Dear CSA Members,
I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season! It has been very cold this week on the farm. The temperature dropped down to 30 degrees this morning.
When we get a chill like this, something interesting happens in the garden: I like to say that the plants ‘go to sleep’. The leaves of the less frost resistant varieties such as our fava beans and arugula seem to gain a deep dark green color, they droop down, sag and look lifeless. The very first time I witnessed this, I thought, “Oh no, there goes the entire crop…” but as soon as the sun peeks out from beneath the adjacent fields and falls on the leaves, the intricate patterns of frost crystals melt away and the plants regain their former vitality. This show of resiliency is a beautiful thing to witness.
While everything is growing so very slowly, we have a lot of time to devote to researching new crops and cultivars, and generally thinking up new ways to innovate our production methods. Two days ago, after an entire week of planning and researching, we finally ordered seeds for summer. We are going to be growing more beautiful heirloom tomatoes, crunchy peppers, pie pumpkins, and eggplant. Part of innovating and staying inspired for us, not only as growers but also as eaters, is trying out new varietiesof crops that we already love, but we haven’t yet grown.
Before the advent of industrial agriculture, when crops were grown in backyards and on small family farms, heirloom varieties were much more widely cultivated. Over time, these varieties have been abandoned due to lack of an ability to be shipped far distances without being damaged, or lack of compatibility with farm mechanization or lack of uniformity in their size, shape or growth habit, which is important for large scale automated packing or processing.
Here at Frog Hollow, because we do many things by hand and on a smaller scale we are able to grow these old, forgotten varieties. Aside from contributing to the biodiversity on the farm and preserving the cultural heritage of these lost varieties, these forgotten plants typically have some of the best flavors.
For us, as eaters, this is not only rewarding for the palate, but for our hearts and minds as well.