What’s been going on!

Holy cow, its tomato week!  Good thing we are near peak supply.  Some of our restaurants are closed until the end of the week (Pizzaria Mercato, Elaine’s, Oakleaf) so that give us some breathing room but some of the others are putting on their tomato plates (Glasshalfull, Pazzo) and ACME is having its Tomato Festival which means hundreds of pounds of tomatoes are needed.  Finally Saturday is the Carrboro Market’s famous Tomato Day!

Tomorrow night is a tomato and wine dinner at ACME with our friend and tomato guru Craig LeHoullier.  Craig gave us plants of some of his 1400 varieties (that we don’t already grow) for this dinner but unfortunately they went in weeks later than the rest of our main planting so only a couple will be ready for the dinner.  We still have plenty of tomatoes to contribute to the evening though!

Enough with the rain already, nearly every day for over a week.  This kind of weather is really hard on everything especially tomato plants and fruit which is why we have the Big Tops to help keep them dry.  The crops most affected right now (always hard to know all the ramifications until later) are the lettuce and basil.  Looks like a really short basil season due to the rapid spread of the basil downy mildew, damn!

Picture of the Week

Walls of happy and dry tomato plants

What’s going to be at the market?

Did you donate to RAFI?  Let’s talk this week.  If you have RAFI thanks you!

Nearing peak tomatoes this week, with red Big Beefs, Orange Blossom and Kellogg’s Breakfast in yellows, Cherokee Purples, yellow and red Striped Germans, Cherokee Greens, pink German Johnsons.  Sungolds, Mixed Cherries and Blush too.

We have a bit of the green Summer Crisp lettuce.  Callaloo the summer cooking green to replace Kale, actually an amaranth, also known as the Jamaican spinach, great for a fast sauté.  Italian Parsley, Cilantro and maybe Basil.  More of the cured sweet Red Onions.  Lots of Cucumbers.  Shishito and a few Padron and Jalapeno peppers.  A few bunches of Red Radish too.

The flower department is into summer mode.  Fragrant Oriental Lilies.  Gloriosa Daisies (black eyed Susans) and Sunflowers.  Dayglo Dainthus and Zinnias.  Deep colored Plume Celosia.  As always, amazing Bouquets.

As a reminder if there is anything that you would like for us to hold for you at market just let us know by e-mail, by the evening before, and we will be glad to put it aside for you.  Just so you know, sometimes not everything listed will be at the Wednesday market.

Hope to see you all at the market!

Alex, Betsy and Jennie

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