Help y’all, we’re drowning over here…in veggies! Abundance has finally come, a little later than expected, but turns out it was worth the wait. It really snuck up on me – I feel like it was just last week I was bemoaning the drought. Amazing what a little bit of rain now and then can do. I’m not sure which is more impressive – the beauty of the abundance or the amount of veggies.
I’m sure many of you will order the favorites pictured above, and for good reason! But there is much more to explore, especially in the greens department. They all are perfect and abundant right now – chard, kale, perpetual spinach, tokyo bekana, spicy salad mix, arugula, braising mix. I dare y’all to take the greens challenge – order AND eat at least 1 of each this week. You’ll win the respect and gratitude of this farmer. A couple other neglected veggies that should be enjoying their moment in the sun right now: beets and salad turnips, so good!
Beyond gorging yourself on great food this week, another way you can save the farm is by finding me a second in command farm(h)er! I generally try to push the envelope on how late great food can be grown here, but this year, lack of labor is forcing an early wrap-up. Early being relative – Thanksgiving this year instead of February? Not that picking greens in the tunnel in February wasn’t lovely, it was just a lot of work for little reward…which come to think of it, pretty much sums up farming. I miss spending quality time with my girls – I spend lots of time with them for sure, but my mind is always on what’s left on the unending farm to-do list.
When I took over the farm from Jeff 5 years ago, I never envisioned doing all this on my own. Not to take away from any of my hard-working seasonal part-timers – they’ve been great when they’re here. But I think the most anyone put in this season was 25 hours in one week. I’ve logged that many hours by Tuesday most weeks, if not Monday! I figured surely some young, hard-working aspiring farmer would come along like I did with Jeff and earn a piece of the business. Still waiting on that one, so please send them my way when you find that special someone!
Veggie Ordering and Pickup Procedures: Put your veggie orders in online before 8pm Sunday. The website is a little buggy so if you don’t see a wide variety of items or you see items out of stock, try refreshing your browser. Also confirm on checkout that you have the correct number of each item in your cart. The two pickup windows are working well, so we’ll keep it going. Choose your pickup window while checking out online: 1230-2pm and 4-5pm Monday on the farm at 64 Potter Hill Rd in Grafton. Pickups are in the long white garage on the left across from the beat up tan and red barn at the crest of the hill.