May 12th, 2021

We made the first harvest of our pole beans this week! Pole beans are bean varieties that climb while bush bean varieties (like our green beans) form bushier growth closer to the ground. Our pole beans are planted with a trellis that allows them plenty of real estate to climb and grow. The pole bean variety we have growing is called Bai Bu Lao. If harvested when young, Bai Bu Lao resembles a tender green bean. If left to mature, Bai Bu Lao begins to flatten out and resemble a Romano bean. Bai Bu Lao is great for stir fries and roasting. You can pick some up this Saturday at the farm stand from 10am to noon.

In preparation for summer, okra was transplanted this week along with melons and winter squashes. Did you know that okra is a member of the mallow family along with hibiscus, cotton, and cacao? Once our okra starts to produce flowers, you’ll begin to see the family resemblance as okra flowers bear a striking resemblance to hibiscus flowers. Okra is incredibly heat tolerant and will keep producing throughout our hottest months. Both the flowers and pods of okra are edible and have a sweet, grassy flavor.

We’re beginning to see the first signs of flowering among our corn crop! As the corn grows, they begin to form a tassel at the apex of the stalk. The tassel is the male flowering portion of the corn which will release pollen down to the silks (the female portion that you can see in the photo below) and lead to the production of the ear of corn. The pollination process goes on for about one to two weeks before the tassel begins to turn brown and die. If all goes well, we should be able to start harvesting our corn in the next month or so.

April 14th, 2021

We planted four rows of peanuts this week! We are trialing four different peanut varieties: Texas Red and White, Tennessee Red Valencia, Carwile’s Virginia, and Georgia. Both the Texas Red and White and Tennessee Red Valencia varieties are suited to growing in clay-heavy soils like ours so we will be eager to see how they perform compared to the other two. Peanuts are members of the legume family and like most legumes, they are capable of fixing beneficial nitrogen to the soil. This allows us to simultaneously improve our soil fertility while growing a food crop.

Remember our Hopi Turquoise corn that we planted? It has put on a lot of growth over the past couple of weeks! We decided to get a head start on our winter squash crop and interplant our corn with acorn squash. This is a nod to the “Three Sisters” system of companion planting among various indigenous groups in North America. The Three Sisters consisted of the three main agricultural crops: winter squash, corn, and climbing beans. Each crop provided a benefit for the others as they grew and once they were harvested and enjoyed together, they provided a source of complex carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, and all nine essential amino acids.

When we planted our sugar snap peas earlier in the year, we decided to trial an English shelling pea variety called Mr. Big. Typically, English shelling peas do not like our growing climate as it often gets too warm too quickly here in the spring. We were pleasantly surprised to see this crop succeed and give us one humble yet sizable harvest! These peas will be going to James Beard Award-Winning Chef Justin Yu so that he can work his culinary magic. As for our sugar snap peas, this will most likely be their last week at the farm stand so make sure you stop by on Saturday to scoop some up!

Our spring crops are beginning to wind down so here’s what’s on the harvesting horizon: green beans, tomatoes (check out those Midnight Snack cherry tomatoes in the photo!), summer squash, potatoes, cucumbers, and peppers.

If you’re out and about and want to support restaurants that are using our produce, check out the following: Ostia, UB Preserv, Nancy’s Hustle, Better Luck Tomorrow, and Brasil.

March 24th, 2021

We direct-seeded cowpeas in the high tunnel this week and we’re pretty excited because these are seeds that were collected and saved from our crop last year! Our hope is that we can start to do this with more of our crops in the future. These cowpeas are a variety called “Red Ripper” and they can be enjoyed fresh or dried. Cowpeas like the heat of summer so we opted to plant them in the warmth of the high tunnel to get a head start. The awesome thing about cowpeas is that they are an edible cover crop. Cover crops work to manage soil erosion, improve soil texture, reduce weeds, and in the case of cowpeas, fix beneficial nitrogen back to the soil.

In addition to cowpeas, we planted Hopi Turquoise corn. We direct-seeded four rows with this heirloom variety as well as a couple of trays in the greenhouse. Heirloom varieties can often have spotty germination rates so we’re hoping to be able to use the seeds started in the greenhouse to fill in any gaps in our rows as needed. Hopi Turquoise corn gets its name from the Hopi, an indigenous tribe of the American Southwest. This variety has adapted to the harsh climate of the Southwest over many generations making it more drought tolerant and robust than traditional corn.

Aside from planting we’ve been doing a lot of spring cleaning on the farm which involves weed control. Weeds love the spring weather as much as we do so as we’ve transitioned from winter to spring, we’ve seen a sharp increase in weed growth. The key with depleting the weed seed bank is to remove weeds before they have a chance to go to seed. Using either hand tools or our trusty scuffle hoe, we’re aiming to get the weeds under control by the end of this month so that summer crop planting goes as seamlessly as possible.

If you’re out and about and want to support restaurants that are using our produce, we delivered iceberg lettuce to Chef Justin Yu at Better Luck Tomorrow and mixed greens to Squable.