It’s been a challenging year on the growing front. A winter that wouldn’t let go followed by stifling heat and then rain, rain and more rain. I’ve never been a believer in the saying “rain, rain, go away,” but I might change my tune if my house floats away by the time we get through the next stretch of weather with rain forecast every day in the foreseeable future. We’ve been hit hard here with flooding. While the interior of my office became a pond, curiously, the garden area drained quickly and plants survived (for the most part – lost a couple of the artichokes I’m testing to see if they survive in this climate).

That said, it’s becoming impossible to predict what will be ready when. Items that need a lot of sun and heat seem to be ahead of schedule and those I expected early are late. What we have now and what’s been planted for later.

We currently have a lot of fresh herbs available including:

• Cilantro (soon to be coriander)
• Dill
• Thyme
• Sage
• Oregano
• Mint
• Lavender
• Chives

If you like fresh herbs and think that’s what you get at the supermarket, you’re wrong and in for a treat with the taste truly fresh picked brings to your meals. Give us a call at (540) 400-7106 and we’ll introduce you to new flavors you’ll relish. We can do quantities on your favorite items or create a sample pack. Soon we’ll have parsley, basil and garlic scapes (if you’ve never tasted one of these, you must). Oregano and thyme are great in salads and eggs if you’re looking to cut calories on dressing and cheese and still get a burst of taste that excites your palate.

The purple and green asparagus was delightful this year, but short-lived. The purple variety is tender, not stringy and meant to be eaten raw. You can even do that with the green that’s fresh picked here. If you want to get on the list for limited quantities of this item, call now to get on the short list for next year.

I’ve given up on strawberries. Perhaps I’ll come up with a better way to keep the deer from devouring the leaves before fruit even bears next year on the plants that survive, but I’m not buying any more. On the few that did make it to producing berries, the ground hogs stole them before they were picked. This is a new challenge for me. When I had the farm, I had Gatsby, my delightfully talented mutt with no nose (thank goodness because in my New York town, DEC officers were authorized to shoot dogs, even when they’re yours on your own property, if caught running deer), who guarded the two-acre vegetable garden plot. Groundhogs annoyed me as they took a single bit of every ripe strawberry, but I had enough land to grow more than they could eat and ultimately, Gatsby hunted them all down.

New fruits available this year includes:

• Blackberries
• Elderberries
• Blueberries
• Artichokes (maybe – and yes, technically they’re a flower)

With vegetables, we’ve moved away from planting the standard fare and are focusing on items that have been extremely popular in the past two years with mostly unavailable items locally that have tastes unequaled elsewhere. We’ve also switched from a standard fare package to specific item and quantity orders. We’ll have a page on the website soon indicating what’s available with prices soon that’s updated regularly. While we’re also happy to try to grow something on special request, our current selections this year include:

• Garlic (hard neck, softneck, elephant – new this year)
• Carrots
• Turnips
• Adirondack blue & Pontiac red potatoes (never had fresh dug potatoes – you’ll never go back to old, starchy supermarket crap once you do)
• Radishes
• Beets
• Kale
• Swiss chard
• Leeks
• Heirloom tomatoes (a variety of sizes and colors)
• Spaghetti squash
• Water melon
• Brussel sprouts
• Chinese cabbage
• Eggplant
• Banana peppers
• Many lettuces including head and loose leaf mixes
• and probably more I’m forgetting at the moment

We’re also going to give sunflower seeds a go this year (no idea how that will turn out). We’ll be offering these flowers and a number of others for bouquets deliver to our regular customers.

Thanks to those of you who have already called to get on the list for delivery this year – and for your patience as we deal with weather surprises that have crops behaving weirdly. We’ll keep you all posted as soon as crops emerge with hopes this growing season moves into some kind of normality soon.