SP24 (W9): Companion Planting
Dear Farm Community -
We are so excited to be spying little flowers on our tomato plants! With the help of our abundant pollinators, these flowers will soon turn into the big juicy tomatoes that grace our summertime meals. The journey from seed to tomato is a long one, and I’d like to highlight one small but charming detail of this great journey: companion planting. See, tomatoes are able to go it alone, but organic farming is all about creative thinking, problem solving, and using the resources Mother Nature provides us. Many farmers, including ourselves, employ “companion planting,” or planting two or more crops together that benefit each other. This practice is nothing new, either! Indigenous peoples have been employing this practice for thousands of years, the most famous example being “three sisters” cultivation where corn, beans, and squash are grown better together than individually. As part our companion planting practice, we plant lettuce and tomatoes together (see below) because they both help each other out, make our lives easier, and improve the quality of the produce we grow!
The lettuce here provides ground cover to the soil in the planting beds which provides two benefits: weeds are suppressed and the soil retains moisture better as less surface area is exposed to the air. The tomatoes in turn, as they grow, provide shade to the lettuce and give us more growing time before the heat and sun trigger the lettuce to bolt. Plus, it helps us envision all those BLT’s y’all will be making!
While we’re still a ways out from those BLT daydreams, there is so much to be stoked about in your CSA shares this week. Both the $25 and $35 box options contain spring onions this week, which as their name suggests, are a distinctly springtime treat! Spring onions are simply onions harvested early, once they start to develop bulbs (versus scallions which have a larger white shaft and do not bulb up). The entire plant - bulb, greens, and all, are very tender and delicious. They caramelize beautifully when roasted in the oven. This spring onion galette is baked for 40 minutes, more than enough time to get that amazing caramelized onion flavor. If you love the crunch of raw onion, try this spring onion potato salad that makes use of the parsley in your share too. You can also pair them with the beets in your share to make this recipe for vinegar-roasted beets with spring onion and yogurt! (PS 200°C is about 400°F).
We hope you have an awesome week and we’re glad that our veggies are a part of it!
Happy Eating :)
Diamond Hill Farmers
P.S. This week’s frog count: 12!
P.P.S. Check out our new market banners below!
hop on the fresh local veggies bandwagon:
$25 share: parsley, spring onions, salad mix, beets, carrots OR turnips, salad radish OR french breakfast radish, arugula OR frisee
$35 share: parsley, spring onions, salad mix, beets, carrots OR turnips, salad radish OR french breakfast radish, arugula OR frisee, asparagus, broccoli