Harvesting the First Collard Greens and Swiss Chard of the Season
More fall crops are making their way to the farm stand this week as we harvest the first collard greens and Swiss chard of the season! These leafy green crops are what we call “cut-and-come-again” since we’re able to remove just the older outer leaves rather than the entire plant each time we make a harvest. That means that we should have them in season over the next several weeks! Collard greens (pictured above) are great for braising, adding to soups, and as a wrap for sandwiches and burgers. Swiss chard (pictured below) has soft-textured leaves and crunchy stems are great for sautéeing and adding to soups and pastas.
Fall planting continued this week as we direct-seeded the section you see in the photo below. This section is planted with quicker-growing crops like arugula, radishes, and Hakurei turnips and something completely new to the farm: rutabaga! Rutabagas are root vegetables that are members of the vast Brassica family along with radishes, turnips, broccoli, and kale. They have a mildly sweet and peppery flavor similar to turnips. We’re excited to grow this new-to-us crop and can’t wait to share them with you!
Remember the Autumn Frost squashes that we planted back in August? We were able to finally harvest a small amount of these beauties! Autumn Frost (pictured below) is a specialty butternut with sweet and earthy tasting flesh. The prolonged drought followed by an excessively wet couple of weeks this summer led to a much smaller harvest than we were anticipating. But, we’re excited to be able to offer you some nonetheless! Due to their limited availability, we will only have Autumn Frost squashes at our Saturday farm stands from 9am-noon. Make sure to pop by then if you’d like to try one!
In Season at the Farm Stand: Collard Greens, Swiss Chard, Arugula, Radishes, Winter Squashes (only available at the Saturday farm stand), Cucumbers, Okra, Eggplants, Sweet Peppers, Roselle Greens, and Zinnia and Marigold Bouquets.
Upcoming Events: Harvest Market on Saturday, November 5th from 9am-noon at the farm
