Wednesday, January 22, 2014

January

Welcome to Wintah!

Brrrrrrr.  I admit I like the cold (although I will also admit that I spent 2 weeks in California visiting my brother in early January!).  The ice storms made us a little restless, worrying about collapsing greenhouses and power outages.  We looked at generators (our annual visit to the topic), realizing I have thousands of dollars in product in our chest freezers and walk in cooler, but alas we didn't buy one and luckily so far so good. 

The greenhouses were covered with a half inch of ice and shoveling was like shoveling shards of glass.  The single digit temps and short day lengths did not allow for the snow to slide off the roof as usual so I spent an entire day roof raking, shoveling and praying the remaining ice would not slice through the plastic.  Again, so far so good!

Now on to the FUN part of winter farming!  Every year I have been ordering my seeds earlier and earlier because many varieties of seeds sell out if I wait too long.  This year was a new record for me.  I usually try and get the order in by January 13th, but since I was not going to be back form California until the 15th, I sent my order in on December 31st.  And when I returned home it was like Christmas all over again!  I sorted and recounted/rechecked all the seeds I have with a smile on my face.  There is always a second or third or fourth order during the season due to seeds forgotten, failed germination, failed growing or some other drastic occurrence.  Hopefully those orders will be at a minimum this year : )
 

2014 Sign Ups!

Thanks to all of you, the signs ups have been rolling in faster than ever....

I am at near capacity for all my shares, so if you are thinking about it, don't delay!

 
 
1st Winter Share Pick Up
January 23rd
 
butternut/carnival winter squash
pie pumpkins
potatoes
onions
leeks
garlic
rutabagas
turnips
watermelon radish
parsnips
carrots
cabbage
Chinese cabbage
beets
celeriac
 
....and a little sweet treat!
 
 
 
 
CELERIAC
Celery root, also called celeriac, is harvested in the late fall. This ugly duckling has a distinct, refreshing flavor reminiscent of a cross between celery and parsley.
 
 
 
WATERMELON RADISH
We love them as winter crutities--beautiful, crisp, slighty spicy sweet!