In Your Share (Jan. 17th edition)

From arctic storm to tropical deluge – what a month!! Lots of mud in the fields now and the Wheatland ferry is closed due to high water, but the veggies have (so far) pulled through it all. This week your share may include…

  • Beets: The variety is Winterkeeper (aka Lutz) and the roots are looking good.
  • Carrots: They’ve been through freezes and floods so they may look a little worse for wear. But they taste AMAZING and that’s what counts! The variety is Napoli
  • Brussel Sprouts: This has been a great season for sprouts! The variety is Roodnerf this week which is open pollinated, but seems to be just as vigorous, uniform and tasty as most of the hybrids we grow.
  • Collard Greens: Interesting to see the marked difference in the growth habit of the three different varieties we grow – Champion, Bulldog & Flash. We don’t usually pick Champion much this time of year because the plants are lower to the ground and tend to have more mud splash & slugs on the leaves. However the Champion leaves are nice on the fall and bolt later in the spring than the other two varieties extending our season for succulent sprouting flower stalks aka raab.
  • Kale: The varieties this week are mostly Redbor but we picked a bit of Lacinato Rainbow too.
  • Onions: Little yellow onions this week are good for roasting. Copra is the variety.
  • Potatoes: The Yellow Finn potato is a european gourmet variety with dark yellow flesh. It is good for baking mashing or frying.
  • Winter Squash: This is the last round of acorn type squash for the season. They aren’t meant to store much longer so eat them sooner rather than later. We’ll have both Thelma Sanders and Gill’s Golden Pippin for you to choose from. The cute little yellow & orange striped Gills Golden Pipin is a local heirloom bred here in Portland by the Gill Bros. Seed Co. They were bought out by a national seed company in the 1950’s but for decades they bred, grew, selected and produced seed specifically adapted to our region. East Multnomah county used to have some great farmland and the Gill family farm was located right were I205 & Hwy 84 now cross. Read an interesting little history of the Gill Bros. Seed Co here.

Coming soon… Cauliflower & Sprouting Broccoli!