Things that survived the winter and want to be eaten! Brussels Sprouts, Savoy Cabbage, Candy Carrots, Beautiful Beets, Baby Daikon, and Komatsuna with Rapini (some folks got yummy kale instead).
THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
• Candy Carrots
• Baby Daikon
• Sweet Beets
• Brussels sprouts
• Savoy Cabbage
• Komatsuna Rapini or Siberian Kale or Purple Mustard Greens
COMING SOON: Spring!
It’s not every year that there’s enough overwintered produce to pick a bonus week for CSA members, but there was this year! I hope you all enjoyed the mid-winter treats!
The first of the overwintered Purple Sprouting Broccoli plants are starting to strut their stuff. Won’t be long now!
This February has been mild compared to the past two winters. Only a passing threat of snow here, and a week or so of frosty nights. No Snowpocalypse. No deep freeze. That bodes well for our earliest harvests as well as our earliest plantings.
All cleaned up and ready to plant! I can plant in the greenhouses months before I can typically plant outside. It’s much warmer and dryer inside.
Last year we weren’t able to start planting until April, a full month later than what we’re used to. But things are looking good for a mid- or late-March planting of greens, roots, and favas. Fingers crossed!
The willows are getting ready to become fireworks! In a few weeks, these fuzzy catkins will erupt in a brilliant burst of scarlet and yellow, as they get ready to blast their pollen through the cosmos. Willow pollen is one of the first important foods for baby pollinators, especially bumblebees. Pollen=protein.
I was able to get a few of the greenhouses prepped and planted this week, and I’ve started a good many flats of transplants. The season is definitely under way. The earliest crop of greenhouse sugarsnap peas are already several inches tall, and onions, celery, and lettuces are popping up. Inside I’ve got the first carrots, beets, and spinach seeded, as well as turnips and radishes. We’re just 5-6 weeks away from the first official CSA harvest of the season. And my first market day.
The Fertilizer program I’m now using on the farm: (from top) Gypsum (calcium sulfate) because plants need sulfur in order to metabolize nitrogen; Soft Rock Phosphate (calcium phosphate) from deposits of ancient sea creatures buried in clay deposits, it is broken-down slowly and utilized by soil organisms; Lime (calcium carbonate) is made up of the skeletons and shells of tiny, ancient sea creatures and balances the soil pH while providing essential calcium to soil organisms and growing plants; Dolomite (magnesium carbonate) is formed from the sediments of ancient saltwater lagoons; Azomite is mined from an ancient deposit of volcanic ash in Utah. Because it originated volcanically, it is high in a wide range of trace minerals; and last is the Chicken manure and feather meal fertilizer I use to provide necessary nitrogen to the growing plants and soil organisms.
There are still a few spaces remaining in the CSA for 2020. Click here for the CSA enrollment form.
But if you’re not able or ready to jump in with both feet, I still have Mystery Box subscriptions as well. Click here for Mystery Box information.
Whistling Train Farm 