Farah Masani is our resident forager and farmer, and she’s going to be blogging for us as the season progresses. Farah’s here to let you know what’s happening in the farming world, where Barcelona is getting their food, about new places and farms, and (of course) the Fairfield garden.
On one of the hottest days this summer, 30+ Barcelona Wine Bar employees paid Patti Popp a visit at Sport Hill Farm in Easton, CT. On our visit, there were servers, chefs, bartenders, sous chefs, and managers, all excited to see the farm where we source some of our local food.
Patti and her husband Al cleared a thickly wooded lot to make a workable, sustainable farm that was established in 2001. This is what it looked like in 1999 as compared to today.
In spite of the 96-degree heat, Patti trekked us through the fields, stopping and explaining every detail of the growing process. Patti explained that with the heat we’ve been having, some of the Springtime, cool-loving plants like broccoli, lettuce and spinach are all “going to seed.”
“Going to seed” is a term used to explain the process when a plant starts producing seeds. Typically this happens at the end of its life cycle. A plant fully grows, flowers, fruits and then is ready to cast its seeds and procreate.
However, sometimes a plant “goes to seed” early because conditions are not favorable for its regular growth cycle. The plant goes into panic mode and speeds up its growth process to “go to seed” and procreate because plants have an innate ability to want to produce more of their own kind.
Some plants are allowed go to seed so that the seed can be saved for the next season. Other plants are allowed to go to seed because it’s this part of the plant that we eat – corn, beans and peas, for example. And then there are certain plants we don’t want to go to seed, like broccoli and lettuce.
Patti showed us the Asian broccoli plants that have started flowering and going to seed because they were stressed with the heat. She gave everyone a sample of the flowers to taste. “They are great to add in a salad mix and provide a sweet, broccoli-like taste,” Patti told us.
Similarly, Patti showed us lettuce that has started to bolt (another term for the same process) because it is stressed out with the heat and wants to end its life cycle. When this happens the lettuce gets bitter.
Then we walked through a field freshly transplanted with greens. “We are still in greens season, people!” Patty proclaimed. “After all the heavy food you eat in the winter, storage crops like potatoes, winter squash, sweet potatoes, rutabaga, turnips, etc…In the spring, your body needs light and fluffy greens…people do not get that.” Patty said she loves to teach people how to eat by the seasons. “Then in the peak of the summer come the cukes and the tomatoes. Things you can eat raw because who wants to stand in front of a stove in the 90 degree summer heat.”
Patti has transplanted bok choi, lettuces, and dandelions shown below.
Plants that are seeded in the green house, allowed to germinate and then planted in the fields to grow are called transplanted plants. This process is beneficial because you are guaranteed a higher germination rate in a controlled environment like a green house. You can monitor temperature, watering etc. Also, this process helps a famer know exactly how many plants will be transplanted. As opposed to direct seeding, where the seeds can fly away in the wind, get burnt if there is too much heat, or lose its viability if it gets saturated in the rain. You never know what can happen when you direct seed.
There are certain plants that do not like to be transplanted, like corn and beans.
All this rain has not been kind to the farmers in this area. Root rot, field flooding, and washing away of seeds are some of the trials of a farmer during the heavy rain season. I personally lost an entire harvest of hakuri turnips due to the rain.
One way to combat field flooding is to grow in raised beds. While, these are expensive to build, they have great drainage and reduced weeds. Seen below are Patti’s beets in these raised beds. You can also see three of Sport Hill’s green houses in the background.
Most farmers are also delayed in planting most of their summer crops because the heavily-saturated fields are no good for the plants. Patti gets by with planting some tomatoes, cukes, beans and squash in her green houses. This way the plants are protected.
Yesterday Patti harvested the season’s first squash from the green house!
With all this rain and heat come weeds. Weeds thrive in this climate. Take a look at the 5000 onions plants covered in weeds below. A before and after picture of them; after they are weeded.
Patti and her husband, Al, run a 200 member CSA, participate in the Westport Farmers Market year-round, have educational farm camps, and have several plots of land all over Easton where they both grow some of the area’s finest local food.
Thanks Patti for a great field trip and showing us where our food comes from!
Barcelona Fairfield at the farm.
Greenwich staff excited to be here, Herman even bought some farm fresh beets to take home for dinner.
The New Haven crew at Sport Hill