I first learned about eating sweet potato greens many years ago when I worked for GrowMemphis.   One of the community gardens I worked with grew sweet potatoes.  Several of the gardeners were originally from West Africa.  The potatoes themselves were less important, what the community…

It rained today.  And it rained yesterday.  And it rained the day before yesterday.  It’s been one soggy August.   Cloudy, rainy and damp weather is good for transplanting seedlings.  Today Skylar and I finished tucking in the first succession of cabbage and are nearly halfway…

The Late Summer Squeeze One of the most difficult aspects of CSA farming is keeping a consistent level of production throughout the CSA season.  Late August and early September is always the leanest portion of our growing season.  We plan hard for this time of…

It’s melon time! I started picking cantaloupes today.  The cantaloupe we grow is Athena.  It’s a reliable producer with a strong rind and great flavor.  I haven’t found a smaller melon that I like as much.  And some of the Athena are real whoppers! But…

Ready to get nerdy with me?  Let’s talk about vegetative vs. generative growth.  Far from abstract, these principals are playing out in the garden right now and impacting our harvests. During vegetative growth, plants grow big and bushy.  They are busily conducting photosynthesis, growing leaves,…

We are getting ready for fall.  The greenhouse is filling up with seed trays for the fall garden.  Little sprouts of broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and kohlrabi are popping up.  It can be hard to germinate cool season crops in such warm weather, so…

It’s “put your head down and power through” season.  I have caught a little time to reflect on the week but I find myself stuck on the minutia.  Big picture perspective is too much to ask right now.  My brain is completely occupied by the…

Every year there is a moment when I go from feeling generally on top of things, to feeling like the farm is a speeding train that has passed me by and I am running to catch up.  And of course I can’t catch up.  That…