The Black Cat Farm booth at the Boulder Farmers’ Market will include the following produce on September 26, 2015:
- Arugula
- Asian greens mix (chrysanthemum, ruby streaks mizuna )
- Basil, Genovese, globe
- Beets
- Green beans (green, purple)
- Kale, red and white
- Lettuce mix
- Mizuna, ruby streaks
- Mustard greens mix (ruby streaks mizuna, tatsoi)
- Onions
- Radishes
- Sorrel
- Squash, summer (trombincino)
- Squash, winter (acorn, butternut, delicata)
- Tomatillos
- Turnips (Gold Ball, magenta)
Mulefoot pork cuts, sheep pelts, and pig leather will also be available.
When nature is uncooperative
This has been a terrible year for seed germination. In the spring and early summer, the wet conditions rotted seeds. In the late summer and fall, we have been stymied by unseasonably hot and dry weather, which has prevented multiple sowings of spinach seeds from sprouting abundantly. (Spinach requires cooler weather for seed germination and to grow.)
This is the spinach that we plant to harvest in late autumn, winter, and early spring. When everything else is fallow and snow is on the ground, our Black Cat Farm-Table-Bistro and Bramble and Hare restaurants rely on it as a staple for our menus.
To find a different solution, Eric researched how spinach his grown in the Middle East. Not everybody grows spinach there but Iran does. They improve germination of their seeds by bathing them in salted water and drying the seeds before planting them. After they plant, they water heavily.
The Black Cat Farm has just tried this approach. We’re crossing our fingers that it succeeds.
