These are the long days of winter for sure! I know you, just like we at Bradford Farm are dreaming about all our spring crops to come. So since we don’t have a new crop introduction this week, we thought it would be good to highlight two great crops that we do have lots of on hand, heirloom Gilfeather turnabaga and crisp, sweet Blue Vantage hybrid cabbage.
If you haven’t yet experienced the Gilfeather turnabaga, don’t miss out on it! It’s a late 19th century cross between a rutabaga and a turnip by John Gilfeather in Vermont. We have gotten tremendous feedback from chefs that have started using them. There’s a reason it is the state vegetable of Vermont. Only available during the winter months, so give them a try!
We have grown Blue Vantage hybrid cabbage for several years now. This is all you could want in a classic style cabbage. Dense, crisp, sweet and sturdy. This will hold up to any level of performance required by any cabbage recipe and will not disappoint. We offer it as whole heads, which we peel down any rough outer leaves to only deliver perfect heads to your kitchen with no waste or effort on your end. We also offer it freshly shredded by hand every day. You won’t find fresher pre shredded cabbage unless you do it yourself!
Read more about both wonderful crops below.
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
-
Jalapeños, field grown in Florida
- Gilfeather Turnabaga (SlowFood AOT) will be offered without the tops moving forward (greens sustained storm damage) *highlighted
- Kirby cucumbers will be out of stock for a little bit. The quality has slipped as Florida farms are recovering from the devastating freeze they suffered a couple weeks ago.
-
Taylor Turnip Tops are done for the season.
- Feaster Mustard greens are in limited stock - we will be out after this week
⚠️ **Highlights of the week**⚠️
Gilfeather Turnabagas (topless) - Bradford Farm (Slow Food Ark of Taste, heirloom)
This precious variety began with the extraordinary breeding efforts of John Gilfeather of Vermont in the early 1900s. Thanks to the efforts of a couple of savvy seed savers, it is now the state vegetable of Vermont and has been boarded on the Slow Food Ark of Taste.
If you aren’t a fan of turnips or rutabagas I would give this turnabaga a shot - it pulls only the best qualities of the two vegetables and combines them into one unique ingredient. If it cannot make you a believer or a convert then I would simply declare you as hopeless.
Sweetest of all rutabaga and turnip varieties, with a mild flavor and crisp texture. We’ve had them sliced into rounds and stir fried with the greens in our home and they take on a fluffy, light texture with a nutty-potato like flavor. They hold their texture when cooking well. You can mash em like potatoes, fry em, put them into soups and stocks or puree them. A truly versatile winter ingredient for the kitchen, it’s completely phenomenal.
All Gilfeather orders will be topless now, only the root crop. Greens took a beating from the snow a couple weeks ago.
Blue Vantage Cabbage (Hybrid) - Bradford Farm
‘Blue Vantage’ is a hybrid cabbage bred to be particularly adapted to the southeast. Crisp, dense heads, sweet and tender, with classic cabbage flavor. Blue Vantage is the true work horse cabbage of the kitchen. It has great wrapper leaves for stuffing, tender enough for coleslaw yet sturdy enough to hold up to the process. Excellent for creating bright crunchy kraut and ferments. Blue Vantage can handle whatever you throw at it!
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: ✅
-American Groundnuts (Slow Food Ark of Taste) *limited stock*
-Gilfeather Turnabaga no Tops (Slow Food AOT, heirloom)
-Taylor Turnip Tops (heirloom) *Out for Season
-Feaster Mustard Greens (Slow Food AOT, heirloom) *limited stock
-Candy Roaster squash (SlowFood AOT)
-Scotch curly kale
-Bradford collards bagged/chopped
-Bradford collards whole plant
-Winter Charleston Wakefield cabbage (SlowFood AOT)
-Hybrid green cabbage
-Purple cabbage
-Shredded hybrid cabbage
-Shredded purple cabbage
🤝 Partner Farms: 🤝
-Purple Top Turnips (heirloom, SlowFood AOT) - Ricky James’ Farm
-Stampede Sunchokes - Craig Weiner and Clem’s Organic Gardens
-Brussels Sprouts - Hickory Bluff Berry Farm
-Broccoli
-NEW! Parsnips, grade No. 2 - Clem’s Organic Gardens
-Watermelon radishes - Clem’s
-Baby Appalachian Gold Potatoes - Clem’s *Limited Stock
-Appalachian Gold Potatoes - Clem’s
-Rainbow Daikon Radishes - Clem’s
-Pecans (fresh, shelled, halved) - Johnny McNair
-Apples - Lively Orchard
——Stayman Winesap
——Cameo
-Washington State Apples
——Granny Smith
-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
-White Acre field peas, fresh-frozen- Johnny McNair Farm (SlowFood AOT)
-NEW! Jalapeños - FL
-Zucchini
-Yellow Squash
-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:
- Bolero carrots - Clem’s Organic Gardens
- Baby bolero carrots - Clem’s
- Purple eggplant
- Banana peppers
MORE COMING SOON
….let us know if there is something else you are interested in that isn’t on our list