The Aftermath of the Freeze

We spent the end of last week monitoring for potential freeze damage among our crops. We lost all of our remaining summer crops (okra, peppers, eggplant) as expected so they are officially gone until next year. Some of our tender herbs have minimal damage but for the most part are doing well. Our rainbow chard however seems to have taken the biggest hit, most likely due to the excess moisture from recent rainfall that was already present when the freeze occurred.

We hope you like spinach because we just seeded an entire box with the Acadia variety! Acadia is a semi-savoy spinach variety which means the leaves are somewhat crinkly in appearance and grow in a more upright pattern. This spinach can be harvested in the baby stage or while mature. It only takes a month to reach maturity so we should be able to harvest it in the baby stage in the next couple of weeks.

We’ve been working on transitioning some of our herb boxes over to cooler season varieties. We harvested and removed all of the remaining basil over the past couple of weeks as it is not cold tolerant. In its place we’ve planted cilantro, dill, and calendula. Though calendula is typically viewed as more of a medicinal herb, the petals of the flowers are edible and lend a floral, honey-like flavor to dishes when used as a garnish or dried and used in teas.