How do we decide what to plant?

Placing the annual seed order is a big ol’ jigsaw puzzle!

We passed an essential winter milestone at the farm, submitting all of our winter seed orders. We source from 6-10 companies each year, spending $1,000+ laying the groundwork for the season’s activity. The seed order is more than a check off the to-do list. After inventorying our seed on hand an determining viability, it’s time to decide which crops to include in the share, ex. tomato and then which varieties of that crop, ex. black cherry to select. The varieties consideration is the more complex element, taking into account many factors including

• Flavor
• Suitability to short-northern growing season
• Disease or pest tolerance
• Availability of organic seed
• Harvest window (how long it lasts in field)
• Cost
• Size packets
• Availability

For nearly all crops we select more than one variety, to offer additional diversity, such as the three types of cherry tomatoes. This was BY FAR the most difficult year for seed orders we have experienced. There is unprecedented interest in gardening and food production, which is excellent. The result is many, many sold out crop lots and multiple companies pausing or ceasing accepting orders. It speaks to the vulnerabilities at all steps of the food supply chain. For now, we are grateful to have the orders complete, and are thankful for the tireless work of the businesses we support including our mainstays High Mowing Organic Seed (VT), Johnny’s Selected Seed (ME), Fedco (ME) and Seed Savers Exchange (IA) as well as select crops from smaller outfits celebrating unique varieties such as Turtle Tree (NY) or Siskyou (OR). There are also seed savers around the country that we trade with to keep amazing varieties alive.

In 2021 we will increase our own seed saving efforts. It’s not for lack of interest that we haven’t saved a higher proportion of our seed. While we regularly save our own seed for many crops including potatoes, beans, peas, winter squash, greens and herbs, seed production for most crops has different timing and flow than for food production. The benefits are numerous including increasing sovereignty by closing the loop while naturalizing seeds to our area.

In fun news, we are adding new crops to the You Pick share this summer. The following items will make cameos in the field and increase the summer offerings: eggplant, okra, collards, mizuna greens, rutabagas and 8 varieties of flowers!

This winter we began photographing the dozens of varieties in our ‘Garlics of the World,’ demonstration patch. If all goes well, we will have taste testing opportunities around the harvest this year.

Share Planning

We read all your comments and plan to make improvements to the share including:

• Harvest videos and other useful instruction
• Some futurecasting as to what’s coming soon in the fields
• More training on consistent flag use in the fields, marking where to start harvest

We plan to release share sign up information in February!

This tangy number was our favorite new farm condiment of the season. It was one of many little treats that we shared/received over the winter holiday. We are planting more varieties and total quantity of hot and sweet peppers this season.

In health,
-Bob & Flip