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finale

10/28/2014

The last farmers markets of the season are headed your way...The final full session of the Midtown Farmers Market is this Saturday, November 1st. The last Raleigh Downtown Market is Wednesday, November 5th. You can still easily get our produce through the winter months - full details next week! - or come see us at either market this week, and we'll fill you in, in person.

The farmers markets are fun and exciting, and exhausting, and somehow seem to go on forever yet be over for the year in a flash. We meet all kinds (and I mean all kinds...) of people out there. But by and large we always hear positive responses from amazing people. Heaps of gratitude, joy, pleasure. I love hearing about the fabulous things you made to eat the previous week out of the simple things we grew with our four hands. I first met some of your children when they were in babies in strollers, and it always shocks me when I see that they've now grown taller than their parents - when did that happen? Never-ending workdays in summer are offset by joyous high-fives and beaming faces at the first tomato harvest brought to town. I've seen classes of schoolkids actually line up to buy peas, excited fans yell 'yes - cauliflower!' while running from across the market space, and I've successfully turned 99% of you into Sungold cherry tomato addicts. Sorry. Well, no, not really.

I hear more 'thank-you's' than I can keep track of. Probably - no definitely - more than I return. Before many of us part ways 'til spring, I just wanted to express a heartfelt thank you for making it possible for us to earn a living doing what we love. Your joy, enthusiasm, and gratitude for what we make out of soil, sun, and sweat is a huge part of what makes all those long hot summer days worthwhile. Ain't no other job quite like it! So long as you all keep on eating, I plan to still be out there with my peas and lettuce and tomatoes when you're pushing your grandchildren around in strollers.

Still loads of salad greens for this week. Almost November now, and while we still have plenty of green and purple peppers, the days just aren't long or warm enough anymore to get much in the way of ripe red peppers. It looks like we may get our first frost of the season this weekend, which means the last of the peppers and eggplant this week, but the cold sweetens up the leafy greens nicely. More turnips and radishes in a week or two; cabbages, collards, and cauliflower coming soon, too!

One more round of markets for the year everybody - see you out there!!

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project season

10/21/2014

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The lower sunlight in October turns everything a magical golden shade to be treasured, but is also a constant reminder to me that...winter's coming, get all your ducks in a row, all your nuts stashed away!

We have all of our crops for the back half of the year planted out, with the weeds are mostly well under control. Winter cover crops are planted and growing, which help build the soil up for next year's vegetables. By next week the greenhouse will be 100% planted to veggies we aim to harvest in the dead of winter, and so it's that time of year we turn to get a whole miscellany of other projects, that are hard to find time for in the busy season, but that we want to get done before it's too cold to work long hours outside.

Two projects currently at the top of our list (because working with steel pipes in freezing weather is not fun): We're working to re-purpose the frame of an old big 96' hoophouse that Hurricane Irene destroyed into a machine shed, and finally have a place to park all of our equipment out of the weather. We also acquired a used 14' x 50' greenhouse this summer, that was hastily torn down and moved to our farm in July. We plan to re-construct it near the house, in order to have a heated seedling house for growing our veggie starts in the spring. Hopefully that means I won't be growing tomato and pepper seedlings in the spare bedroom of our house anymore, and we might even be able to accommodate a house guest or two. Re-use it, re-cycle it, re-purpose it; nothing ever gets thrown out as trash on a farm!

Loads of lettuce this week, both our carefully washed and dried baby salad mix, as well as sweet crunchy heads of romaine. We usually think of spring as 'salad season,' but fall brings it back around for a second taste! Add some thinly sliced sweet fennel bulbs to your salads for a treat, or if you feel like stashing things away for winter, a fennel bulb or two is a tasty addition to fish or poultry stocks. The first few early broccoli plants are starting to head up - we have a limited amount this week, but should have a better supply by next week. And get those peppers while you can! Old man winter teased us with a near-frost this morning; the peppers are still coming in strong, but aren't likely to last much longer.

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four little weeks to go

10/6/2014

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Did you know that there are just four short weeks left to our farmers market season? The Midtown Farmers Market runs until November 1st, and the Raleigh Downtown Farmers Market finishes for the season on November 4th. The Midtown Market continues to host a small off-season pick-up from 10am-12 noon through the winter months, and we do offer pick-up at Harmony Farms and at our farm year-round...but those fun full market days are almost over for the year! The weather in October is (almost) always sublime, and is one of the few months of the year you can find a wide range of both summer crops like peppers and tomatoes (from er, drier farms than ours), as well as a good variety of early cool-season crops. Be sure to catch every market you can, before it's all over!

Baby bok choy should be back for a little while, in many pretty shades of red and green! I'm always a sucker for any vegetable I find in a seed catalog that comes in a rainbow of colors, and it's said that eating like a painter's palette is a super-healthy way to go. That said, if you prefer your greens to be all 'green,' let us know.

Little 'Hakurei' turnips are back as well. These are sometimes also called Tokyo Market turnips, or simply "Not Your Grandmother's Turnips." They're sweet, crisp, earthy, and the farthest thing from a big woody purple-top turnip you'll ever find. Our favorite way to eat them is simply as is: pull turnip from ground, wipe dirt off on pants, and munch it down on the spot. If a salt shaker happens to be handy, that's good too, but not necessary. If you prefer a slightly more sophisticated way to eat your turnips, our second-favorite turnip recipe is featured over to the right. Don't forget that turnips, like beets, are a "two-fer" vegetable - do eat those nutritious greens as well as the roots! If you are not a fan of slightly spicy greens, try sauteing your turnip greens mixed with a few handfuls of sweet 'Red Russian' kale.

Thank you all so much for your business, eat well, and have a great week!

'Hakurei' turnips

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finale

project season

four little weeks to go

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