Lettuce Rejoice
May 5, 2022
Welcome Spring!
It’s Week 5 of the Spring Farm Share!
Administrative Details
Thanks so much for returning your cooler bags this week! Keep up the great work.
What’s in the Box
I always say that our salad turnips have a cult following. It's true, though no one seems quite sure what to call them and they are often referred to as "those white radish things".
Whatever you call them, and their actual name is Hakurei turnip, they are deliciously crisp and sweet. I mostly eat them raw with salt, but enjoy them lightly stir-fried or bbq'd. They make a lovely pureed soup as well.
On the Farm
On the Farm
We pulled off the field transplanting last week and our snap peas, broccoli, and cabbage are hanging out under row cover, basking in the spring sunshine (let's not talk about all the -5 nights...).
Even more exciting we put in our first tomatoes!!! They had to go into a heated hoophouse because they cannot take any frost, and even cool temperatures will stunt them. With luck (and generally good farming practices) we'll be eating tomatoes in July instead of August.
We also need to get the aphids in that house under control. To do so we removed the most badly affected crops and composted them (which was a bit heartbreaking because there was a lot of mature lettuce in there), and treated the remainder with soap. Once we planted the tomatoes we shut all the doors and released a couple hundred brown lacewings which are voracious aphid eaters.
Once again, fingers crossed it works! A lot of farming is like that, there are a lot of big things generally out of your control so you do your best and then hope it all works out in your favor.
That’s all for now folks, happy eating until next time.
Farmer Tamara
