Good afternoon! I hope you’ve found some time to enjoy this incredibly beautiful January weather. I know our winter crops sure have, and have been growing like gangbusters!
Looks like our long awaited heirloom Gilfeather turnabagas will be available in another week! They are sooooo good!
We are stocked up on Candy Roaster squash due to our late harvest. They are easily a great switch for Dutch Forks, so give them a go while we got them!
And harvested fresh today at Ricky James’ Farm, crisp, sweet heirloom Purple Top turnips!
SPECIAL REQUEST: We kindly urge you to consider adding at least one of our own Bradford Farm grown crops to your weekly orders. We are working with quite a number of other farms to bring you the best access to regional flavor that we possibly can, but the heartbeat of our farm is our homegrown crops. We can’t exist without moving our own crops too. So please review the crops we offer under Bradford Farm Crops below and consider adding one or more of them. It helps us a ton.
Important Info
- Learn about our Sunchoke Project in the Highlights
- Gilfeather Turnabaga (SlowFood AOT) coming in 1-2 weeks!!
- Purple Top Turnips (SlowFood AOT) available now from Ricky James’ Farm
- NEW! J Mac Small Summer Crowder Pea from Johnny McNair (fresh frozen)
- Local Brussels Sprouts available now from the Parkers at Hickory Bluff Berry Farm
-
New crop Pecans from Johnny McNair are available now!
⚠️ **Highlights of the week**⚠️
Candy Roaster Squash (SlowFood) - Bradford Farm
This is a great native vegetable bred and developed by the Cherokee Indians of the Piedmont region of the Carolinas in the early 1800s. It has been gaining in popularity among chefs and the public in recent years, although the mountain folk have maintained it as a mainstay in their home gardens for generations. What you’ll find most commonly today are the smaller banana shaped candy roasters that are features in seed catalogs. The ones we grow come from a more ancient version of this variety. It’s closer to what the Cherokee would have been familiar with: a large cylindrical hard squash. Of course there is a lot of variability in sizes and colors as with many heirloom crops, but the ones we grow tend to weigh between 10lbs and 20lbs - some even over 30lbs!!
We got our original seeds through friends of an old mountain couple that gave them one. It sat on our shelf for 18 months before we finally decided to cook it. The flesh was dense and silky sweet even after that much time! We saved the seeds and have been steadily increasing the crop ever since.
Purple Top Turnips (SlowFood) - Ricky James’ Farm
This is the classic old turnip variety grown all over the southeast since the mid 1800s. In the south these are harvested from late fall through late winter and sometimes into early spring. Cold weather intensifies their flavor, sweetness and crispness! It is a delicate balance though, because if it gets too cold they can be wiped out. Fortunately the early cold snaps we had in December did not damage Ricky’s turnip crop, but rather enhance their sugariness and flavor. Don’t miss out on this peak crop and humble southern cold weather staple. These come without the tops. (For TURNIP TOPS see TAYLOR TURNIP TOPS). Available through February and possibly mid March.
20# case $40
10# case $25
NEW! J Mac Small Summer Crowder Pea - Johnny McNair Farm
We are very excited to announce a new field pea introduction! As far as we know, Bradford Farm is the only supplier of this special McNair family little brown crowder. Johnny McNair, the farmer who grows just about all of our supply of various butterbeans and field peas reached out to us to see if we would be interested in helping him introduce his family-saved pea he called the J Mac pea. We said we would be excited to help. As Nat and Johnny discussed the uniqueness of this pea, it was determined that simply J Mac pea didn’t do it justice, and they landed on the J Mac Small Summer Crowder.
This pea, although similar in size but perhaps a little smaller than the Fall pea, also known as the Iron and Clay pea, is available in the months of June through July. This is perhaps its greatest attribute because small brown crowders are typically only available in the fall. So for those wanting a highly favorful small crowder pea fresh in the middle of summer, this is the one! Johnny took his full harvest and froze it at the time, so it’s available right now in limited quantities until we run out of stock. But summer of 2026 we are looking forward to having the J Mac Small Summer Crowder Pea available fresh from June through July.
Bradford Farm Sunchoke Diversity Project
Sunchoke aka Helianthus tuberosus, Jerusalem Artichoke, and Swamp Sunflower is a North American indigenous food crop. It was wild foraged by some tribes and cultivated by others as an important foodway through autumn and winter months when vegetables were scarce. The root crop was easily preserved safe in the ground all winter and simply had to be dug up whenever needed.
It was sent to France as early as 1605 where it became highly popular, and in fact the best cultivars today were developed in Europe and made their way back to the US and ultimately into many backyard gardens. In the US it was revered as much for its beautiful yellow sunflowers in late summer and early fall as it was for its tubers. Many old abandoned homesites throughout the south can still be found with scarcely more than this hardy perennial growing defiantly along with a relic chimney nearby, that last visible signs that there ever was a home or garden there.
There were numerous cultivars of sunchokes in cultivation by the end of the 19th century. Perhaps as many varieties as there are heirloom tomatoes! They ranged in size, shape, flavor, texture, and had different uses. Some were for fresh eating such as in salads, others for boiling and roasting, while still others were best for pickling and relishes. They are mostly gone now or functionally extinct.
Today there are only a few commonly grown hybrids available, Stampede being the most ubiquitous cultivar. That’s where we come in at Bradford Farm. We have begun collecting heirloom varieties and are going to be growing them out as sort of a living seed bank. Hopefully over the next 2 years we will be able to offer a variety of sunchokes that have never seen the inside of a restaurant before! New flavors and textures and colors to work with! We invite all of you chefs to come along with us as we take a deep dive into the lost world of the historic sunchoke!
Key:
** - limited availability
*OUT- currently out of stock
*OFS- out for season
NEW- recent addition
(SlowFood AOT)- appears on the SlowFood Ark of Taste for its exceptional qualities, flavor, story, and historical significance and/or usage.
✅ Bradford Farm Crops: ✅
-Feaster Mustard Greens (heirloom, SlowFood Ark of Taste)
-Taylor Turnip Tops (heirloom)
-Candy Roaster squash (SlowFood AOT)
-Scotch curly kale
-Dutch Fork butternut pumpkin (SlowFood AOT)
-Bradford collards bagged/chopped
-Bradford collards whole plant
-NEW! Fall Charleston Wakefield cabbage (SlowFood AOT)
-Hybrid green cabbage
-Purple cabbage
-Shredded hybrid cabbage
-Shredded purple cabbage
🤝 Partner Farms: 🤝
-NEW! Purple Top Turnips (heirloom, SlowFood AOT) - Ricky James’ Farm
-NEW! Sunchokes, Stampede - Craig Weiner and Clem’s
-NEW! Brussels Sprouts - Hickory Bluff Berry Farm
-NEW! Broccoli - Hickory Bluff Berry Farm and others
-Watermelon radishes - Clem’s
-Baby Appalachian Gold Potatoes - Clem’s
-Rainbow Daikon Radishes - Clem’s
-Parsnips - Clem’s
-Pecans (fresh, shelled, halved) - Johnny McNair
-Appalachian Gold Potatoes - Clem’s Organic Gardens
-Apples - Lively Orchard
——Pink Lady
——Granny Smith
——Stayman Winesap (new)
——Cameo (new)
-NEW! J Mac Small Summer Crowder Pea, fresh-frozen- Johnny McNair Farm
-Green butter beans, fresh-frozen- Johnny McNair Farm *Limited stock*
-Speckled butter beans, fresh-frozen- Johnny McNair Farm
-Pinkeye field peas, fresh-frozen- Johnny McNair Farm
-White Acre field peas, fresh-frozen- Johnny McNair Farm (SlowFood AOT)
-NEW Fall (iron & clay) peas, fresh-frozen - Johnny McNair Farm (SlowFood AOT)
-Zucchini
-Yellow Squash
-Kirby Cucumbers
-Green Bell peppers
-Red Bell peppers
-Grape tomatoes
-Red round tomatoes
-Roma tomatoes
-Tomatillos
-Pee Dee sweet potatoes - Dixon Farms
-Beets, Golden
-Beets, Red
Coming soon:
-
Gilfeather turnabaga (SlowFood AOT)
MORE COMING SOON
….let us know if there is something else you are interested in that isn’t on our list