Thankfully Green

What's happening outside on the farm these days? Mainly harvesting, with some clean up and maintenance thrown in. We're harvesting lettuce mix, spinach, arugula, mustard, sometimes kale, from the tunnels, and outside kale when the weather allows.

About a third of total tunnel space is devoted to lettuce mix so we can have a consistent late season supply. We finished harvesting the two plantings from the 450' of beds in the upper caterpillar tunnel and are now pulling from the 160' of beds in the hoop house. Soon we'll switch over to the 210' of beds in the minimally heated greenhouse where quality is more consistent probably due to keeping the temperature from dropping below freezing, constant airflow, and dry heat at nighttime (set for 35 degrees). The greenhouse is our guaranteed harvest space for mid and late December lettuce mix. The other two plantings have interior hoops and supplemental row cover on top to prevent cold injury.

We're thrilled to have a good supply of spinach again. It caught illness each of the previous three seasons and we were close to giving up on it. Hopefully its productivity this season will be replicable in the following years. Our goal is to have spinach for a longer period of time next fall. We may even try to grow it in the spring again. Spinach has a much higher tolerance to low temperatures so it doesn't receive extra hoops and cover on the inside of the lower caterpillar tunnel. We do close it up on subfreezing nights though.

Two plantings of arugula and one planting each of mustard, bok choy, and red russian kale live in our high tunnel. These are treated the same way as lettuce mix with interior hoops and cover. We've been growing winter brassica greens for over a decade now and are fully confident in their abilities, though bok choy is the most sensitive to airflow/cold/moisture issues. This year's batch will hopefully be harvestable but it currently looks a bit unhappy.

Curly kale currently occupies 560' of beds in the hoop tunnel. Like the spinach, this also doesn't get hooped and covered due to its exceptional cold tolerance. We've barely touched this crop and will probably have a lot leftover after Late Fall for some flash sales in January and February. Currently field curly and toscano kales are holding up well. Toscano kale is almost done. I think this is my favorite variety.

I hope you're enjoying all of the greens!