We had been watching the forecast low temperature for Friday night dropping steadily last week. By the time we were done packing your bags for the weekend there was a frost risk issued. So we popped out at dusk Friday night to cover up our beans and lettuces.
While for some farmers frost means the end of their season, we're busy harvesting fresh veggies from the field usually into early December! How? We plant lots of frost hardy crops that don't mind gentle frosts... in fact we prefer many of our veggies lightly frosted. Did you know plants produce sugars as a natural anti-freeze? So our carrots have started their sweeting process, and the Brussels, kales, and cabbages will all love it too.
By Saturday afternoon, I could see that there were very few casualties. The zucchini are done, and the sweet potato leaves are wilted but the sweet potatoes themselves are safe underground. The peppers and eggplants took some damage but I don't think it wiped them out entirely. That's it! The cover on the beans kept them safe (last round this week), and our lettuces are set to continue growing through the coming warm spell. So next year when we get our first frost warnings I need to remind myself to relax, our garden's planted for this. Hard frosts (below say -5C) are a whole nother story... and we hope to have all the above ground crops harvested by then from cabbages to turnips, radishes and carrots. In the meantime, grow away you hardy veggies!
This week we're bringing in the first carrots for you as well as the long awaited sweet potatoes - I've put what seems like a ridiculous amount of veggies on the ordering list for the holiday weekend. Your boxes are all very unique in theory highlighting all your favourite items, but it means some of them feel less "thanksgiving"y to me. Don't be shy to swap around and order extras, I've checked and we've got it all ready to harvest for you! A few quick ramblings about the list:
- Celery is back on, our fall planting is a bit smaller due to the weed pressure (imagine half the size of our summer bunches, or around 200g each).
- Pie pumpkins are just that, for making pies and baked goods rather than for carving. A delicious alternative to the classic canned pumpkin, cook just like a squash at 350F till a fork inserts easily. If you're substituting into recipes that use canned pumpkin try to cook it dry as extra water doesn't usually help the recipe, or put it to drain briefly before putting it in the blender (or hand blender) and measuring out. A small pie pumpkin should give about two cups (a can) of cooked pureed pumpkin, a medium roughly four or enough for two pies!
- Cilantro we're just starting on a new bed so it's still small plants, but I listed it in case anyone wants to make salsa verde as a bunch is the same weight regardless of the size of the plant ;)
- Hot Peppers I've only listed our stock as I can't be certain if the plants pulled through or not, but I'm hoping we'll have a full round available again next week.
- Lots of Hakuri Turnips and Watermelon radishes for festive salads, and lettuce mix too for that matter.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, please enjoy the tastiness as we celebrate a wonderful season together! There's still three more delivery weeks to enjoy,
Heather
