New Produce and New Pigs

May is an exciting time of year on the farm. It’s a transition time from preparation to production. Our greenhouse team is at the summit of peak output and now it’s time to get all those plants in the ground.

We’re off to a good start: already getting a round of lettuces, our first kale succession, and our onions transplanted in the field. (Did you know in just two beds of shallots we hand transplant almost 800 plants?) This week, we’re starting to see new produce (much of it featured in your CSA share), including baby carrots from the greenhouse, French Breakfast radishes, pea greens, and salad mix with mizuna and red mustard.

But my favorite part of spring is our new pigs. Our eight-week-olds are a Tamworth/Berkshire crossbred pigs that will soon be growing as fast as grass. Ultimately, these pigs are being raised for meat, but in the meantime, they provide many benefits to the farm, and in exchange we do our best to provide them with a good quality life with shelter, clean water, good nutrition, and pasture. One benefit the pigs provide is an alternate waste stream for our vegetable scraps. A full-grown pig can eat up to 50 pounds of food in a week and can help us turn our extra cabbage and lettuce leaves into rich manure for our resting fields. Additionally, all pigs are equipped with a snout of steel (actually a disc of cartilage attached to their face by many muscles) that they use to dig for grubs and roots in the soil. This rooting, with regular rotation, helps us till and speed up the decomposition or organic debris in our fields. It’s amazing watching these little animals turn sod and send kale stalks flying!

Enjoy your share and thank you for your support!

~Henry