Hey y’all, hope you are managing to stay warm and dry during this winter storm. Our fields are frozen as of Sunday night! But spring is right around the corner and we’re all really excited for the crops we’ll be able to bring. This week we’ve added an old southern heirloom Rutbaga from Ricky James which you read about in the highlights.
Dutch Fork season has officially come to an end, it was our biggest year ever on them and we’d like to give you a huge thank you for all of those who participated in sharing the story and experience of eating such a coveted and delicious variety of Carolina’s indigenous butternut. We’ll now be in full swing moving the Candy Roasters squash, another heirloom on the Slow Food Ark of Taste which is an excellent substitute for the Dutch Fork.
The first week of our Gilfeather Turnabagas are now behind us and we look to continue with them through February. Such a wonderful ingredient! Eventually we will not sell them with the tops attached, depends on how this storm affects the quality of the leaves. But looking to have them for another week, maybe two, with tops included.
On another note, yesterday (Saturday), we boiled and roasted off a little bit of American groundnuts and then pureed them with butter, cream, and olive oil. By themselves, they are doggone sweet which is a surprise. They can be dry coming out of the oven so be sure to give em a little help on the moisture front. But they have unmatched flavor, very unique. Makes for an excellent compliment to a savory dish.
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
- We are done with the Dutch Fork Pumpkins, now moving to Candy Roasters to finish the hard squash season
- NEW American Groundnuts (Slow Food AOT) available now for a limited time!
- NEW Gilfeather Turnabaga (SlowFood AOT) coming this Tuesday! See more in highlights
- NEW Purple top, yellow bottom heirloom Rutabaga available now from Ricky James’ Farm! See in highlights
-
J Mac Small Summer Crowder Pea from Johnny McNair (fresh frozen)
⚠️ **Highlights of the week**⚠️
Rutabaga, Purple Top-Yellow Bottom (heirloom) - Ricky James’ Farm
NEW!!! We have old fashioned traditional Rutabagas from Ricky James! Harvested just ahead of this big winter storm and freezing weather. We ate them raw right there in the field and, man let me tell you, they are crisp, sweet and delicious with a beautiful light amber yellow flesh! A great flavor that is more mild than your standard turnip. These vary in size from large to really big, but don’t let that scare you. Rutabagas can grow much much bigger than turnips without getting pithy or hollow. We sliced one of the biggest ones we could find in the field and it was solid and crisp all the way through.
Gilfeather Turnabaga with Tops (Slow Food AOT) - Bradford Farm
We are thrilled to announce that this rare heirloom root crop is ready for harvest!!! 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. 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. The green themselves at the size we’re harvesting them are sweet, tender and packed with deep brassica flavor.
Here’s a snippet from Mother Earth Gardner article “…when Wardsboro farmer John Gilfeather began bringing the bulbous, sweet turnips to market. They became so popular that it’s said Gilfeather would put notices in newspapers to announce his crops were available for sale, advising they should be preordered because they were going to sell out. There was nothing else like it…”
Full article here:
https://www.motherearthgardener.com/profiles/gilfeather-turnip-zemz18fzsphe/
We are saving seeds this year to ensure a longer availability for next year. This is an introduction crop for our farm and is available in limited amounts for a few weeks.
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: ✅
-NEW! American Groundnuts (Slow Food Ark of Taste)
-NEW! Gilfeather Turnabaga with Tops (Slow Food AOT, heirloom)
-Taylor Turnip Tops (heirloom)
-Feaster Mustard Greens (Slow Food AOT, heirloom)
-Candy Roaster squash (SlowFood AOT)
-Scotch curly kale
-Dutch Fork butternut pumpkin (SlowFood AOT) *OFS
-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
-Stampede Sunchokes - Craig Weiner and Clem’s Organic Gardens
-Brussels Sprouts - Hickory Bluff Berry Farm
-Broccoli - Hickory Bluff Berry Farm and others
-Watermelon radishes - Clem’s
-Baby Appalachian Gold Potatoes - Clem’s
-Appalachian Gold Potatoes - Clem’s Organic Gardens
-Rainbow Daikon Radishes - Clem’s
-Parsnips - Clem’s
-Pecans (fresh, shelled, halved) - Johnny McNair
-Apples - Lively Orchard
——Granny Smith
——Stayman Winesap
——Cameo
-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:
- Bolero carrots - Clem’s Organic Gardens
- Baby bolero carrots - Clem’s
MORE COMING SOON
….let us know if there is something else you are interested in that isn’t on our list