Heirloom Harvest

Squashed: Send Help

The warm weather crops have all been transplanted into the fields, or at least the first wave of them, and we are now looking forward to transplanting our winter squash plantings. Volunteer and CSA member help over the next week would be helpful.

Warm Weather Crops

The warm weather veggies, including peppers and tomatoes, are all waiting to leave the greenhouses and go into the fields very soon. We’d love your help using up your volunteer hours!

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We're still looking forward to knowing the first pickup date, but while we wait, your editor asked Farmer John what's most likely to pop up in the first pickup. The word is lettuce, braising greens (so brush up on your braising), collard greens, kale and radishes. So to prep, see below:

We have good advice from last year on what to do with kale. Also, collards were featured in a recipe Farmer John recommended to us. And if you think you might need to wait a little before you cook that first harvest, prepare the fridge: Here's how your editor likes to preserve the fresh greens.

But don't make us rest on our laurels; we need to hear more from you on how others should prepare for this early harvest.

While we're waiting, here's a few new recipes from the Web. When the radishes come in, we're considering radish slaw and the extraordinarily exotic-seeming radish and chive salad.

Generally catching up

The greenhouse is bursting with transplants, and we are getting them out into the fields now. We welcome anyone who would like to come and get their volunteer time in early in the year. The weather is still cool and insect issues are low!

The brassica vegetables and a lot of the onions are out. We direct-seeded lettuce, the first greens, and red beets. We’ve started with our tomatoes. We’re growing assorted modern varieties, but also some heirloom and classics including Black Krim, Great White, Striped German, and Red Iraq At least so far, deer pressure seems to be reduced this year. There’s less tromping damage, in any event.

The bluebirds are also back on territory, as are the tree swallows, and the bobolinks appear also to have returned. All grasslands birds are precious, but bobolinks in particular are declining across much of their historic range, and it is a measure of the value of the sustainable agriculture we practice that they remain here.