This week our farmers are in various stages of cover cropping, as you can see in the pictures below. Whipstone Farm has cover crops at their peak in some of their greenhouses and Willowbrook Farm just cleared a field to plant a cover crop where they will eventually plant next year’s garlic crop. Cover crops are either a mix or single species of plant that returns nutrients to the soil and keeps the soil aerated. Cover crops are especially well known for adding nitrogen to soil without the use of synthetic fertilizers. They are considered a living fertilizer. Once the crop is fully grown it is either mowed or tilled into the soil. So it fertilizes a field both while it is growing and then when it is decomposing. Cover cropping is especially important here where the nutrients get literally baked out of soil that is left bare.
This week we get to enjoy more of our current crop of garlic. If you are getting overwhelmed with garlic, just store it in a cool dark place and it should keep for many weeks and possibly months. But if you are slow to use garlic you can also peel each clove and pack it in jars of olive oil to keep throughout the winter. And it’s our first week for green beans! I know so many of you have been waiting for beans and now they are finally here. I know I will be enjoying some garlic green beans this week and I hope you do as well!
Have a cool week!
Meghan
What’s in your basket – September 9th
Arugula – Whipstone Farm
Cucumbers – Willowbrook Farm
Garlic – Willowbrook Farm
Leeks – Whipstone Farm
Potatoes – Whipstone Farm
Tomato mix – Willowbrook Farm
Beautiful garlic
Cover crop in one of Whipstone’s greenhouses.
Shanti and Olive at Whipstone Farm.
Preparing to cover crop a freshly cleared field at Willowbrook. After the cover crop this is where next year’s garlic crop will be planted.