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Archive of Past News of the Farm:
Sweet Harvest
January 11, 2010
Greetings Friends of the Farm,
At
eleven this morning, after several phone calls to discuss the
situation, the Marias and Andrea arrived and began harvesting. Denied
work for the last few days, they were eager to be busy. But first the
farm had to thaw out. After the last few days of temps ranging between
10 and 19, there was a lot of thawing to do.
As the Marias
picked the Succulent Spinach, and Andrea the red carrots, I made sure
that the plumbing in their individual “kitchens” worked. The water at
first sputtered from each hose, but thank goodness there were no broken
pipes! Larry and his men had done a great job of wrapping them, as they
also had to cover and re-cover the crops themselves, thanks to
Thursday’s enduring winds.
(Above, nattily dressed Andrea (star tamale maker) wears red to harvest the red carrots. I appreciate that!)
The
Salad Shed sported thick ice in each of the three tubs. We had filled
them with water prior to the horribleness, hoping that the law of heat
transfer would apply -- that the water, as it turned to ice, would
yield its heat to the pipes above. It worked. But I had to pry the
resulting ice up and out, so the Marias would be able to clean the tubs
and fill them with water of a more comfortable temperature (near
freezing but not)....I tossed the ice out on the recently killed Hoja
Santa, that it might somehow later slake any thirst the holy leaf might
encounter. That is, if her holiness returns this spring.
(Her holiness is under there somewhere....)
As
I checked the crops, I lifted the thick cover from the new crop of
Marathon broccoli and sighed with relief. This variety is more tolerant
of cold than other broccoli varieties, but you never know. The
purpleness, shown in the photo below, is the harmless result of cold
stress, but the flavor of this freeze-tested crop, as with all the ones
that will survive, is incredibly sweet. The plants, fighting for life,
have brought to bear all their reserves, and when they surrender to us,
we will be well-nourished. Tomorrow, as I cut their heads (sorry!) I
will thank them for their gift.
(Above, Marathon broccoli, its leaves bowed but not hurt.
This new crop will be on the farm stand tables Wednesday and Saturday!)
But
first, a little sacrificial broccoli for me! At times I like a simple
lunch, celebrating just one item, like a head of broccoli. I chop it
and sauté it with a bit of butter and a sprinkle of Herbs de Tejas
(instead of de Provence!) With each bite, I’m thankful that we’ve
learned to plant the more delicate varieties of broccoli (like Packman
and Gypsy) in the fall and spring, and pair Marathon with the “dead” of
winter. It usually works. And since our three varieties have differing
days to maturity, with Marathon being the longest, we can plant them
all at the same time. Well, that sounds like an extraordinary feat to
me, so I’ll have to admit that although the plants wait around all
together, we do plant them one transplant at a time. Ok.
(Yum! It was delicious!)
Meanwhile
the chickens are enjoying the delivery of broccoli leaves from the last
crop. They eat the leaves to the stem, and cackle and peep for more.
They are insatiable. But they too are surviving the cold.
Their
water system is dismantled to avoid a pipe-busting extravaganza, so I
am toting kettles of water eight to ten times a day to slake the thirst
created by the dry air. Any water left in their containers freezes
overnight so when they see me coming with the tea pot, they gang around
the red waterers as now they know, I bring warm water.
To be aware of and grateful for the value of water, warmth and broccoli is something shared by just about all of us.
Carol Ann
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