Why Rye? The Glories of Homegrown and Milled Rye
The season of snow is upon us. This can conjure a Nordic frame of mind. As cooks and farmers, the Nordic countries remind us of herring, cloudberries, reindeer and an abundance of mushrooms. We don’t raise any of the above at Black Cat Organic Farm (although we work...
Pigs in Paradise + Saturday Farmers Market
What’s pig paradise? During hot days, it’s trenches they dig in soil which we then flood with water. They flop in the mud and rejoice. But the highest form of pig paradise arrives at Black Cat Organic Farm after the first frost, which we experienced last week....
Frost Zaps Fields, To Pigs Delight + Market & More
Nearly 80 degrees two days ago. Last night? Sixteen. That's a super-hard frost. No tip-toeing into it this year! Fields that 48 hours ago supported tomatoes, eggplant and peppers so warm that the fruits radiated heat, now hold acres of blackened leaves and mushy...
Arugula Recipes, Film Fest & Thanksgiving + Market
Farm vegetables have different roles in the restaurants. We’ve got preening divas, like tomatoes, that fully ripen and get harvested for just about five or six weeks every year. They and others, like peppers, are stars. And we preserve them with abandon — fermenting,...
Black Cat Farm Sweet Potatoes + Market Bounty
National leaders in sweet potato production, in descending order: North Carolina, Louisiana, California, Mississippi, Texas. Government record keepers stop ranking states at New Jersey, at No. 7. In 2012, the Garden State grew about $50,000 worth of sweet potatoes....
Celery = Culinary Star + Tix Available for Farm Dinners
Wan, insipid, the vegetable equivalent of a Ritz cracker designed for little more than holding schmears of dip. You encounter cold shafts of celery in crudite platters, piled beside the bowl of ranch dressing. It is time to experience what we consider real celery,...
Tomatoes Coming On Strong + Saturday Market
Every year is an adventure in tomato-growing at Black Cat Farm. Colorado’s tempestuous climate guides the growing season, and ultimately shapes the nature of the harvest. And the weather, too, determines what kinds of tomatoes you see on your plates at Black Cat...
Corn Arrives at Black Cat Farm & Market Bounty
Lend us an ear, Black Catters and Brambleites. One of our favorite veggies in the fields is finally popping. It has become the country’s largest commodity crop, covering 90 million acres of farmland in the United States (most of it in the heartland). The mass-produced...
Peppers on Parade + Market Bounty
We serve them fresh. Roast them. Ferment them, pickle them and dry them. We grind them into powder, and turn them into sauces. And boy are we happy that pepper season is here. This year we planted 10 different varieties, with names like Shishito, Fushimi, Amish...
Artisan Sheepskins Arrive + Market Bounty
Raising livestock and vegetables involves more than the pleasures of the table. Peppers can be dried, fashioned into ristras, and hung around the house as decorative touches. Gourds make fantastic fall centerpieces. But sheepskins are another order of awesome. Seat...
Herbs & Flowers Brighten Life + Farmers’ Market
We started farming more than a decade ago, and devoted the bulk of our efforts to vegetables for the first year. The farming bug hit us hard from the get-go, however, and soon we had chickens, and then a pig. And now the livestock include more 100 pigs and nearly 350...
Taking Care of Sheep + Saturday Market
Building and nurturing a working organic and biodynamic farm for both vegetables and livestock comes with a wild diversity of demands — everything from irrigating plants to moving pigs around between different fields. When it comes to livestock, there’s also the...
Farm Dinners + Events Come to Black Cat Farm
Black Cat Organic Farm is thrilled to announce the opening of our new dinner and event space on the farm. Our team spent several years transforming turn-of-the-century farm buildings into atmospheric, spacious stages for special events — everything from celebrations...
Yes, Please to Peas + Saturday Market
All of our vegetables excite us — from arugula through butternut squash. But some of them, especially vegetables that combine gorgeous flavor with fleeting seasons, spark markedly keen passion. Few other foods thrill us like English peas, which are legumes. Young peas...
Fava Beans Nitrogen-Fixing Culinary Giants + Market
Chances are unless you are from Italy or parts of the Middle East, you did not grow up with fava beans. Neither did we. But we are making up for lost time. Our harvest of favas has begun, and boy do we have a lot of them planted. Look for them Saturday at the Market....
Livestock Management at Black Cat + Saturday Market
Last week we explored pigs’ integral role on the farm. As a biodynamic operation, we believe livestock are essential for healthy agriculture, and pigs are especially important. The animal factor at Black Cat Farm is so vital we employ a full-time livestock manager,...
Pig Power + Saturday Market
Human power is essential at Black Cat Farm. We seed and plant. We irrigate. We weed. We harvest, clean vegetables and bring them to the Market and the restaurants. But we don’t do everything. Much of the work, in fact, gets done by our heritage pigs. Only for them,...
Pea Shoots & Fava Bean Tops + Saturday Market
Harvests during April and May involve plenty of abundance. Overwintered vegetables like greens and carrots are vibrant and sweet, radishes and turnips emerge, and spring plantings of lettuces and other leafy plants root and rise. But the harvests aren’t wildly...
Welcome home, sun + market bounty
We woke to the sun rising over the plains, a first in quite a number of days. The urge to face east and roar, “Welcome back, old friend!” erupted. Instead, we headed straight to the fields. Mud? Plenty. But the greens looked like they had spent a few weeks in the gym...
Tempestuous Spring + Saturday Market Bounty
The seasonal parade of vegetables involves some, like arugula, that strut early in the procession, then take a bow, but bounce back on stage here and there across the year. Others, like tomatoes, come on late and have only one go at it, but boy are they showy. Many of...
Our First Lamb Quadruplets + Asparagus & Market
It happens every spring: days of warmth and sun, followed by snow, mist, rain, fog, a swirling cloak of gray that sticks around for a patch of days. Were you, too, humming “Here Comes The Sun” yesterday when we woke up to that great fiery star in the sky? Rain is...
Black Cat Wheat + Arugula Lamb Recipe + Market
One of our projects this week revolved around wheat. Did you know that all of the wheat flour we use in the restaurants comes from our own fields and mills? That’s right, the bread we bring to your table comes from homegrown wheat. It wasn’t the case until just a few...
First Black Cat Farm Lambs Born + Farmers Market
They’re baaaack. When last week we said lambing season had arrived, it had — only no lambs had yet been born. The mamas were just pregnant. But now, finally, the first lambs of the season are here, and the ewes will continue giving birth for a few weeks. This, the...
Black Cat + Farmers’ Market: Season Starts Tomorrow
Hey! Where did we go? Just mosey south from our former Farmers' Market spot and you'll find our new stand. It's spiffier, we love the location, but best of all, it's bigger! As our farm continues to expand, we simply outgrew the former location. The roots of the farm,...
At Black Cat, Farm-to-Table Means Your Bread, Too
One of our projects this week revolved around wheat. Did you know that all of the wheat flour we use in the restaurants comes from our own fields and mills? That’s right, the bread we bring to your table comes from homegrown wheat. It wasn’t the case until just a few...
Valentine’s Day + New Greenhouse + C-C-Cold Snaps
Love’s holiday is nearly here, and we are combining both restaurants for one giant celebration of all of your big hearts. Join us for seatings at 5, 7 and 9 o’clock for three courses of extravagance, plus complimentary Champagne. The meal involves optional wine...
Peanuts (Ours) at Bramble; Sweet Potatoes Rocking
There they thrive, side-by-side, long rows of subterranean plants that, if they had cognition, might think: “What the heck are we doing here?” And also: “We like this place!” Peanuts and sweet potatoes. We’re not sure any other farmers along the Front Range are...
Piglets Videos On Parade, and the Market List
It's been gorgeous in the fields — idyllic weather — and we have been busy harvesting for the Market and restaurants. The relatively fragile vegetables, like tomatoes, eggplants and pepper, were harvested prior to the big freeze last week. But the root vegetables...
Baby Pumpkin Recipe + The Goods at the Market
It’s pumpkin season, and this pleases everybody. For the kids, the bulbous orange squashes ignite dreams of dressing up, ringing doorbells and filling sacks with candy. Teenagers and 20-somethings party. Adults with li’l ‘uns look forward to joining them on their...
Celery is a Flavor-Packed Star at Black Cat Farm
Celery is pale, celery is watery, celery broadcasts little in the way of aroma, celery is filler for things like stuffing and crab cakes. When the celery is from the supermarket, all of the above usually applies. But when the celery is just harvested from Black Cat...
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