and to our wonderful customers who support our small family farm.  We had a good season and look forward to another season of growing in 2012!  For now we rest from the labors of farm life and enjoy the recent snow storms.   

This is definitely our favorite time of the year.  The air cools, pumpkins and winter squash abound and we prepare for winter.  We are thankful that all the work is almost complete, but we also miss all of our family, friends, employees and customers that help and support us during this busy season.  The farm market will remain open a few more weeks and after that we will be on call for any remaining produce we have left.   
In a year of drought, wind and smoke, we thank the Lord for the good harvest He provided.  Enjoy some end of season photos.

The season has certainly flown!  We are already finished harvesting beans, except for one small acreage.  As quickly as the harvest begun, it is ending.  It is always a bittersweet feeling.  The harvest is a wonderful time full of the bounty of the crops the Lord has given us.  When it ends, we miss those that come alongside to help with the harvest, all our dear family, friends and great customers who visit our store and markets each year. 
The pinto bean crop sold quickly and the bolita beans are selling quickly as well.  Both crops were beautiful.  We are thankful to have had any beans to harvest considering the hot dry conditions this past year brought.
Below are some photos of the bean harvest.  Click on the image to see a larger one and a description of the photo.  We hope you enjoy them and have had the opportunity to get your beans for the coming year and are enjoying those as well. 

To show how quickly the season goes, the header photo (above) is one taken of the beans early in the season beginning to blossom.  Here we are August 21st and below is a current photo of the pinto bean field and the pintos themselves.  They are beginning to dry out.  For those who do not know, pinto beans grow similarly to green beans, as a bush bean.  However, to harvest the dry bean, we allow the plant to die and produce the dry bean.  Once fully dry, the pinto bean plants are cut, then thrashed (to separate the  pinto bean from the hull), cleaned and bagged.  Currently we are about two weeks from harvest.  Always check with us please via the website or by calling to see when they will be in the Farm Market.

For those who have never visited our Farm Market, it is a short drive through the canyon east of Albuquerque about 30 miles.  We have a great selection of garden vegetables (all non-gmo and naturally grown) that are harvested each morning before we open.  On Saturdays and Sundays, we roast sweet corn.  The children enjoy eating the roasted corn every weekend of the season!

Sweet corn harvest has begun.  This is the season we work so hard to reach, so we are thankful that the crops are looking so well thus far.  This is also a very busy time as we harvest fresh corn and vegetables every day. 
Farmer Dean came in the other day asking the children and I if we wanted to see how the potatoes were doing.  Excitedly everyone said, "YES!!!".  So, we donned our hats, gloves and off to the potato patch we went.  Farmer Dean hooked the potato digger on to his tractor and began to unearth those lovely golden nuggets of yukon gold potatoes.  They were beautiful.  Even more beautiful was watching the children fill their bags of potatoes.  All the children, even Addie (the youngest), participated.  So, we bagged a couple hundred pounds of potatoes, brought some home and ate them for supper!

Today was a beautiful morning.  It got hot very quickly.  We went out early to harvest summer squash, green beans, swiss chard, peas, cabbage, beets, a few tomatoes and bunching onions to take to the Northeast Height Farmers' Market.  You can visit www.farmersmarketsnm.org to find out more about this market.  Hope to see you there!

Today is a hot, but beautiful day.  We continue to wait for rain...  The corn likes this daytime heat and is beginning to form ears.
We have begun attending two Farmers' Markets; the one in Cedar Crest on Wednesdays from 3 to 6, and the one in Edgewood, on Thursdays from 3 to 6:30.  We hope to keep adding to those as the produce selection grows.  We are currently harvesting summer squash, sugar snap peas, beets and bunching onions.  Some of the tomatoes are beginning to ripen.
Our chickens began laying this week.  Our young son has gladly taken on the egg harvesting job.  Oldest son added nesting boxes to our moveable coop that sit at just the right height for young son to peek into.  When he peeked in this morning, with a delighted face, he informed us of the six eggs they had laid!
Later this morning our friend called saying he saw an antelope crossing through the farm.  Everyone wanted to race out and see what he saw.  Near one of the corn fields we came across a beautiful buck with singular spikes.  We wondered how far he had traveled and if he would make it back to the mountains where he belongs.  We went back again later in the day, but he had moved on.  We had never seen a deer on our property and remembered the plight of so many wild animals during such a hot and dry year.
After watching a nest in the back corner of the house for the last few weeks, we discovered the babies had hatched today.  Truly amazing!
I hope that you too are enjoying the simple joys of each and every day.
 

Much work has been done since I wrote last.  The following is a list of what has been planted in the last two months:  more corn, pinto & bolita beans, potatoes, tomatoes & peppers and the garden vegetables.  We have spent the many days irrigating, weeding and cultivating the crops.  The winds, heat and smoke from Arizona and New Mexico wildfires present a challenge.  We consider it a blessing that things are growing and the fields are getting green. 
We have harvested some lettuce, eaten a handful of peas and made grilled squash pasta salad (see recipe page) with the first of our summer squash.
We will begin attending the Edgewood Farmers' Market this week or the following (depending upon what we have available).  The Market opens this Thursday, July 8th at the Wildlife West Nature Park in Edgewood.
  

At Schwebach Farm we are busy with field preparation and planting.  As of today, we have two plantings of corn in the ground.  For those who don't know, we plant corn in succession plantings so that we have fresh mature corn each week of harvest.  Potatoes and onions have been planted as well.  Soon, we will plant bolita beans and the garden veggies and transplant tomatoes and peppers.