How Many Beets is Too Many Beets?

Sometimes I wonder if we grow too many beets.  I mean, I love beets.  And sometimes I wonder if you all love beets.  Or maybe you tolerate them.  Or maybe you wish there were more.  Or you wish they were bigger, or you wish they were smaller, or you want more yellow ones, or red ones or striped ones or blue ones. Blue beets?  These are the things I wonder when I wake up in the morning thinking about planting beets.  And today was one of those mornings.

I walked out my door a little before 7am, pulling my dog Henry out of bed so that she could chase the geese out of the field before we started the days work.  I met up with Deb, our summer crew captain, in the dark of the little farm office.  She was holding a bowl of warm strawberry muffins; I was holding a bottle of sunscreen.  We talked about delicious strawberries and the week ahead and about the beets we were about to plant.

Deb pulled the truck up to the greenhouse and loaded tray after tray of ‘merlin’ and ‘touchstone gold’ beet seedlings onto the long bed of the truck.  I hopped onto my favorite orange tractor (the one with the canopy) and went to prepare the beet field.  I carved the ‘perfecta,’ (our amazing tool that loosens and smoothes the soil just before we plant), through the sandy part of the farm, where garlic used to grow last season.  I marked the rows with our transplanter; 3 rows per bed, beets every six inches.  Then, I quieted the tractors and Deb and I silently began filling the beets into the warm, soft, sandy, soil.  The roots of the beets glowed red and yellow--filling out the square plug where they had been growing since early May. 

The rest of the summer crew marched out in matching rain pants, ready for the day and jumped in with us.  We picked up speed and danced around each other, some of us planting, some dropping plants every 6 inches along the bed.  We played a sort of leap frog, pushing through bed after bed of tiny beet seedlings.  By the end of the eight beds we planted, four red, four yellow, the sun was beating down on us and I wondered out loud, once again, if sometimes we grow too many beets.

Hours later, after a burst of storm and rain, I walked out to check on the newly planted beets—now thoroughly watered in.  The sun was piercing through the trees, the mist creeping in from the trees surrounding the fields, the crops looked like they had been through a tornado, slanted and wet.  Henry barked and I looked up to see the double rainbow arching over the entire farm.  So big I couldn’t take a picture of it all at once.  I ran with the dog down the length of the farm to capture the view and forgot all about whether or not we grow too many beets.  

See you in the fields,

Meryl & the Powisset Farm Crew

Rainbow at the Farm!

 

Light at Powisset after a rain storm

What's in the Share:

Up at the barn: lettuce, broccoli, beets, carrots, choice of greens: spinach & swiss chard, choice: kale & cabbage, turnips or radishes, scallions, garlic scapes

Out in the fields: strawberries, sugar snap peas

What's New at the Farm Stand!:

Pie, Pottery, Seafood, Cheese!

This week begins our Pie Share partnership with Bushel & Crumb!  If you have signed up for a pie share, you are in for a treat! Your first sweet pie is on it's way!  If you have not signed up for a pie share and you love pies, fear not!  We will have small and large pies up at the stand and this week will highlight the delicious strawberry!

We also have newly stocked the fridge with Appleton Farm yogurt and cheese, Nola's fresh salsa, Moose Hill Farm eggs and beef from High Ridge Meadows Farm!

This Saturday, our amazing potter, Sue will be back with bowls and mugs and vases and berry bowls and more!  She will be on  the farm from 10am-5pm! Stop by!

And as usual, Jordan Brothers Seafood will be at our farm three days a week: Tuesday 1:30-6:30, Thursday 1:30-6:30 and Saturday 10am-2pm!  This fish is awesome!