Sunday, October 30, 2022

Yacons




  What can you eat raw that's crunchy and sweet mid-winter?  Yacons.  
  A friend gave us starts to these South American tubers years ago and they've been a family favorite since. 
  We mostly eat the yacons raw, simply peeled and sliced.  They are a great snack.  We've also grate them onto salads or combine them with grated carrots and a sweet salad dressing.
  They are also a low maintenance crop.  After the last chance of frost in late spring, we roll out a round bale of mulch hay over the length of the row we are going to plant into, creating a thick weed free and moisture holding layer.  We then set the transplants 3 ft. apart.  Then we simply let them grow. 
  By fall they have grown to large bushes, about 4 feet tall and touching each other.  We let them frost a few times then dig them.  Unlike digging potatoes, you need to be very careful as the tubers are brittle.  We slice the ground in a circle around each plant then lift out the plant.  The part just below the soil is the propagation part.  These we trim then store in slightly moistened sawdust in a building that doesn't freeze for the winter.  Come spring, we break the propagation part into pieces then start in pots in the cold frame.  Underneath the propagation part when digging, is the edible tubers.  Some are skinny as a finger.  Others are bigger than a hand.  We bring some into the house right away to cure for a couple weeks.  When the skin looks a bit wrinkly, they are ready to eat.  The others we store in the freeze free outbuilding and bring in the house to cure as needed.
   

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Homegrown eating



 

CSA share

Chinese cabbage, multiplier onions, carrots, snow peas,
snacking peppers, TN Red sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes

 

Saving jalapeno seeds


 

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Shop with us

 PICK-UP AT THE FARM

  We welcome customers to pick up orders at the farm.  To find up what is available, sign up for our e-newsletter list.  We send out the newsletter with an updated farm goods list weekly from April through November and about monthly December through March.

STATESVILLE HOME DELIVERY

  If you live in Statesville, consider taking part in our home delivery program.  You can order the produce you want whatever weeks you want it and have it delivered to your house.  We do ask for a $150 yearly commitment to take part.  You can find out more about it here.  

  We also occasionally plan meetups in Statesville, often at the farmers market parking lot.  You simply e-mail us your order ahead of time and we'll meet you at the designated day and time.  We announce these opportunities in our e-newsletter.

JOIN OUR CSA

  If you're ready to commit to regularly getting produce from us, consider joining our CSA.  You will receive an assortment of the best we have to offer each week from roughly early May until late October.  We offer Tuesday CSA shares for pick-up at the farm, and you can read more about it here.  We deliver CSA shares Saturdays to Statesville as part of the home delivery program, and you can read more about it here.

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

CSA Share

green onions, seminole pumpkin, lettuce mix, che fruit,
 chestnuts, yellow squash, snacking peppers, kale

Monday, October 3, 2022

Sweet potatoes


   Sweet potatoes drying in the sun after getting washed.