Wow! We are just about halfway through winter now. Although the days are getting increasingly longer, they have not been getting warmer to say the least, lol!
At Bradford Farm we are still thawing out and not able yet to see how much damage our crops sustained. We will update everyone as soon as we can make that evaluation.
Happy to say that our Candy Roaster Squash were just fine where we have them stored. Since we are out of Dutch Forks, the Candy Roasters are a great one to switch to.
Also glad to announce that we still have the very best brussels sprouts around from Hickory Bluff Berry Farm. We’re glad their crop survived this winter blast!
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
- American Groundnuts (Slow Food AOT) available now for a limited time!
- Gilfeather Turnabaga (SlowFood AOT)
-
Purple top, yellow bottom heirloom Rutabaga available now from Ricky James’ Farm
⚠️ **Highlights of the week**⚠️
Brussels Sprouts - Hickory Bluff Berry Farm
Let’s help the Parkers’ brussels crop be a success. These are prime SC grown Brussels: fresh, and crisp! Way better than those brussels sprouts coming from the West Coast that are traveling days if not weeks, and traveling thousands of miles. If you are looking to have better Brussels sprouts than everyone else and set yourself apart, these are the only ones that can accomplish that. They’re the freshest by a long shot, they’re the prettiest and have distinguishable flavor that will take your dish to the next level.
Candy Roaster Squash (Slow Food AOT) - 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 prominently featured 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.
Dutch Fork season has officially 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.
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
-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