A New Bed Preparation Method

Village Farm Team,

Our fields have been drying out at a much slower rate than anticipated so we’ve adapted a different bed flipping method in the meantime. When our soil holds a lot of moisture, it’s incredibly difficult to use the broad fork renovation method we’ve been employing. The bed of leeks pictured below was previously planted with Hakurei turnips. After harvesting all of the turnips, we trimmed the leaves off in the field and allowed them to remain on top of the bed. As the leaves began to break down, they acted like a natural weed suppressant that kept this bed ready until we could get the leeks in the ground!

The new bed flipping method has allowed us to plant more successions of winter vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower. Have you had a chance to try any of our broccoli or cauliflower yet? Broccoli is native to the Mediterranean and Asia Minor. Though there is evidence of Thomas Jefferson experimenting with broccoli seeds in his garden in the 18th century, broccoli didn’t gain popularity in America until Southern Italian immigrants brought it with them in the 1920s. How do you like to prepare your broccoli? We’re partial to roasting it so that the edges just start to caramelize!

Beets are just making their way back into season as we’ve been able to make a few small harvests over the past couple of weeks! We have both Chioggia and Red Ace varieties interplanted. Chioggia, sometimes called the candy cane or candy stripe beet, has alternating concentric rings of pink and white. Red Ace is more of a standard beet with deep red flesh throughout the root. Farm Educator Nick likes to boil beets just long enough to easily remove the skin before pan-searing thick slices. Along with our beets we harvested the first of our Amazing cauliflower. This variety yields more of a classic looking cauliflower with larger heads than those of the Song variety. Farm Educator Nathan likes to enjoy his cauliflower steamed and topped with shredded cheese, chopped scallions, and a sprinkle of bacon.