box no. 21 | contents

• Cabbage
• Broccoli Florettes
• Radishes
• Sage
  
• Spinach
• Choi
• Kale
• Chard
• Acorn Squash
• Delicata Squash
• Popcorn
  
• Garlic
  

Newsletter Excerpt

Diana writes... Welcome to the 2007 Winter Share. For those shareholders who have extended their shares you are in for a treat. Besides storage crops such as winter squash and potatoes, we have all our cold hardy crops that sweeten with a frost. As of this date we have had a few freezes at night, leaving an icy layer on the ground and even once coating the windows of my truck. From these cold nights, most people who buy their organic veggies from the supermarket only reap the benefit of throwing on an extra blanket and snuggling into bed. Often their food is coming from California where the temps never dip low enough to sweeten their brassicas and spinach.

We never know how accurate a weather forecast will be nor how low the temperature will dip. However, we have many years experience under our belt allowing us to know the limitations for our crops that are still growing at the end of the season. Bob recently rated our remaining crops from the hardiest to the most-cold sensitive. Here they are: parsnips, Brussels sprouts, sunchokes, collards, red Russian kale, spinach, cabbage, kohlrabi, cauliflower, broccoli, arugula, radishes, choi, chard, and lettuce. At this time of the year, we are pleasantly surprised at how well the chard has been taking the frosts as well as the arugula (a new addition to our fall line up). This is the first week we are harvesting red Russian kale, a super hardy plant that gets better with the cold. Our most sensitive crop at the moment is lettuce, but it keeps growing. If it pulls through you might be seeing it in a later box.

I planted a lot of these cold hardy vegetables at the end of August, when it finally began to dry up after our record rainfall. Before I got injured in Mid-September, many of these plants were just barely getting their first true leaves. I was concerned they would never live up to their full box potential. Since my injuries, I have not gotten back into fieldwork, but I have seen the full beds of spinach and the over flowing boxes. I like the feeling I get from knowing that all those plants are growing and surviving. I am always amazed at the amount of life contained inside a little seed.

Click here to download a pdf of the Angelic Organics Farm News for box no. 21.