Unfortunately, it took us longer than we thought to spend some days visiting Grete’s Farm again. The change was more blatant, of course. At our last visit in spring the green houses were filled with seedlings and the fields mostly empty, even if the seeds sprouted underground.
In July, everything had been grown to full splendor. The tomato plants we pricked at the beginning of the year, were full of bright red and bulging. Eggplants, cucumbers, zucchini, beetroot, palm kale and red cabbage, currants, new potatoes, herbs with colorful blossoms, chard, tender carrots, onions and all kinds of other delicious vegetables were put into crates for the market or for the solidary group. You can check in our seasonality table which regional fruits and vegetables are in season.
Besides harvesting and secret nibbling…well…let’s call it thorough testing of the goods…beside all that, weeding was on top of our to do list. Usually we are no sticklers for order, but to see the green houses free of weeds after hours spent crawling on knees is really very satisfactory.
In summer starts the preparatory work for the next season as well. Grete does not only grow vegetables, but also has a seed production for plenty unusual breeds which are also sold. Those have to be harvested and dried, of course.
There are some vegetable breeds which are only grown for seed production, others are left on the fields longer so they can grow seeds. We almost did not recognize the green salad or the radishes! We spent a lot of time just marveling at the incredible colors and shapes of the fruits. It might look funny to stand this excited on a field, but have you ever seen such huge cabbages? Nature is great!
The harvest has a lot to do with logistics. The staff obviously knows what to do, how many crated have to be packed and how the bundles have to be stringed. Not only for the market or the solidary group, top chefs in Berlin wait for their ordered goods as well, which has to be weighed and sorted. Some specials goods are ordered too, like young linden leaves. This time, we stepped aside to not interrupt the process. Instead, we cooked for the whole pack. One of the dished we want to show in a few days! Grete had some marvelous broccoli on her fields. However, not as you know it, but with slim stems and delicate florets. This is how we love it, because you can use the stems as well as the leaves and it just looks beautiful. We combined it with gnocchi made from Grete’s new potatoes. Georgeous!