Greetings from Sweetland
The sun is out! Wait, it’s in… It’s hot! It’s raining… Yes, it’s been a stretch of weird weather lately and we farmers are just trying to keep up! I know the saying goes “if you don’t like the weather in Vermont, just wait a minute” but these swings from 90 degrees to 33 are starting to feel a bit more extreme than we’re used to.
A hot topic (so to speak) in the sustainable agriculture world is focused on agricultural resilience in the face of a changing climate. At Sweetland, this means planning ahead to mitigate drought and heat with irrigation, floods with drainage, frost with row covers, and wind with extra sand bags on the row cover edges. We are always fine-tuning our crop varieties, and more than ever that is with an eye towards heat-tolerance, bolt-resistance, and disease resistance.
Farming has always been about working with the vagaries of mother nature. We plant “hail Mary” crops of early corn, gambling on the risk of a late frost against the reward of an early harvest. We cross our fingers against hail when a thunderstorm looms and do rain dances to conjure steady, soaking drizzles. We have weather apps on every device and an eye on the sky all day long. But despite farmers having a near pathological patience with the weather, we are worried. We’ll keep doing our part to swap fossil fuels for renewables in hopes of a longer-term mitigation, and spreading the word through our growing network of supporters to encourage others to do the same. If you haven’t already, check out the carbon reduction pledge we made this winter.
Despite this “weather weirding” we’ve got a great harvest lined up this week. Here’s what’s on tap.
Cheers, The Sweetland Crew
Week 3 harvest, Brimming Basket
- Lettuce, 1 head
- Hakurei turnips, 1 bunch
- Radishes, large bunch
- Scallions, 1 bunch
- Asparagus, 1/2 pound*
- Pea shoots, 1 bag
Week 3 harvest, Half Pint
- Lettuce, 1 head
- Radishes, small bunch
- Mesclun mix, 1/3 pound
- Scallions, small bunch
- Rhubarb, 1/2 pound*
*A note about equitability: From time to time we have quantities of a crop that can’t be divided meaningfully between all our CSA members. (We try not to send anyone home with so tiny of a quantity that it’s not useful for cooking.) In that case, we try to give it out equitably. This is one of those moments; our asparagus and rhubarb patches (both perennials so we can’t quickly increase their scale) are producing at their usual rate. We’ll be rotating around the member list over the next couple weeks to make sure that everyone gets some of each. If you get rhubarb at one pickup you’ll get asparagus at the next, or vice versa. Hope that helps explain our thinking!
Recipes of the Week
- *Well, we can’t grow avocados yet, but the lemony dressing on this spring salad sounds divine with this week’s lettuce and radishes.
- *I love rhubarb oat crisp, and here it is in cookie form!
- *Try any of these 5 ways to use your scallions!