I hope all of you had a Happy New Year, and may you keep all your resolutions!
We have a tasty collection of greens and root crops for you this week! I love the baby ruby streaks mustard greens in the salad mixes, and we have an incredible baby arugula mixed in as well. This time of year, greens taste their absolute best! I hope y'all have been enjoying the purple daikon radishes and the baby red radishes! The red radishes are a new variety we selected for the winter season. I like their small size, flavor, plus they grow incredibly fast. The Artic blast did a lot of damage to the greens, so we have been removing those and composting them.
Next Week
During the freeze and days our crops were covered in the tunnels, beetles moved in and destroyed over half of the bok choy crop. No bok choys next week, but we will have the first good harvest of arugula begin from our late Fall plantings. I'm hoping that the warmer weather and rain will bulk the carrots up more, and I can add more to the shares each week. Kohlrabi will be available soon!
Farm Update
Monday was filled with a lot of anxiety with the series of thunderstorms caused by that cold front. We lost a lot of recent plantings during the freeze, so we spent Monday covering any exposed soil with silage tarps. We recorded 3.5 inches of rain at the farm, so we prevented a lot of erosion and soil damage. Keeping the rain off the soil also allows us to cultivate and work as soon as possible, without waiting for the soil to dry.
Tornadoes formed from those storms just a few miles from my house in Antioch, and only 4 miles from the farm in Marion. The highway to Monroe was closed in Haile with work crews working on the powerlines. Another close call.
I apologize for the late customization window. Kaden and I have been putting in long days, trying to bounce back from the freeze and also take time off for the holidays. This week, we started tens of thousands of seeds for an early start on Spring plantings. Lettuce, kale, kohlrabi, cabbage, mustards, snap peas, salad greens, onions, and lots of herbs are just a few of the crops we planted! We are also trying out new crops like fennel, celery, new varieties of bok choy, and radicchio. Now that we have the appropriate row cover, I really think this is going to be one of the best Spring seasons we have ever had! Some of these crops will be planted in two weeks, others in three, and all of them will be in planted by the first week in February. The planting dates for Spring start here on February 15, so we are right on schedule.
Thank you for supporting our farm!
