Garden Updates
It’s the season of “putting in the garden”. That is because the average last frost of the season falls at the end of May. We will be transplanting during cloudy or rainy stretches along with evenings through the end of the month. We will be in the garden Saturday (tomorrow) morning and plan to send out notices to invite participation in the coming plantings.
We’re looking forward to welcoming apprentice Charlie Brown who is arriving for the summer tomorrow!
The next Garden Morning and Potluck is next Saturday, May 27th, 9:30am with lunch at noon-ish. The lunch spread last month was impressive including fresh tortillas and cornbread to chili, roasted chicken and multiple batches of cookies.
We prepared for a possible hard freeze mid-week by protecting the plants with a heavy row cover and were thankfully spared damage to the food crops. Here we’ve pulled the cover off the crop to fold and store for it’s next use (Rye is helping in case you can’t tell…).
Last night all our heat loving plants (tomatoes, peppers, flowers) were delivered. Thank you to the Bowdish Family of Never Tire Farm, a multi-generational greenhouse in Lisbon in operation for nearly 30 years. We provide them with seed for the varieties we want to grow and they bring us vigorous starts to transplant into the fields in late May. If you are looking for transplants, find them at over a dozen area stores including Coakley Home and Hardware, Potsdam Agway, Potsdam Food Co-op, Small Town Supply, Waddington Hardware, and Willow Tree.
Tips & Flavor Notes
- Remember, we’ll wash all the harvest tools and containers! Simply put your used materials in the large round galvanized bucket on the ground near our wash sink.
- Herbs generally have a stronger flavor than many of the salad greens. If you find an herb that you enjoy but the flavor is overpowering, try mincing into salads or adding it to a cooked dish at the end of it’s time on the stove. This will mellow out the flavor but retain the spirit of the herb.
- We just secured buckets that we’ll make available to shareholders who want to use to collect food scraps at home and bring back to the farm to compost.
Who wants a treasure hunt?! There are blocks in the farm fields with cover crops, which we grow to build the soil organically. An example of this is the area by the parking lot planted to field peas and oats. A shareholder asked if they could harvest the edible tops of the pea plants, and we said “why sure”! If you would like to forage some pea shoots, we made a makeshift sign and added it to the share whiteboard.
If you were a shareholder last autumn, you might remember we offered coriander seed for the first time. Some of the seed fell to the soil and “self sowed” in Front Range field. Now there is a sprouted patch that is marked for “cut and come again” cilantro. A fabulous herb and another fabulous spice, all from one plant.
Here is a screenshot of our friend Laurie’s (a Master Gardener Volunteer) favorite recipe. She said the flavors pair amazingly. If you aren’t blocked by a paywall, here’s the online version.
Crops Available
This list and availability are subject to change, check the share whiteboard at the start of every visit. If you are unsure about how to harvest: ask us! In person, via text or email.
Cell phone numbers, Flip: 315-854-5399 and Bob 315-854-5395.
*Asterisk marks crops added this week
- Arugula
- Green garlic
- Pea shoots*
- Radish
- Rhubarb
- Spicy mixed greens
- Spinach
Culinary and Medicinal Herbs
- Bronze leaf fennel
- Chives
- Cilantro*
- Lemon Balm
- Lovage
- Oregano
- Sorrel
To seas of green,
-Bob & Flip