We love that our farm is near enough to our CSA members & market customers that we can have a self-serve farmstand and are able to have visitors stop by and see the plants growing.
If you get a chance to visit and look around each season, you get to see our crop rotation in action. Each section of the farm looks different each year as we grow plant families in different places. The front field (pictured above) is clearly the allium family block this year.
Behind our house is the spring brassica family (broccoli, kale, cabbage, etc.) block this year. Let’s take a close up look at this wonderful kale-of-the-future:
This is just one way that we carry out our stewardship of the soil in order to grow good food for you and keep our farm growing food for many years to come. Thanks for eating it!
The weather forecast is mild, and so nightshades (tomatoes, etc.) are starting to go in the ground. (Pictures of those blocks next week!) We’re optimistic that some trees in our family orchard didn’t bloom during the balmy February that we had and thus their current blooms will hopefully grow into fruit.
Even if they don’t, they are keeping our bees very happy. We had more bees survive this past winter than any previous winter. (Hurray!) Some of the hives have been getting crowded, so we’ve been keeping an eye out for swarms. Our watchful habits paid off when this swarm was spotted on Tuesday:
Those sweet bees swarmed and clustered up on this pear tree just a few feet from the hive they left. This made it very convenient to to collect them back up in a new hive body and set them up with a new home right away.
Now — on to how to get and eat the food that will nourish you:
R A D I S H E S — They are in their glory right now and we think every household should have at least three bunches to get them through the week. We are eating Radish Salad Chez Broadfork every day for lunch and dinner, and sometimes breakfast. How to make this? Slice/shop/dice a bunch of radishes and put in a bowl. Perhaps also add sliced/diced carrots. Drizzle the best olive oil you can afford on top. Drizzle rice vinegar on top. Sprinkle sea salt, perhaps also black pepper. Adjust these amounts to your taste. Stir. Devour. Even our toddler and pre-schooler are gobbling this up before other menu items at meal time. Give it a try!
The Very Last CSA shares are available to sign up for…weekly shares of vegetables begin the first week of May, and continue through the end of November. Join our CSA here – including a Bread Share add-on option! – for a weekly dose of the best tasting vegetables around. We design our CSA shares to make things as convenient (and delicious and nutritious) as possible for you. Sign up online!
Reminder:
SPRING PLANT SALE // OPEN BARN // FARM TOUR
Saturday, April 29, 2017
10 am – 4 pm
Visit our Plant Sale for the full selection of our Certified Naturally Grown vegetable and herb plants for your garden, plus tour the farm with us at 3:00 to learn how and why we grow delicious and nutritious vegetables for you and your household using only biological, Certified Naturally Grown methods.
Soak in our beautiful farm and meet our staff. See your 2017 vegetables growing.
Learn WHY organic farming is so important and HOW we grow.
TASTE organic, wood-fired samples (herb flatbread straight from the oven!) and
HONEY POPs with lemon and lavender (just $1 each). Plus more farm goodies…
PLANTs for your garden, Certified Naturally Grown, and pollinator friendly!
Guided Tour @ 3:00.
This week’s harvest (and baking) includes:
Arugula, Microgreens, Radishes, Turnips, …and our Organic Hearth Baked Bread (Baguettes, Whole RYE, Seed, & Raisin loaves for this weekend) PLUS: You can purchase our Pepper Jelly and Certified Organic flour that we have freshly stone-ground in our Bakery. AND PLANTS! Lots of spring plants and Tomatoes…Dill, Cilantro, Peppermint, Spearmint, Tarragon, Rosemary, English Thyme, Broccoli, Kale (curly), Collards, Cabbage, Arugula, Rainbow Chard, Kohlrabi, Green Lettuce, Reddish/Green Lettuce, Spinach.
Tomato Varieties for 2017 Plant Sales |Brandywine, Yellow Brandywine, Big Beef, Better Boy, Celebrity, Cherokee Purple, Supersweet Cherry, Black Cherry, Sun Gold, Granadero, Jet Star, Mortgage Lifter, New Girl, Kellogg’s Breakfast, Betterbush, Arkansas Traveler, Patio
{Our farmstand is open Thursday & Friday with most of the above items…see here for updated inventory}
2017 Market Share CSA Members: Reserve your selection online to pick up Saturday, April 15th at our farm, at Good Health Herbs, or at the Farmers Market @ St. Stephens.
Anything remaining as of Saturday morning, plus the bread we will bake, we’ll bring to the Farmer’s Market @ St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the West End of Richmond
{Outdoors through November, Saturdays, 8-12.} Keep an eye on what we have available via the online farmers’ markets: FallLineFarms.com and Local Roots Food Coop.
Enjoy ~
Janet, Dan, & the whole Broadfork crew
Want to follow along during the week, including Farm Stand updates? Visit us on Facebook or Instagram.
