Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! It was great to see all of your tasty meals made with shares from last week! Thank you for sharing those with us.
On Saturday night, the farm will experience the first freeze of the Fall season. With less than a month until the winter solstice, we are busy preparing for the changings of the seasons. We use a woven fabric called "row cover" to protect sensitive plants, when light to heavy frosts are likely to occur. At night, the fabric traps radiant heat around the plants that the soil gathers during the day. This week, we deployed lots of row covers for most of the plants, besides the members of the mustard family, which we only protect from freezes below 27 degrees. In the evenings, we pull the row cover over the crops; in the mornings, we remove it so air can pass freely over the soil. At this point of the year, most tasks involving keeping established plants frost free and well drained. Last year, the companies who make the row covers started making masks, and many of the row covers were backordered. We had enough to cover about 10 rows. This year, we were luckily able to get 14 foot wide row covers, in several 1000 foot rolls. Instead of covering one bed at a time (with the 83 inch row cover), we can now cover 3 rows. It saves so much time. This supply chain is still unreliable, so even wider options remain sold out. We have learned that most small farmers order shade cloth in the winter, and row cover in the summer.
There are 20 vegetable options of shares this week! Lots of leafy greens, root veg, and microgreens! I found out last minute that we are not going to have a farmers market on the 27th. To avoid vegetable waste, I had to slightly adjust the shares. This is the first time this season when I have added certain crops to every share. I don't like the practice, but I want to remain transparent with all of you for the reasonings behind it. This week, every share will automatically include a microgreen mix and a pea shoot. These crops are costly for us to produce, regarding seed costs and time. At this moment, we can't afford to not sell them. It is my mistake for over planting by not solidifying the market dates. You can always remove them from your shares and swap for another crop. If you have never tried microgreens before, they are one of mine and Kaden's favorite vegetables. We grow three kinds: radish micros, sunflower shoots, and pea shoots. Alone, each are fantastic, but when mixed together, they form an amazing combination of sweet, spicy, and savory flavors with so much crunch. I love them for salads, sandwiches, wraps, tacos, and as a garnish for any dish. Did I mention they are packed with nutrition?
As far as the weeks ahead, we will have more and more carrots each week. Soon, the broccolini will be in full swing. Then, we can look forward to cauliflower, cabbage, and a round of bok choy! Hopefully these dang tomatoes will turn red! There are lots of really nice slicer tomatoes inside one of our caterpillar tunnels that should be ready imminently. I planted these hoping y'all would enjoy one last round of tomatoes before winter hits. Now is the time of the year for us to order our tomato seeds for next year. I'm going to start some on our own, but this year I'm ordering a few rows of grafted tomatoes. These are grafts made up of two tomato plants; one selected for vigorous and disease resistant rootstock, and the other is an heirloom tomato selected for its fruit. Paired together, they result in large plants with crazy yields. I plan on ordering a colorful assortment of cherry tomatoes, plus red, yellow, and purple slicers.
This is also a time of year to begin planning for what we will grow in 2022. We are going to really focus on making beans more of a staple in the shares, both fresh and dried. I'm taking the steps now to grow storage crops like yellow onions, butternut and winter squash, turmeric, and ginger. I'm pretty stoked y'all like the bok choy so much, so we will expand those varieties as well. We are working on getting a survey together for what you want to see in the shares. Always feel free to make recommendations regarding a crop we can grow. Farm share member, Ron, requested endive and chicory like what is sold back home in Canada. I flopped on the chicory, but the endive has worked great!
***crop failure: I am not satisfied with the quality of our beets to include them in any shares this season. They did not form good bulbs. I have struggled with growing good beets for the past three seasons. Unfortunately, it's too late to plant again. We must wait until spring. I consulted with another local farmer this past weekend on what I can do differently, so next time around I'm going to really dial in the planting process.
Thank you for supporting our farm and our mission to change the way folks access local food. Also remember that our veg is chemical free, and grown using natural soil amendments, cover crops, and compost. We go the extra mile to make sure that we maintain the highest quality and cleanliness, while offering a diverse crop selection that can be conveniently accessed.
Cook something good this week, ya'hear?!
Sincerely,
Conrad Cable
