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Do you ever get volunteers?

Volunteer plants that is.

We sure do.

And it seems like we have a lot of volunteers right now.

Especially baby bok choy. There is a lot of baby bok choy in the lettuce right now.

Baby bok choy is always seeded into trays and then transplanted, so I don’t know how these guys came about. But they did!

Did you note the empty 4-pack that’s keeping the lettuce company like a good little pot? Maybe we’re shifting the lettuce dependency from the empty 4-packs to baby bok choy plants….

There’s also cilantro and tomatoes. Although I know how they came about. Both crops were grown in that tunnel previously. The cilantro was allowed to go to seed, and dropped tomatoes just get plowed into the soil.

Boom. Instant future crops.

On their time table. Not ours.

It’s still fun to see tomato plants voluntarily growing in January.


Future volunteers is one of the risks of trying to save seeds. All the cilantro in this planting of lettuce. Another tunnel, where we grew swiss chard to seed, also has lots of swiss chard volunteers.

An outdoor field has dill.

And of course the volunteer tomato and pumpkin plants.

For the most part, we leave the volunteers alone. After all, it’s something to harvest and we didn’t need to actively plant it. #worksmarternotharder (you know, the problem with hashtags is there’s no spell check. I must’ve looked at that hashtag a billion times making sure I typed it correctly).

Plus, the volunteers let us know the soil is a-okay for growing in. If nothing wants to grow in that spot of ground… you’ve got a problem.

And one more volunteer picture, just because it is so big and beautiful: one salad turnip.

Some seasonal inspiration:

Sorrel Dip with Celery Salt

Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Sweet Potatoes

Keto Zuppa Tuscana

Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry

Baked Apples

Open Tue-Fri 9-6, Sat 9-5. 

Closed Sunday & Monday.

This is one of the weekly newsletters that is emailed out every Saturday night (no more, no less). If you liked the information make sure you sign up so you can get Elizabeth’s (sometimes snarky) writings delivered right to your inbox. You can read it on the website – obviously – but a copy of the newsletter isn’t posted to the website until several weeks later.  

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