Tuesday, November 12, 2013

In the Share - Week 29


YELLOW CLOVER CARROTS:  Planted after incorporating a yellow clover cover crop, we like to give credit where credit is due.  These heirloom carrots are sweet and hefty like fall carrots should be.

O'HENRY SWEET POTATOES:  More creamy white sweets.

GARLIC:  We planted all that we needed and some nice heads remained for sharing.

RED CABBAGE:  brilliant magenta meets your salads this week.

KALE OR TAT SOI:  Try eating them raw.  They have been cold-sweetened. 

LETTUCE:  The very last of the lettuce are romaines and butterheads.

ENDIVE:  A new French variety we are trialing.  We are trying to pronounce it as the French say we must ("ahn deev" or thereabouts).  Tastes like lettuce to us and it is spectacularly frilly.

BROCCOLI OR CAULIFLOWER:  Most likely the last of both.

HERB CHOICE: cilantro, dill or dried herbs.

NEXT WEEK: leeks, hakurei turnips, spinach, gai lan, watermelon radishes, beets, fennel, herbs, greens.

FARM REPORT: 

The farm quickly shifted from autumnal splendor to a frozen wintery blast this week.  In  advance of the forecast of two nights in the mid-teens, we harvested like mad and battened down the hatches.  Row cover was added to the high tunnel beds and the entire week's share was harvested from the fields.  The coolers are full to the ceilings with cabbages, roots and greens.  Sweet potatoes are all clean and stacked in the cave.  Darkness was on us with many more carrots to harvest in the field.  We are hopeful that the soil kept them safe and we can get the rest of them out later this week.


Today your farmers retreated to the indoors and worked on a grant proposal to the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program of the USDA for demonstrating new cover cropping methods.  The carrots in the shares this week are a testament to the benefits of cover cropping and we are ready to take the next step in their use.  Wish us luck!

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