Plum blossoms!
Hasn’t the weather this last week been glorious? Here on the farm, we’ve been rejoicing in all the sunshine, knowing how even just a few hours of warm direct sunlight can boost all the growth of our spring crops.
It also has meant that our earliest plums are getting pollinated! The challenge with early tree fruit is that in some years they bloom amidst heavy rain or frigid weather or wind storms … all of which inhibit the flight and work of pollinator insects. Every single plum you’ll eat this summer will have begun as a small blossom, and each of those small blossoms requires the helpful work of various kinds of bees, wasps and flies who travel from bloom to bloom spreading the pollen and turning blossoms into fruitlets.
March’s weather is variable by definition, so it’s true that some years we get beautiful bursts of warm weather like this week. But that weather might not correspond perfectly with bloom. Those are the years when we pick fewer than average plums.
This weekend, when the trees were in full bloom and the warm sun was shining down on the farm, Dottie and I walked from tree to tree, smelling the sweet blossoms and listening. The sound of pollination is a steady buzzing from above, and we heard it! The thrumming of insects at work! What a joyous early spring sound!
We still have months of spring ahead, with who knows what kind of weather. But this is a good start toward lots and lots of our favorite early, juicy, red plums! Much to look forward to, but of course this early spring sunshine is truly a gift all on its own, warming our bodies and souls.
Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Apples
- Mixed veggie ferment — This week’s ferment contains: cabbage, sunchokes, carrots, beets, and winter squash!
- Radishes — Less baby-sized this week, still tender and perfect!
- Cabbage rapini
- Kale & kale rapini — 2 bunches is one item this week! The rapini is especially wonderful!
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Sunchokes
- Beets
- Spaghetti squash
- Marina di Chioggia squash
- Butternut squash
- Pie pumpkins
