A New Seeder & Harvesting Black Radishes

Village Farm Team,

This bright yellow beauty is a Jang seeder and it makes quick and efficient work of direct seeding in our prepared beds. So far we’ve used it to seed Bolero, Nectar, and Purple Elite carrots along with Crunchy King radishes. Since some of our beds have been amended more than others and have a finer soil texture, it will be interesting to observe how the seeder works in these soils compared to those with a higher clay content (and thus larger clods of soil). So far we’ve only seeded our beds with amended soils but we are already seeing signs of germination.

We harvested the first of our Nero Tondo radishes this past weekend for the veggie wagon. Nero Tondo is a Black Spanish variety with black skin and a larger root than the standard pink salad or breakfast radish varieties. The flesh is crisp and white with a horseradish flavor and kick. To mellow out this flavor, they can be roasted or pickled. If you’re curious about these black-hued beauties make sure to come by the veggie wagon on Saturday so you can pick some up and try them out.

Now that we’re moving into cold and flu season, we’ve been treating the goats to garlic clove treats. This helps to combat respiratory issues and boost their immune systems. Each girl gets a couple of cloves, crunchy skin and all! Speaking of goat treats, you might notice we have new signs up around the animal pens about not feeding our animals. Our animals are on specialized diets and while they can have treats, too much of a good thing can be bad for them. We ask that if you want to feed our animals a treat that you come find a Farm Educator so we can assist you.