Week 15

After Monday's pick-up I shucked about 15 ears of the multi-colored, open pollinated "sweet" corn that we put in your boxes.  I took a bite out of each one raw (our pigs finished them).  Two were sweet, some where a lot like the ones we had tried at lunch - not real sweet but nice flavor and some where horrible.  A couple had the texture of paste.  The bad ones were so bad that we didn't put them in Wednesday's boxes.  They were just a bonus but bad produce isn't exactly a bonus.

If the sweet corn we grow is tasty and reliable, which I think it is, than why do we bother wasting space on a crapshoot?  There are three reasons.  Corn is an interesting crop and there are many sweet corn types.  Supersweet hybrid corn, the most recent corn to be developed, can be up to 40 percent sugar.  We grow what is called a sugary enhanced hybrid sweet corn.  It converts sugars to starch slower then a normal sugary hybrid corn and is suppose to be sweeter and more tender.  It isn't as sweet as supersweet but I am sure that it has a high sugar content.   I  made a corn soup earlier in the summer with nothing more than garlic, onions, chicken stock, thyme, a little carrot and corn that was bordering on too sweet for me.  Modern sweet corn is bred for sugar and I am interested in something that while still sweet has less sugar and a more traditional corn flavor to grow in addition to the hybrid sweet corn.  The multi colored corn is also higher in phytonutrients.   The second reason is that although we grow several open pollinated varieties we are a hybrid heavy farm in general.  We like vegetables that look and taste good and it is important for the success of our farm that we have good yields.   Many open pollinated varieties have a lot of variability in looks, harvest window, flavor and some have poor disease resistance.  As a result we often choose hybrid varieties.   However, I believe that one of the reasons why there are not better open pollinated varieties out there is because a lot of time and money is put into developing hybrids.   Hybrid seed is big business.  While I don't have a problem with the concept of a hybrid they are often produced by companies whose policies I don't agree with and who also manufacture chemicals I would never support using in a garden.  I think that buying open pollinated seed is important because it both encourages old varieties to be saved and new varieties to be developed by improving those older varieties.  It also more likely to support smaller seed farms and individual plant breeders.  This year we are also trialling several other OP varieties including a winter cabbage, a broccoli, a couple cucumbers, a couple peppers and some tomatoes.  One of the best open pollinated item we grew this year was a watermelon that we look forward to growing in greater quantities next year.  The final reason is that it is easy to get stuck in a rut and while growing things that you know do well isn't the worst rut you can be in, in the long run I think it can hold you back.  Kelly just added that there is a fourth reason - because it is fun.

Anyway, you can still be pissed if your so called sweet corn had the texture of paste(I was) but at least you know where we where coming from!

Hope you all found a way to enjoy the amazing weekend.  We had several customers inquire about winter squash this week and we should be pulling it out of the field soon.  We have already pulled some spaghetti squash and some pumpkins.  The Wednesday shares will be getting the fennel that we didn't have enough of previously.

Carrots
Radishes -  They're back.
Beans - Our new planting isn't picking great but I am hedging my bets.
Mixed Peppers
Garlic
Broccoli
Cherry Tomatoes
Collards - Large Only
Shallots - Large Only
Fennel - Wednesday Only