Radishes, Spinach, and Onions @ the Co-op

Co-op delivery waiting on the front stoop

Today I learned the Gallup Farmers' market opens on July 10th of this year. Quite a bit later than I was expecting. I was planning on it opening in June so now I'll have a fair bit more produce to sell to the La Montanita Co-op during the early season-- the first snow peas are already flowering. Just in time for a 25 degree night!! Ahhh. Blanket brigade tonight.

I'm getting hung up think months ahead. Just this afternoon I harvested 2.5 lbs of large green onions, 2.5 lbs of bright red radishes, a decent basket of long leaf spinach (oh, it's so sweet), and another ubiquitous basket of baby salad greens. It should be on the co-op shelves by today.

Food Miles

Sadly I drove this basket to market instead of pedaling

Much of the food selection we have available to us at the supermarket is determined by the practical reality of how and when that food gets to the market. I can now empathize a little more with the growers of those thick-skinned cherry tomatoes and unripe bananas. The problem I'd been struggling with was how to get my lettuce to the Co-op in the freshest condition. Cutting lettuce when it's cold (ie. in the early morning) is much preferable to cutting it during the heat of the day (when I get home from work); it won't wilt as quickly and it's sweeter. I generally leave for work by 7 and the co-op doesn't open until 10. Consequently, I was hesitant to bring more to market.

A serendipitous encounter with the manager of the Co-op at the RMCHS Health Fair (I can't believe one of the main attractions is candy at each booth!?!; Gallup Trails 2010 passed out maps instead!) yesterday solved that. Clearly dedicated to providing Gallup with fresh, healthy, local food, she immediately offered to meet me early in the morning several hours before the store opens when hearing of my concern. And so, there I was a few minutes ago in the crisp morning air cutting the first harvest of my baby red and green lettuce mix-- grown under bed sheets at first, and now under the low tunnel. Cutting a 2'x 2' area of the bed nearly filled half of a bushel basket. I'll also bring down green onions and some radishes later this afternoon.

Not surprisingly, I'm not the only one starting to make a few dollars growing food at home. Check out this LA Times article, Backyard gardens become income generators in lean times.

BDCKitchen greens at the Co-op

The tangy, nutty, crunchy, and sweet shades of green

Despite eating nearly a salad a day and sharing produce with my co-workers/family 'CSA,' the harvest of baby greens from the cold frame has been fast and furious. Yet, not fast enough. The mesclun (traditional tangy spring mix) and black-seeded simpson (lighter green loose-leafed lettuce) I began the harvest with has already grown back, ready for a second harvest. The romaine and bibb lettuce germinated thickly and I have a thick stand of baby romaine hearts that are sweet and crunchy, for now. Fearing it would all start to bolt or bitter (especially the heat in-tolerant Bibb) I finally approached the manager of Gallup's La Montanita Co-op, Alicia, about selling my lettuce in their store. Struggling with once-weekly shipments of quickly withering greens from Albuquerque, she was more than willing to start carrying my surplus in the store. Hopefully, with a local in-town source of baby greens they can keep some of the freshest salad ingredients on their shelves. I'll post about the rest of my early spring plantings soon, but green onions, baby spinach, and snow peas are soon to come.