Thursday, February 10, 2011

It's salad time!


Our hoophouse is hopping with salad greens! We've had number of lettuces that have been solid producers throughout the winter and we've been able to sell them through the local online farmer's market. Recently, I had a random Thursday off of work and thought I'd help out Farmer Brent in the fields for a full-on "harvest" day. Thursdays are the day that customers pick up their produce orders from the weekly online sales. Depending on the number of orders, it can be a very EARLY morning to get everything harvested and packaged for delivery. This particular Thursday was a big day for Native Sun and it took both Farmer Brent and I four hours to harvest, wash and package two coolers full of lettuces, kale and herbs. I had a whole new appreciation for what he does every week. I couldn't believe how much work it was to wash and dry all that lettuce! It involved a number of soaks and then placing the lettuce in a mesh bag and literally swinging it around until you wring the water out. Later that evening, after a little bit of whining from me, we hopped on the internet and found a Youtube video showing us how to convert a washing machine into a giant salad spinner. Farmer Brent wasted no time in snatching up a washing machine from the Habitat ReSource store and after removing the agitator and giving it a thorough cleaning, we were up and running. Now we can dry ten pounds of lettuce in less time than it took to do a pound!

We are so excited because spring is just around the corner and we have trays and trays of seeds getting started right now. We plan to re-open the farmstand in April and we will have a bounty of delicious veggies, fruits and farm-fresh eggs! We'll keep you posted on opening dates, but for now, check out our weekly offerings from www.athenslocallygrown.net.