May 2024: Ready, Set, Plant (& Eat Your Veggies)!
News from the Farm 🌱 Mother's Day Market 💐 Seedling Sales 🌻 Digital Resources Farm to Table Dinner
News from the Farm
Raise your hand if last week’s freezing (literal) overnight temperatures had you waking up every hour to see if your seedlings were destroyed. 🙋🏻♀️
I kind of wish I had just slept through the night, because despite best efforts (ie: covering seedlings with row cover & 6mil greenhouse film and turning on the propane heater in the mini hoop house), more than 85% of my kale, dandelion, and chard seedlings, and about 30% of my pea & tomato seedlings were killed by the freeze. 😭
But don’t worry friends — somehow the 95% of the kohlrabi seedlings survived! 🤦🏻♀️
So what does that mean? A delay on harvesting larger-leaf kale, chard, and dandelion bundles; sowing more pea seeds; and reconfiguring crop plans to sow baby kale beds for salad mixes and other fast-growing spring greens, while also sowing new kale & chard seedlings to transplant in about 4-6 weeks.
In the meantime, I am sending all the vibes that I can out into the universe, so that the next few days of warmer (rain-free) weather will dry out two of my fields so I can prep them for sowing/transplanting before May 15. This is where the vast majority of summer crops will be planted - tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumbers, green beans, flowers - and I’d really like not to be delayed in this! 🙏🏻 I haven’t been able to prep these yet because of the spring rains & the heaviness of our farm’s soil that likes to hold onto moisture.
And if you can, say a little prayer.
Mother’s Day Market: Saturday, May 11, 9am-1pm
Join myself & 42 other local vendors at next Saturday’s Mother’s Day Market!
We’ll be at 505 Cayuga Street (1st Presbyterian Church) in the village of Lewiston from 9am-1pm on Saturday, May 11.
Alongside our spring veggies & flower bouquets, we’ll offer our:
seedlings for sale (great gifts for your gardening mama!)
fruit & herb jam gift sets (for mom or you!)
& other farmstead favorite treats (like our new Chocolate Cranberry Sourdough Granola 😍)
To see a full list of vendors, you can visit the Facebook event page for the Mother’s Day Market!
See you there with your reusable bag in tow! ✌🏼
Seedling Sales Around Town
Gardening season is quickly approaching so I wanted to share some local farms that are hosting seedling sales this season to help you fill your garden!
Schul Farmstead, May 11, 9am-1pm, 505 Cayuga Street, village of Lewiston
McCollum Orchards & Gardens, May 18 & 19, May 25 & 26, June 1, city of Lockport
Heirloom Soul Florals, online dahlia tuber sale ships anywhere in the U.S. by May 15
Dirt Rich Farm, May 18 & 19, 8am-2pm, Springville
** Also, if you buy warm-weather-loving veggies (ex: tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc) wait at least until May 20 to plant them in your garden. I know May 11 is *the average* last frost date, but these friends really love nighttime temps over 50 degrees. Keep them outdoors during the day in a sunny spot (be sure to water) and then bring them inside in the evening.
Digital Resources
With veggies soon ready for harvest in backyard gardens & at WNY farmers markets, I wanted to share 2 resources with our newsletter subscribers:
Next to growing healthy veggies, helping you reduce food waste is my #1 goal.
Both guides include step-by-step instructions for how to peel, slice, store, and freeze more than 40 veggies & herbs (and because I'm type A, it's in alphabetical order 😝).
Farm to Table Dinner
Join the Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market for the 2nd annual Farm to Table Dinner experience at Wandering Gypsy Brewing Company!
This year there are 2 dates to meet the demand:
Tuesday, August 20, 6pm
Wednesday, August 21, 6pm
The market manager is working to curate a five course meal featuring local ingredients from vendors of the market, including:
One Special Brew Beer
Salad Course
Appetizer Course
Main Course
Dessert Course
Coffee Station
Your ticket also will get you a "swag bag" that includes samples, coupons, and items from many vendors from the market.
