We start our seventh winter market season at Hillsdale Farmers’ Market this Sunday, 15th of November. The market opens at 10:00 AM, regardless of rain, snow or even overly bright sunshine. So long as the market can be operated safely, it will open. Heavy winds are the biggest safety concern.

Some farms have signs stating that they are “No Spray” or “Spray Free.” Occasionally people will ask if we are “no spray.” We dodge the question by pointing out that we are “Oregon Tilth Certified Organic,” which satisfies the subtext of the inquiry. Oregon Tilth is a local organization that certifies farms as complying with the National Organic Program standards. Our farm received Oregon Tilth certification in 1998.

Because we grow organically, we spray with wild abandon, and at any spare moment. We own a 200-gallon air-blast sprayer, a 100-gallon boom sprayer that sprays six rows of vegetables at a time, and 25 gallon sprayer that fits on the ATV, all told, a serious investment in spraying machines. Foliar feeding, or spraying dilute nutrient solutions on the crop, is standard practice among high quality organic growers. Typically, we apply a solution of kelp extracts, sea salt, and enzymatically digested fish. We also apply nettle and compost tea at various times.

We start spraying early in the morning, just before sunrise, when the dew is heavy upon the plants. We want to apply the nutrients when the leaves are cool and the stomata, the tiny organs through which the leaves regulate gas exchange, are fully open. At 5:00 AM, the tank mix releases a daunting fragrance. The crop is drenched and dripping with the feeding mix yet, by the next morning, not a trace of odor can be detected in the field. The mixture has been absorbed by the plant and the colonies of micro-organisms it hosts. Like humans, plants have a wide array of bacteria and fungi that live upon and within the plant tissues. On a healthy plant, they are beneficial and serve a protective function.

Foliar feeding is expensive and time-consuming, and many growers doubt the worth of such applications. In fact, this sort of feeding does not increase yields in any substantial way, and does replace replace good soil management. So why do we invest so much time and money in spraying? The plant responds with better flavor and vigor. We have found that foliar feeding leads to fruits and vegetables that are brighter and denser, and they resist insect and disease pressure better. It is worth noting that even growers who rely on synthetic fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals use foliar applications to quickly correct trace mineral deficiencies in their crops.

Sea salt, especially, is an under-appreciated agricultural amendment. Deeply ingrained in our minds is the salting Carthage’s cropland following the Third Punic War. In reality, salt has long been used in crop production. Many vegetables are domesticated maritime plants. These include asparagus, beets, turnips, cabbage, chard and chicories. Old texts make note of this fact, and recommend sea salt applications for both forage and crop plants. Research in the US, Italy and Israel has demonstrated that foliar salt applications improve the quality and nutrition of tomatoes. Here in Oregon, the soils are very low in sodium, an essential plant nutrient, and sea salt provides a rich collection of trace minerals in addition to the sodium. Although care must be taken in applying salt, either to the ground or as a foliar feed, crops respond well to its use.

At the southern end of the Venice Lagoon is the port of Chioggia. The vegetables grown in the area are renowned for their flavor and quality. In fact, many vegetable varieties bear the name Chioggia as a horticultural benediction of sorts. As we crawl along with our spraying rig, we like to think that we are duplicating, however feebly, the salty sea breezes that spray off the Adriatic and imbue those vegetables with their fine flavor. We cannot imagine why anyone would want to claim to be “no spray.”

Enough dreaming, here is what we will have this week:

Beans: Tarbais, Borlotto, Bianchetto, Black Turtle, Zolfino and Purgatorio.

The heat in late July killed the early blossoms. As a consequence the beans ripened later this year. Yield wasn’t great, but we had planted more beans, so it is probably a wash.

Corn: Roy’s Calais Flint.


Chickpeas


Garlics & Shallots


Kale and Collards, Mustard Greens


Escarole & Endive

Magnificent this year, especially the endive. Great in salads, or in soup. Wilt the leaves and serve with white beans. We will have some bags mixed with rocket and cress for salad.

Swedes

Also called rutabagas, swedes are hybrid between cabbage and turnip. The variety we grow is white with a green shoulder. It is very sweet, and the flavor and texture are superb. The swede is a relatively modern vegetable, and the white fleshed versions are thought to have originated in Bohemia — cue up Smetana’s Vltava (The Moldau) for dinner.

Parsnips & Hamburg Parsley


Preserves

Boysenberry, Loganberry, Raspberry, Blackcap, Red Currant, Black Currant, Green Gage, Italian Prune and Damson.
The preserves are made by us, from our own fruit. They have a high fruit content; we use 750 grams of sugar per kilogram of fruit. The currant preserves are made with 950 grams per kilogram of fruit. The fruit is from the first picking, and is processed in very small batches. This allows us to make them without added pectin. They may vary a bit from jar to jar, as a consequence, as well as year to year.

Dried peppers

Aci Sivri and Joe’s Long Cayenne.

Potatoes


Sweet Potatoes

The sweet potatoes are beginning to sweeten up, after curing for six weeks. The sweet potato is a living tropical plant, albeit dormant. In fact, we will start next year’s crop from the shoots that grow from carefully selected tubers. As a tropical plants, the tubers must be stored in a warm, dry place. Never, ever, in the refrigerator.

We are treating our sweet potatoes as diverse population, instead of segregating out specific varieties. The population includes Old Henry, Jewell, Korean Purple, Violetta, Caragold, Ivis White, Laceleaf, Hargrove, Maryland 810, Purple and Martins.

The original slips came Sand Hill Preservation Center, run by Glen and Linda Drowns. Glen and Linda should be considered national treasures for the work they do in keeping alive breeding lines of poultry and a range of vegetable crops. This summer, they experienced terrible conditions for growing sweet potatoes, and will have to rebuild their sweet potato collection. For farmers, crop failures are part of life, but the disappointment is never easy to take. It takes just as much money, work and emotional investment to raise a crop that is never harvested.

Winter Squash: Sibley, Musque de Provence, Marina di Chioggia

Over the years, we have wandered hither and yon trying a great many types of winter squash. Now we have settled down to enjoy this wonderful trio in our dotage. They are very different from each other. The big squashes are long lived fruits. In fact, they will improve in flavor as the winter progresses. They should be stored in a warm, dry place. There is a lot flavor in the seed and the stringy pulp filling the cavity. We cook the seeds and string parts with the meat of the squash, always with a bit of butter or coconut oil, and then run the cooked squash through a food mill. Cooked in this manner, the meat of the seed flavors the squash. Alternatively, the seeds can be roasted separately as a snack food.

See you all Sunday,

Carol and Anthony Boutard
Ayers Creek Farm