Two Feet in the Dirt

The heat we have been experiencing the past two weeks has provided both benefits and challenges. We’ve definitely gotten larger harvests off of the kale, collards, and eggplant than we would have if temperatures had been more typical of this time of year. Both the peppers and the tomatoes in the hoop house have been loving the heat and coloring up accordingly, making it a shame that the outdoor tomatoes were done in by the wet summer as they would have been loving this late heat wave!

More problematically, this is the very time in the fall when we are putting in the plantings that are supposed to see us through until the end of the year. As the weather cools and the days shorten, it is necessary to allow longer times for crops to go from seed to a harvestable size. However, with outside temperatures up near 90 degrees several days in the last two weeks and temperatures in the hoop house even higher, these late season crops have been putting on unprecedented growth, more like it is mid-summer than fall. This has been stressful for us as we look forward to November and December and wonder if these late fall crops will make it until then or will grow so quickly that we’ll be forced to harvest them early. Fortunately, it looks like true fall weather is on the horizon starting at the end of the week. 

Even though it’s been so warm, we’re still enjoying a full range of fall crops. With plenty of greens in the house, it’s a great time to try some new recipes and this past week, I found my new favorite way to eat arugula. Simply stir together equal parts olive oil, lemon juice, and honey as a dressing and mix together with the arugula (and any other salad fixings you might like, although we went the straight-arugula route). The combination of the spicy arugula and sweet-tart dressing is out of this world! So far, I’ve had it three days in a row!

Check out below for our full harvest list and we’ll see you this weekend!

Farmers Katie & Mike

This week at the market:

• Salad mix
• Head lettuce
• Baby kale
• Arugula
• Winter salad mix
• Spinach
• Scallions
• Radishes
• Beets
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Escarole
• Salad turnips
• Kohlrabi
• Rainbow chard
• Kale
• Collard greens
• Eggplant
• Sweet peppers
• Garlic
• Onions
• Potatoes