We talk a lot about storage vegetables this time of year especially considering they are one of the main components of our Winter CSA Shares. Some storage vegetables we commonly grow are beets, carrots, potatoes, garlic, winter squash, cabbage, kohlrabi & onions. We thought we'd take some time this week to give you a quick explainer on what storage vegetables are and how they are and are not different from our "main season" vegetables.
For our farm, a storage vegetable is any vegetable that we can store for at least a month without sacrificing quality. Some vegetables, like beets, can last 6 - 9 months in storage or more without loosing too much quality. Other storage vegetables like cabbage or kohlrabi might only last 1-3 months before their quality diminishes.
When we are planning for storage crops we're looking at two main features. First, how well do they store? And second, how good do they taste after being in storage? Seed companies even offer certain varieties of crops that they claim store better than others. We've found this to be true and have used it as a starting place for growing storage vegetables. One example of this is a new storage carrot we're trialing this year. The claim by the seed company is that it stores as long as our standard storage carrot but tastes better and holds it's quality better during storage. We'll let you know what we find out.
Storage vegetables are an important part of our farm as we've begun selling more and more in the winter months. They give us a crop to sell during the winter months that we wouldn't other wise have during a time where our cash flow is minimal. They are also a great compliment to some of the winter crops we've been growing such as lettuce, spinach & micro greens. Plus, we love having veggies in storage that our family can eat over the winter!
