Farm Update, 10/30
Roots, pork, and Markets
People have been asking if I am looking forward to getting some rest. and While the farm is gradually slowing down, we are moving ever forward. Battening the hatches against cold weather, creating value-added surprises, the Folks Farmers have been steadily plugging away.
Recent weeks have been focused on our root crops. We have boxed over 2,000 pounds of assorted roots. I am especially excited about our Red Core Chantenay Carrot crop. This heirloom carrot boasts high sugar content making them a true gem of winter production. A squatter, bulkier carrot, their low surface area makes for great storage potential. Last year we had significant disease in the crop but this season’s came in heavy and spectacular.
Our beets, turnips, and radishes have also come in heavy and will provide an accepted challenge to sell over the next couple months. Turnips especially I have a love/hate relationship. I plant them to hedge our bets. In year’s past I have lost carrot and beet crops, but never a turnip crop. I am pretty sure you could throw a seed pack into the compost pile and find a perfectly planted bed next season. For their ease to grow, they are not especially tasty. If you have recommendations for preparing this incredible food source, please send it my way.
As these crops a “tipped and topped” the greens are left on the beds as a winter mulch and biomass for soil life to consume. The incorporation of organic material to our ground helps provide for next year’s crops, even though I have no clue what they will be. The planning stage is coming but we just aren’t there yet.
Winter produce is different both in looks and flavor. The veggies take on shapes of their own, personalities even. Large leaves, dark colors, consolidated flavors. These are truly crops not available in the big box grocery stores. California produce doesn’t have to fight through the cold nights, meaning it doesn’t put on the sugars. I encourage you to shop this winter with a sense of exploration. Try new recipes, cook a potato 20 different ways, maybe try a turnip carrot mash?
The winter hours for the farm will remain basically unchanged. The Farm Stand remains open with normal operating hours:
Farm Stand
Wednesday-Friday- 10-6
Saturday, Sunday- 10-4
Folks Farm will also be at the Winter Farmers Market starting this Saturday the 2nd from 10-2.
We have some exciting new items coming to market including our home grown Folks Farm Pork. I have personally been enjoying the meat but wondered if it was really the quality or simply a bias. We trialled ground pork from Whole Foods and compared it to ours and the difference was startling.
Our pork comes from pigs raised on the ground, able to forage weeds as well as enjoy a steady stream of waste products from the vegetable field. They ran, played, and slept comfortably in an uncrowded pen. I do not claim them to be “pastured” but they had greenery under their feet since we got them at 6 weeks old.
Rest is coming, but really that isn’t the intention. We are striving to make agriculture a vocation with longevity which, to me, means spreading out the season. Given that the bulk harvest phase is over the workload has lightened, but we will continue growing and selling produce well into the depths of winter.