A month ago, we learned how the farmers market that comes to Sheridan School every Saturday (and some Tuesdays) from June through March manages to produce spring and summer greens in the cold of winter.
New Morning Farm’s first newsletter of the new year reveals another trick of the trade: A fall and winter delicacy is actually a summertime crop.
Even though butternut is considered a winter squash, we harvest it in the heat of summer! These photos are from late August, when we clipped, picked, and sorted bins of butternut and sweet dumpling squash.
After harvest, the bins of squash were left to cure for a couple weeks at a set temperature and humidity. After curing, they are ready to go to market!
New Morning Farm is also looking forward to a good 2020 growing season. Its head farmer, Jenni, writes in the January 3rd update:
Our first day of the new decade was sunny and warm, perfect for a stroll around the farm, with the cover crops bright green on the resting fields, and the creek murmuring. Whenever our cover crops turn that bright lively green, they are photosynthesizing, making their own food, and through their roots sharing this food with all the critters big and small in the soil. So through cover crops we are able to nurture the living soil throughout the winter. The soil can then support our veggies come the growing season.
New Morning Farm’s Sheridan School market (36th Street and Alton Place NW) is open Saturdays through March from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. After a two-month break, the market returns in June, and sometimes sooner. Find more information about market schedules and locations, and the farm itself, at newmorningfarm.net.
