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Cilantro thinks it’s summer
- Current happenings
- November 19, 2022
- newsletter
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Do you try to grow your own cilantro?
Does it seem like cilantro will randomly start to flower, no matter what you do?
It’s not you. It’s the cilantro.
Warm weather does speed the flowering process along, but really it’s just cilantro being cilantro.
Exhibit A: the cilantro is starting to flower in the hydroponics house.
In November.
In the house that the heater isn’t working quite right in, keeping everything just a bit colder than it should be.
In the coldest part of the heat-not-working-right house.
But, it’s cilantro. And cilantro flowers when it wants to and us humans just have to go along for the ride.
While I was in the hydro-house, taking pictures, I was told to make sure I took a picture of the baby bok choy in one of the other tunnels to show you.
So, meet baby-bok-choy-in-the-ground.
Admire at your own risk.
Back to cilantro. Or rather, the topic that follows cilantro in my mind.
Fortunately everything else is pretty in-sync with the weather.
Outside greens are coming through the freeze-thaw cycle perfectly. As is the calendula.
If you’ve got your own greens in the ground right now, make sure you don’t harvest while it’s frozen. Wait until the plant has thawed. Amazingly, if you harvest frozen leaves, they turn to mush as they defrost. But if you wait and let the leaves defrost on the plant and then harvest, you have perfect un-harmed leaves to eat.
These pictures were taken about 4 hours apart. On the left is frozen, crunchy mustard greens. Pretty sad looking. They are fairly fragile right now so resist the urge to touch.
On the right are the same mustard greens, bright, perky, fully defrosted, and ready to be harvested and eaten.
Also, here is the most adorable little baby Romanesco cauliflower growing. You can’t really tell from the picture, but it’s only about 2-3 inches big right now.
Next Week's Schedule
We are open Mon-Wed 9-6, closed Thursday, open Fri 9-6, open Sat 9-5, closed Sun.
Normal share schedule except:
- Metropolitan will be on Tuesday 11/22 from 11 am to 4 pm
- No shares for St. Francis, Gateway, or Thursday at the farm. Unless we hear otherwise from you, your share will be on Hold (skipped) next week.
Yes, you can request to pick up your share on a different day that week – be mindful of the 3 day deadline. No, Monday is not an option.
Remember, fresh vegetables, fruit, pies, and turkeys are just that: fresh. This means that if you ordered something for Wednesday, it’s not going to miraculously be ready on Monday. As much as I wish I could twitch my nose like Samantha – and believe me, I have tried! – we have to do things the plain old mortal way: by hand.
Seasonal Inspiration
Did you know you can use your pumpkin guts (the stringy slimy stuff that the seeds cling to) to make pumpkin bread?!?
I didn’t, but one of our CSA members shared a picture in our CSA Facebook group, and I am entranced by the idea. Here’s her bread – looks so scrumptious – and the recipe she used.
(the recipe page also goes over how to cook a whole pumpkin and how to cube and then cook a pumpkin as well)
This is one of the weekly newsletters that we email out every Saturday night. If you liked the information and my sometimes snarky attitude, make sure you sign up below to get the newsletter emailed to you. They don’t get posted to the blog until several weeks later.
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About Highland Orchards
Completely surrounded by suburbia, our small farm has been growing beyond expectations since 1832, just north of Wilmington, Delaware.
Growing a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and flowers, Highland Orchards provides true “farm fresh” for the community all year. If you want to shake the hand of the farmer who grows for you, here is the farm! With plants in the ground or under cover in tunnels, we grow for every season. A family farm, we have three different generations involved in running the farm right now.
Come see us to eat fresh, eat local, and eat well!