Happy Novembuary y’all! My weather app says it hit 12 degrees the other morning. Before I start rambling, Jeff from Short Creek Farm and mastermind/found of Potter Hill Farm will be bringing meat down to add to the mix. Inventory of what he has here – email him directly at info@nullshortcreeknh.com with your order.
Speaking of Jeff….he questioned whether any greens would survive the deep freeze, even in the tunnel. I overconfidently dismissed those concerns and told him I didn’t get a bit of cold damage all winter long last year in the tunnel. That’s not to say winter #1 in the tunnel was a success. Far from it! Nothing grew last winter because of how late I put it in and how wet and gloomy it was. In fact, I don’t think I sold a single bunch of overwintered greens despite religiously uncovering them every morning and covering them back up every night. Although I again put everything in (less) late this season, fall (winter?) has been much more forgiving this time around. Loads of sun, and cool but not COLD. We were rolling right along, confident that we’d get a good harvest despite the tardiness. Until 12 degrees happened.
That was a lot of overshadowing, so don’t be too alarmed. Just about everything still looks great, but I do have to admit that Jeff was right, as usual. My gorgeous mustard greens were frozen solid and the outer leaves wilted when they thawed. This despite being covered in the tunnel and having the same greens experience negative temperatures last winter without any damage. My only explanation is that they must not have been acclimated to such a precipitous drop! Live and learn, guess I’ll need to double cover them next year ahead of any arctic blasts. The damage itself is not as much of a concern as the shock to the plant. Fingers crossed the plants don’t hunker down and stop growing.
To my amazement, some (double covered) greens out in the field actually survived so this week’s greens will be a mix of gorgeous, pampered, and tender tunnel greens and weathered, hardy, “I’ve seen some things” greens from the field. I also stocked up from Upswing Farm in Ashland on some of the fall favorites that we ran out of, so you’ll be well vegetabled to go along with the best pastured pork around. RIP to the triple washed lettuce – I sure enjoyed it this season, but it’s just too cold to subject our hands to that anymore. Instead there will be a limited amount of juvenile (adolescent?) lettuce heads from the tunnel. Get it while the getting’s good!
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.
