Five surprise vegetable trivia from peak summer at the farm

Kiersten here! While prepping for markets last week, the FRF team started riffing about vegetable facts that we wish everyone knew.  We inadvertently verbally drafted a whole blog post. Sam - this year’s champion greenhouse seeder and cucumber trelliser -  took on the task of writing our conversation down in a usable format. I’ll let her take it from here!

The learning process is always ongoing at the farm—we’re trying new techniques, growing new things, and tweaking our approaches in response to the plants in hopes of bringing you the best, most delicious food at market. At this point in the season, tomatoes are finally here! The farm is flecked with their colors alongside purple fairy tale eggplants, yellow pattypan squash, and glorious zinnias. Our brains are approaching what we affectionately call “August Brain” – the saturation we feel from juggling all of the variables day in and day out as time races full steam towards August. But we’re pausing (briefly) to share five vegetable trivia that run counter to common knowledge, and to collectively raise our vegetable IQ!

1) Basil should not be kept in the fridge! Basil does not like the cold—think of how basil plants brown as the temperature outside drops in the fall—and once it is removed from the ground this browning happens even faster. Keep your basil on the counter in a glass of water and watch it stay vibrant and fresh for many days, up to or past a week. If you trim the ends and keep the water fresh, it may even happily sprout roots! 

Basil happy as could be on the counter. No brown leaves!

Just a bunch of unripe peppers! (See fact 2…)

Thai basil also lookin’ FRESH on day 4 on the counter.

2) You’ve seen different colored peppers at the markets, but did you know that green peppers are actually just unripe peppers? Red, yellow, and orange peppers all start out green. And the Islanders, our purple pepper variety, is also an unripe pepper! Islanders turn orange as the season continues. 

Chinese broccoli? Also a brassica - the same species as kale, cabbage, and cauliflower!

3) The reason scallions are sometimes called green onions or spring onions is that historically they were young onions picked in the springtime! Now we've bred some onions to stay small all the time, but if you pick an onion when the tops are still green it's the same thing.

4) Kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi and brussel sprouts are all the same species that have been bred to express different traits—just like domesticated dogs!

5) Some vegetables—like carrots, cabbage, cold-hardy kohlrabi, and more—get sweeter after going through a frost! In order to survive the cold temperatures, the plants convert some of their starch content into sugar to lower the freezing point of their cells. Something to look forward to for the markets in the fall - although there’s plenty of summer still to go!

- Sam

Plenty of summer still to go indeed!

Market Share milestones

As Four Root Farm rolls into its 11th growing season in East Haddam, there’s lots for us farmers to feel grateful for - bountiful beds of lettuce, loads of green tomatoes waiting to ripen, our joyful and hard-working crew, and the fact that a week of 100 degree temperatures is behind us.

We also remain ever grateful for our amazing customers, without whom we wouldn’t have one growing season, let alone 11! It’s because so many of you appreciate local, thoughtfully produced food and flowers that we’re able to continue this work that we find so valuable. 

There are two particular people that we’d like to celebrate this year - Joy Burns and Jessica Feinleib, both of whom are in their 10th year as Market Share members of the farm! Thank you for being part of the Four Root Farm Market Share for the past decade!

Thank you, Joy! We’re overJOYed to have known you for over a decade now, and it’s truly a delight to see you week-to-week in Wooster Square. Joy shared the following with us, “Initially my commitment was to eat local and in season, which was something I had seen my grandmother do. I met Rachel Berg and knew that farms were vanishing in CT, so to support the farm, I purchased a share. Eating fresh vegetables and being introduced to new foods has been a wonderful experience! Congratulations Four Root Farm and may you flourish for many more years to come!” Aww, shucks, we’re blushing! Thank you, Joy! And thanks for always appreciating our squash blossoms!

Thank you, Jessica! You always have such excellent ideas for what to cook with our produce in every season. So much so that some of your recipes are featured on our website and in our newsletters! We feel like we’ve been part of your family for so long. We love seeing you, Ingrid, Finn, and Michael at just about every market! Not only have you all been part of our Market Share for a decade - you’ve also participated in our Flower Share for years. Thanks for your always enthusiastic appreciation of both our food and flowers! (And for consistently encouraging us to make the switch to electric vehicles!)

We acknowledge and appreciate the vote of confidence in the farm that participation in our Market Share program represents. Imagine our appreciation when members choose to participate again and again for years! Thank you, Joy and Jessica, for your decade of partnering with Four Root Farm. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to grow food and flowers for you  - and for our Connecticut community, whether you’ve been shopping with us for 10 years, one week, or anywhere in between!

-Your FRFarmers

Controlled chaos

Look at these pea plants now! I see flowers… peas are soon to follow!

The farm has transformed over the past month! At the end of April, most crops were sheltered in the protection of a high tunnel. Outside the tunnels, we had young pea plants, recently transplanted, and a few other crops bundled under row coverings for warmth. Looking across the field, all you saw were billowing white row covers that you hoped weren’t going to blow away in the wind. 

But a month later, nearly all the beds are either planted, ready to be planted, or tarped in preparation to plant in the coming weeks. The fields have gone from fallow, slightly feral, with weeds germinating and ill-defined walking paths to more orderly, with plants in (mostly) straight rows, weed barriers in place, and food and flowers ready for harvesting. 

And from now until December, we’ll be in a constant struggle against entropy! 

We started the season by re-measuring all of the fields, so every bed would be exactly 100 feet long. Over time, some of the fields shortened as weeds and grass crept in from the edges. We create the crop plan and start seedlings in the greenhouse with the goal of planting into 100 foot long beds.  So, it can be frustrating when transplanting to find out that the bed is actually more like 95 feet long. We measured the fields, laid landscape fabric to delineate the field from the grass, and patted ourselves on the back for making everything so orderly.  Entropy conquered! Somewhat. The weeds and grass won’t go down that easily. They’re still pushing up around the fabric and will probably require us to fork them out or pull them up by hand. 

Although this work is in nature and in constant communion with plants, insects, and bugs, farming is not a natural process. It disrupts ecological succession wherein land moves from bare dirt, to annual plants, to grass and perennials. What we call entropy, nature just calls normal, healthy even. We’re constantly balancing the desire to maintain the field in a hospitable state for delicious annual vegetables and beautiful annual flowers with the benefits of allowing natural processes to occur.

Much of this season’s ranunculus was planted into a field that had lay fallow for years. It’s been an uphill battle to prepare the space for crops, and we’ve needed to weed frequently in order to keep up with the seemingly massive weed seed bank that’s present in the soil. Turns out, Elise thinks they may be the best ranunculus we’ve ever grown.

Could this amazing crop of ranunculus be the result of the soil biology and chemistry developed from the years that the field was untouched? We only have anecdotal evidence, and, really, it’s probably due to a host of factors. However, we do know that working alongside nature, rather than against it, when we can is probably a smart way to go. 

Look at the friend we found in one of the high tunnels!

So, we continue the balancing act! We’ll work in step with nature by continuing to rely on low-till methods which leave soil biology more intact and follow organic standards prohibiting the application of synthetic substances. But, as soon as the next sunny day comes along, you will probably find us out in the field pulling weeds.

-Kiersten 

Support Common Ground!

In last November’s blog, we highlighted some ways in which changes to federal policy may impact the farm. Four Root Farm has been mostly unscathed from the upheaval in federal agencies so far. Coming into the new year, we had already received all our promised federal funds; however, we must wait and see if federal funds continue to be available to offset the costs of ecosystem improvement work on the farm and our organic certification. We also remain curious if the Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program (FMNP), which provides funds to seniors and low-income folks to shop at farmers’ markets, will continue to receive funding.

We’re lucky. We know many farmers awarded grants whose funds are now frozen or cancelled. Some have already spent their own money on projects and now wonder if they will receive their promised reimbursement. One farm that we know has been significantly impacted is Common Ground, a high school, urban farm, and environmental education center located in New Haven.  

The Environmental Protection Agency has cancelled a $500,000 grant funding Common Ground’s Green Jobs Corps, which offered students paid opportunities to work in agricultural and environmental jobs. Teens in this program worked five to ten hours a week contributing to meaningful work being done around New Haven. Students worked for CitySeed to help run the farmers’ markets and worked on Common Ground’s urban farm growing produce and running a composting program. 

Students also operated the Mobile Market. This farmstand moved around to different New Haven neighborhoods offering produce from Common Ground’s own farm and other local farms. They selected neighborhoods where access to quality, fresh produce is limited and aimed to set prices at a point accessible to people from all kinds of economic backgrounds. 

Common Ground’s commitment to using sustainable agricultural practices and contributing to a healthy food system for New Haven residents closely aligns with Four Root Farm’s own goals and values. We all feel saddened that their programs, which we see as quite valuable, may not receive the funding they need to continue. 

We very much support and respect the work that Common Ground does, and, if you’re able, we would encourage everyone reading this to donate to Common Ground’s campaign to raise $1mm this year to offset cancelled federal funds. If you happen to know Joel Tolman, a director at Common Ground (and Wooster Square farmers’ market customer!), you could also donate to his campaign here. If you’re unable to donate at this time but also feel moved to take action, you can spread the word and share the links to these campaigns with those in your own network (full links below). 

This community has shown up for Four Root Farm for the past decade now as Market Share members, loyal customers, and super fans rocking our t-shirts and hats. All of us on Four Root Farm appreciate your commitment to supporting a strong, local food system in Connecticut. We know Common Ground’s teachers, directors, and students appreciate you, too.

Many many many thanks,
Your FRFarmers

Common Ground Rock to Rock 2025 Fundraiser: https://givegreater.cfgnh.org/campaigns/cg-rock-to-rock-2025
Joel Tolman’s Rock to Rock 2025 Fundraiser for Common Ground: https://givegreater.cfgnh.org/p2p/416776/joel-tolman?fbclid=IwY2xjawJs4X1leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHnjBD9WXHBZ-K_-Oiv2XsIxA_9TCubs0B9xyFFAn-SMwu8fPFKS9u1quizjB_aem_lyJEcxCJdGxSg6GHguYtFg

The exciting days of spring!

Sooooo cute, right?!

This time of year always feels exciting. Each time I open the greenhouse door, I squeal in delight at the ever increasing number of seedlings filling up the space and growing bigger by the day. Each trip across the field takes twice as long because I stop to look at the anemones starting to flower, the garlic peeking through the leaf mulch, and the baby lettuce just… being cute. Even the routine tasks feel exciting by virtue of occurring this time of year. They’re so full of firsts! (Aww, it’s our first time transplanting vegetables this year! Aww, we’re seeding our first scallion succession of 2025!) We seed and transplant - quite literally - tens of thousands of plants every year. And yet, somehow, it still feels novel for me in March.

We’re starting to fill up the high tunnels with early season crops - lettuce, bok choy, broccoli rabe, and Hakurei turnips as well as ranunculus, anemones, and godetia. We’ll transplant our first field crop (another first!) this week when we tuck the sugar snap peas into the ground. 

On the infrastructure side, we’re expanding and redesigning the wash station. It’s been 7 years since the wash station was built, and since then, the business has definitely grown. Storage space was hard to come by last year, and arranging work spaces needed careful choreography to keep vegetable washing water away from flower bouquets and paper sleeves. Now, we have the opportunity to reimagine how the space is used while Aaron builds an extension to the roof, providing more covered space to work.

I think part of what keeps farming exciting for me is how straightforward it feels to change and improve - at least on the small scale. Wishing we had more vegetables in May last year? Let’s plant more in the spring of 2025! Wash station work flows were terrible last year? Let’s revise the layout this year! The tightly time-bound growing season in this region creates a fairly distinct beginning and end to the season. There’s a clear time to make do with what we have and a clear time to make improvements for the future.

On a larger scale, of course, nothing is straightforward. Climate change will continue to alter what we can grow and how we grow it. The price of food poses a significant challenge for so many people trying to feed themselves and their families. Farmland remains inaccessible for most folks. While we hold these issues in our minds and work with our network to make system-wide change, it can feel grounding to make change on a small scale within the boundaries of Four Root Farm.

It’s exciting to look at all the young plants right now and feel almost purely optimistic about how the season will progress. Inevitably, as the months go on, there will be spells of bad weather; pests will arrive; equipment will break. Standing here in March though, it’s delightful to think, “Maybe not this year!”

See you (very) soon!
Kiersten

P.S. If you’re getting excited about planning your own garden, take a look at the list of seedlings we’re offering for this year’s plant sale! We plan to be at the Wooster Square market on April 19th with limited plants and to open the website for plant sale preorders and East Haddam pickup at the beginning of May. Woohoo!

On the list of hurdles so far, the wind carried one of our tarps into the trees. Currently soliciting ideas on how to get it down. It’s very stuck.

3 More Weeks of Winter (But Who's Counting?)

It’s been a snowy February thus far! Despite the sub-freezing temperatures, you won’t find too many complaints here. I’m enjoying the chance to pull on my cozy sweaters and insulated overalls and traipse around the frozen fields. After each new snowfall, I’m delighted by all the different animal tracks meandering around the property. The farm is just teeming with critters when no one is watching! 

The farm is also starting to teem with baby plants. We tucked the first round of anemones and ranunculus into the ground during the first week of February.  At that stage, they didn’t look like much. In fact, it was slightly demoralizing to plant almost 300ft of transplants only to look back at what still appeared to be bare bedtops. It didn’t take long for little green shoots to pop out of the soil though. Just look at them now!

Anemones when they went into the ground…

… and anemones just 3 weeks later!

Baby lettuce on its way!

Last week, we prepared the greenhouse for the impending influx of seedlings. We cleaned and sanitized the surfaces to prevent disease, rearranged the greenhouse tables for maximum space for plants, and dropped the curtain between the “warm side” and “cool side” of the greenhouse. Partitioning the greenhouse with a plastic curtain reduces the space to heat and, thus, propane use. The heater keeps the “warm side” temperate for the new seedlings, and the sun maintains the temperature on the “cool side” above freezing on these cold, winter days. Most seedlings start on the warm side then move to the cool side to harden off in preparation for life out in the real world (a.k.a. the field). For now, it’s just lettuce, fennel, some brassicas, and phlox in the greenhouse. They better make room though… We seeded 60 trays of onions last week. And, of course, there are many more vegetable and flower seedlings to come as we move into March!

60 trays of onions waiting to pop in the germination chamber! As soon as they sprout, they’ll move to the greenhouse tables.

In this weather, the fieldwork is limited. Our compost and leaf mulch is frozen under a few inches of snow and ice, so further bed preparation will need to wait until the materials thaw. Each week, there are more and more seeds to start in the greenhouse. Daily tasks include checking if the seedling trays need water and covering and uncovering the overwintered flowers with row covers. The row covers act like a blanket for the bedtops. We remove them during the day when the sun shining into the high tunnels offers sufficient warmth. We pull them back over the beds when the sun goes down to keep the plants warm in frigid nighttime temperatures.  

Speaking of covering, one of the biggest projects on the horizon is recovering two of our high tunnels with new plastic. After wind ripped the plastic off one of the tunnels last fall, we decided to leave it uncovered to allow for rainfall, snowfall, and, hopefully, their associated nutrients to reach the soil. The plastic on this group of tunnels was nearing the end of its useful life anyway, so, in December, we chose to cut the plastic off a second tunnel as well. Now, we need to recover these tunnels soon, so the soil can warm up in time for the first crops of 2025. It’s not a difficult task when one of the farm owners also owns a greenhouse company. It just requires waiting for a sunny and still day. (Strong winds and big sheets of plastic are not a fun combination.)

Personally, I’m relishing these last few weeks of winter. I’m exclusively wearing my thickest wool socks and cooking endless soups and chilis. I’m enjoying the slower pace of February while simultaneously looking forward to getting my hands back in the dirt when the ground thaws. I know this season isn’t everyone’s favorite. (I’m looking at you, Four Root Farm’s face of the markets, David!) So, for those of you dreading more snow in the forecast, don’t worry! Only 3 more weeks until spring!

- Kiersten

New year, new crop plan

January is the season for crop planning - the most sedentary of farming tasks. We gathered computers, seed catalogs, reference books, notes from the past season, and mugs of coffee and tea. Then, we set out to discuss all the vegetable crops from A to Z (or basil to turnips, as it turns out).

Crop by crop, we reviewed total sales and sales per bedfoot from the prior year. The sales per bedfoot metric allows for comparison of crops grown in different amounts. We discussed what went well, what went poorly, and ways to improve the crop’s performance in the upcoming year. If a crop consistently underperformed year after year, either in productivity or sales, we considered if we should cut it from the team entirely. 

After reaching consensus on how much to grow in the upcoming year, Aaron generated the crop’s schedule in the crop plan. Color-coded blocks indicate when to seed, when to transplant into the field, and when we should expect to harvest. Repeat for 140 varieties of vegetables (and repeat the whole process for the flower side of the business) et voila! You have the crop plan for 2025. 

It may sound complicated, but the most difficult aspect of crop planning was actually just coordinating 4 different farmers’ schedules to have them in front of their computers for 2 days and then some. Somehow farmers are still busy people even in the dead of winter!

Some new additions to this year’s plan include: Thai basil,  another type of not-hot hot pepper, a cherry tomato variety named “Sweet Treats,” and purple cabbage. No promises, but there was also some talk of strawberries for the 2026 season. 

“Roulette” is the newest addition to our not-hot hot pepper lineup. Thanks Johnny’s Selected Seeds for the seeds and the photo!

More new additions! This is “Integro.” Thanks to High Mowing Organic Seeds for the seeds and the photo.

With this year’s crop plan finalized, other activities begin. 

For one, ordering seeds. Earlier this month, we inventoried all the seed stock on hand. We’ll compare the seeds needed for 2025 with what’s left from 2024 and order the quantity which makes up the difference. 

Ranunculus are getting started in the greenhouse!

For two, creating the field map. Rachel takes the crop plan and maps out where everything will be planted. She’s careful to avoid putting crops of the same family in the same bed more than once every 3 years. This rotation helps prevent pests and disease from taking root. It keeps the pests guessing where their favorite plant will be each year. 

For three, seeding! The first vegetable seeds get started next week. Yes, the first week of February! Spring flowers, like ranunculus and anemones, are already well on their way. 

We’re officially off on the 2025 season! I’ll keep you in the loop as the season ramps up, and we’ll be seeing you at markets and on-farm pickups before you know it.

-Kiersten