Pictured above: Wild Hope’s beautiful Rosaine Gem Lettuce
Howdy howdy! Got some pretty awesome stuff on the table this week. Wild Hope’s Rosaine Gem Lettuce is both beautiful and delicious, with such a unique flavor profile, it offers multiple methods and applications in the kitchen. With its sweet, buttery core and faint bitterness paired with a mild nutty flavor it would be great for playing around with! It’s pretty practical in configuring portion sizes and useful for plating. Newly in season is DORR farm’s Adirondack blue and Pontiac potatoes. These suckers sold like hotcakes last year and we’re excited to bring them back to you this go round! Last mention - Matt Fry’s Wild Red Kale. It is exceptional, gorgeous and crisp. Really no bitterness that would typically be associated with kale, it’s rather succulent, surprisingly. The stems are also pleasant to eat, not woody or tough like you’d expect! This red kale is also included in the mixed kale we sell from Matt.
Coming soon:
- Santee Sweet Onions, dried/bagged - Dorr Farms
- Sugar Snaps - Fry Farm
- Summer squash, zucchini - Fry Farm
- Cucumbers - Fry Farm
- Appalachian Red leaf, green leaf, and romaine lettuce - Clem’s
- Beets, badger flame - 1 week
- Carrots - 2-3 weeks
- Hakurei turnips - 2 weeks
- Appalachain tomatoes - Clem’s - June
- Heirloom cherry tomatoes
- Rhubarb - mid-late May
- Bradford Okra - 1 week!
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
- NEW! Charleston Wakefield Cabbage - Bradford Farm
- NEW! Matt Fry’s Mixed kale (loose) - Fry Farm
- New! Green curly kale (loose leaf) - Fry Farm
-
NEW! Matt Fry’s wild red kale
- NEW! Dorr Farms’ potatoes
- Hanson lettuce, heirloom - Bradford Farm (out 1 week)
- Price drop on Wild Hope Green Garlic!
-
Sugar snaps from Fry Farm expected to arrive this week!
⚠️ **Highlights of the week**⚠️
NEW! Little Gem Lettuce, Rosaine - Wild Hope Farm
Wild Hope’s Rosaine lettuce is one of the most visually striking lettuces we’ve brought in this season — compact little heads layered in deep burgundy and vibrant green, with heavily savoyed leaves that feel somewhere between romaine and little gem in structure.
Unlike modern hybrid lettuces bred primarily for uniformity and shipping, Rosaine is an open-pollinated heirloom variety — selected and preserved for flavor, texture, and beauty in the field. That heritage shows up immediately in the eating. The leaves are thin but structured, crisp without feeling rigid, and carry a sweetness that builds from the pale inner heart outward into a faintly nutty, lightly bitter edge in the darker leaves.
Wild Hope grows these with careful spacing and soil management, allowing the heads to develop slowly and stay well hydrated. The result is a lettuce with real life to it — not watery, not brittle, but supple and crisp at the same time.
Flavor & Texture
- Sweet, buttery core
- Mild nuttiness with faint chicory-like bitterness in the outer leaves
- Crisp, highly textured leaves
- Excellent hydration and clean finish
The texture is what chefs notice first — deeply crinkled leaves that trap vinaigrette beautifully while still maintaining lift and structure on the plate.
For the Kitchen
- Whole or halved heads: Grill or char lightly while keeping the core intact
- Composed salads: Natural shape gives height and structure without much manipulation
- Classic vinaigrettes: Holds dressing exceptionally well
- Seafood pairings: Especially strong with crab, shrimp, trout, or oysters
- Layered plating: Burgundy and green contrast adds immediate visual depth
Rosaine carries the refinement of a modern chef’s lettuce, but with the flavor and individuality of an older field variety. A beautiful heirloom crop grown carefully and harvested at the stage where texture, sweetness, and structure all meet.
NEW! Potatoes, Adirondack Blue - Dorr Farms
Dorr Farms’ Adirondack Blue potatoes bring real depth both visually and flavor-wise. Developed in the Adirondack region of New York through modern breeding focused on color and eating quality, this variety carries a striking deep indigo-blue flesh all the way through the tuber — not just in the skin.
But these aren’t novelty potatoes. The flavor is noticeably fuller than most colored varieties: earthy, slightly nutty, and more mineral-driven than standard white or yellow potatoes.
The rich blue pigment comes from naturally occurring anthocyanins — the same compounds found in blueberries and purple cabbage — which also help the flesh hold color surprisingly well through cooking.
Flavor & Texture
- Dense, creamy texture
- Deep earthy flavor with subtle nuttiness
- Moderate starch content
- Rich blue-purple flesh retains color when roasted or fried
For the Kitchen
- Roasted: Deepens in color and develops crisp edges
- Chips or fries: Exceptional visual contrast and strong potato flavor
- Purées: Produces a dramatic violet-blue mash
- Gnocchi: Dense texture gives good structure
- Warm salads: Holds shape and color beautifully
These potatoes bring more than color to the plate — they bring structure, flavor, and a visual identity that chefs can build around without sacrificing eating quality.
NEW! Potatoes, Pontiac - Dorr Farms
The Red Pontiac is one of the classic American potato varieties for a reason. Introduced in the mid-1900s and still favored by growers who care about flavor over novelty, it’s known for its deep red skin, bright white flesh, and dependable texture in the kitchen.
Dorr Farms grows these in sandy South Carolina soil that allows the tubers to size evenly while maintaining good moisture balance. The result is a potato that’s creamy without becoming heavy and structured without turning dry.
Red Pontiacs sit in that ideal middle ground — enough starch to roast and mash well, enough waxiness to hold shape during boiling or braising.
Flavor & Texture
- Creamy, smooth interior
- Thin red skin with clean earthiness
- Mild buttery flavor
- Holds structure while staying tender
For the Kitchen
- Boiled: Excellent for potato salads or warm vinaigrettes
- Roasted: Crisp skin, creamy center
- Mashed: Smooth and rich without becoming gluey
- Fondant or braised: Holds shape beautifully
- Whole roasted: Thin skin allows even cooking and minimal waste
NEW! Matt Fry’s Wild Red Kale (also included in Matt’s Mixed kale) - Fry Farm
This is the very best kale we sell. Matt Fry’s Wild Red kale is an excellent example of what happens when a grower pays attention to timing. He harvests this kale before full maturity — late enough for the leaves to develop real structure and depth, early enough to preserve tenderness and sweetness. That balance is what makes this crop special.
Visually, it’s striking but not over the top: mostly deep green leaves with a dark red flare along the edges and a soft pink blush running through the stems. The leaves are heavily textured and crisp, but once you bite into them, they soften almost immediately — structured at first, then surprisingly succulent.
The flavor is what separates it. There’s a mild earthiness and a gentle nutty note, but the bitterness most people expect from kale is almost entirely absent. Even the stems are tender — juicy, crisp, and light enough to use without trimming away half the plant.
Flavor & Texture
• Subtly sweet with almost no bitterness
• Crisp leaves that soften quickly on the palate
• Light earthy depth with a restrained nuttiness
• Tender, juicy stems fully usable in prep
For the Kitchen
• Raw salads: Strong enough to hold vinaigrette, tender enough to eat without aggressive massaging
• Quick sauté: Maintains color and texture while softening fast
• Charred or blistered: Edges crisp beautifully without becoming leathery
• Warm grain or bean dishes: Adds structure and depth without dominating
• Braised lightly: Retains integrity while becoming silky
This is kale with refinement — full flavor, clean finish, and texture that works both raw and cooked. A thoughtful crop from a grower who understands that with greens, harvest timing is everything.
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: ✅
-Bradford collards bagged/chopped (spring crop)
-Bradford collards whole plant (spring crop)
-NEW! Spring Charleston Wakefield cabbage (SlowFood AOT)
-Lettuce, Hanson - heirloom *OUT (returns ~ 1 week)
-Hybrid green cabbage
-Purple cabbage
-Shredded hybrid cabbage
-Shredded purple cabbage
🤝 Partner Farms: 🤝
-NEW! Spring Onions, Italian Torpedo (nickel/dime diameter) - Fry Farm
-NEW! Spring Onions, Yellow bulb (Vidalia variety) - Fry Farm
-NEW! Spring Onions, Red candy apple - Fry Farm
-NEW! Matt Fry’s mixed kale (loose leaf) - Fry Farm
-NEW! Kale, Matt Fry’s curly green (loose leaf) - Fry Farm
-NEW! Kale, Matt Fry’s wild red (loose leaf) - Fry Farm
-Blueberries - Mob ties
-Leeks, Lancelot - young/small - Fry Farm
-Watermelon
——red seedless
-Tomatoes, heirloom
-Green garlic - Wild Hope Farm *limited stock
-Farm eggs, organic - Wild Hope
-Strawberries - Dorr Farms & Hickory Bluff Berry Farm
-Cantaloupe
-New potatoes
——Red (sizes: A, B, C)
——White (A, B, C)
——Red & white mix (A, B, C)
-Potatoes, Adirondack Blue - Dorr Farms
-Potatoes, Adirondack Red (1 week) - Dorr
-Potatoes, Pontiac (red skin, white flesh) - Dorr Farms
-Turnips, purple top (heirloom, SlowFood AOT)
-NEW! Turnips, White Salad - Wild Hope
-Stampede Sunchokes - Clem’s Organic Gardens
-Broccoli - Southeast (SC, GA)
-Daikon radishes, rainbow - Clem’s
-Watermelon radishes - Clem’s
-Pecans (fresh, shelled, halved) - Johnny McNair
-Jalapeños - FL
-NEW! Sweet corn - FL
-Blue Lake Pole Snap Beans
-NEW! Zucchini - Dorr Farm and others
-NEW! Yellow Squash - Dorr Farm and others
-NEW! Grey Zucchini - Dorr Farm
-NEW! Patty pan squash - Dorr Farm *limited
-Italian purple eggplant
-Green Bell peppers
-Red Bell peppers
-Banana peppers
-Grape tomatoes
-Red round tomatoes
-Gold
-Roma tomatoes
-Tomatillos
-Pee Dee sweet potatoes - Dixon Farms
-Beets, Golden
-Beets, Red
Coming soon:
- 1st week of May: Santee Sweet Onions (Dorr)
- Beets, badger flame - 1 week
- Carrots - 2-3 weeks
- Hakurei turnips - 2 weeks
- Appalachain tomatoes - June
- Heirloom cherry tomatoes
- Rhubarb - early-mid May
- Bradford Okra - 2 weeks!
MORE COMING SOON
….let us know if there is something else you are interested in that isn’t on our list