EatWell Natural Farm Week 35

Frosty! We had lows in the 20s this week and this is what the farm looked like in the morning. 

Harvest

We are still harvesting Turnips, Carrots, Lettuce, Arugula, Kale, Mustard Greens and Beets.

Production and Distribution

One delivery this week of roots and greens. I also picked up this beautiful baby ginger from Accokeek Ecosystem Farm . Ginger is a tropical plant so it does not complete its full life cycle here, hence the Baby in its name. Still, it has long enough to form pretty big Rhizomes (the part you eat) with great flavor. They just look slick because they haven't formed that tough skin you are used to seeing. Here is a guide on growing ginger that breaks it down.

Cultivation and Maintenance

Straw at the base of the Fig Tree to insulate
the roots from the cold.

We had our first hard freeze this week with a few day of lows in the 20s. So, I spent some time winterizing the farm. 

Low tunnel of plastic over some greens

Floating Row Cover (fabric)

Frosted Mustard Greens

Frosted Red Sails Lettuce

Mustard under the plastic tunnel, no frost

Cultivating Imagination with a young visitor
who "drove" the tractor for me. What a cutie!

Eating Well

Tilford is back for a week or so and he loves eating any vegetables that end up on the ground, luckily he hasn't figured out how to harvest them for himself. 

Chowing down on some Mustard Greens

Puddy following Tilford's lead

Eating a harvested and discarded Cauliflower plant

I went to The Pig for brunch on Saturday and got to sample a new recipe that Chef Bonk is working on. He loves to pickle our vegetables and you can often order trays of them. This week he added a twist and smoked some of our Carrots first. The result is a delightfully smokey complex pickle that totally works and is super tasty. 

Puddy Time