Two Feet in the Dirt

As we enter our second growing season, we’re starting to look ahead and to work towards some of our more long-term goals. The most exciting of these by far is the addition of fruit to our crop plan. This past month, after much research and hard work, Mike planted our first bed of strawberries along with twelve blueberry plants! As most fruit plants takes one or more years to become productive after planting, neither of these will be at market this year. We should have our first strawberries next spring and the blueberries the year after that. This week, I spent some time picking all of the flower buds off of the strawberry plants, a process that is essential in the first year in order to encourage the plants to put on vegetative growth which will result in larger fruit yields next year.

Even without any fruit yet, we still have an ever-expanding list of products at the market. This will be one of the last weeks for spring bok choi, so make sure to pick some up! Bok choi is extremely sensitive to hot weather, so this extra-warm spring has not been a friend to it. Additionally, we will have even more kale this week as well as the first hakurei turnips! These tender roots taste like a mild radish and can be used either raw or cooked.

And finally, this week is the first Urbana market of the season! We look forward to seeing everyone there on Sunday, as well as at Burke on Saturday. Check out below for our full harvest list.

Farmers Katie & Mike

This week at the market:

• Lettuce salad mix
• Arugula
• Baby kale
• Spinach
• Radishes
• Lettuce heads
• Bok choi
• Green garlic
• Hakurei turnips
• Kale
• Collard greens
•