Hi I’m Erin and this is Our Wyoming Life
Farmer’s market season is upon us.
That means every Saturday from now until the second week in October you will find us set
up at our local farmers’ market peddling our goods.
This has been months in the works to get to this point and it’s nice to see the hard
work pay off.
It’s finally here.
Market season has begun!!
I tend to think of parts of the year as different season depending what is happening with the
gardens.
We start with planting season, then move into the dreaded weeding season, the best season
is definitely market season and finally when will the frost happen and I can be done with
this crap season.
In all honestly I love routine and rhythm that the gardens bring no matter what is happening.
I would be lying though if I didn’t say by the end I’m tired and burnt out and ready
for a break.
But for now I’m excited to get back to market and be in front of our customers.
We’ve got one market under our belts.
I was in Portland having a blast at the international master gardener conference last week so Mike
took on the chore of picking and my mom, Rita helped wash.
I’m home this week and am happy to pick.
The gardens are slow so our crop selection is limited but the crops we do have ready
are abundant.
The weather has been against us this year.
A cool June slowed things way down and now it’s turned ridiculously hot.
Crops are growing but watering is an issue.
I’ve had to up the water and am even watering the big outdoor garden twice a day.
Partly because I replanted a few crops that didn’t germinate well in the cold June and
I need to keep the seedlings wet until they become more established.
Today green leaf lettuce, radishes and romaine lettuce are picked from the big garden.
In the high tunnel cucumbers and a few peppers are ready for harvest.
The green leaf lettuce is a variety called black seeded simpson.
It’s a very common home garden variety and it sells very well at market.
It’s a cut and come again lettuce, meaning that more than one harvest can occur.
It’s simple to harvest.
A sharp knife is all that’s needed.
Gather a handful and cut about 2 inches above the ground.
In 2 weeks this section will be ready to harvest again.
For the radishes we will pull all of them.
Most everything is big enough to sell and it’s not worth taking the time to sort through
them.
We leave enough for one more harvest next week and then this area will get planted again
for a fall crop.
Romaine lettuce is a head lettuce.
It is a one and done lettuce.
Using the top end of the harvest knife a cut is made at ground level so that the head remains
intact.
In the high tunnel Mike picks through the cucumber vines and finds cucumbers that are
big enough for market.
We want them to be close to the size you would typically find in the grocery store, leaving
the rest for next week.
The cucumbers are not cooperating this year and staying on their trellis.
Every time we get them back on the pig panels the wind blows before they have a chance to
grab on.
So for now we have to hunt through the vines for the cucs.
A few pepper varieties are ready and the most abundant are the sweet banana.
The plants are loaded and we pick off the biggest ones.
In another week or two we will have all pepper varieties in production.
The forecast for today is a sweltering 95 degrees so washing in the shop is a must.
We get everything in water right away and cooled down.
The lettuce got taken immediately to the shop and the tubs were filled.
The most time consuming as far as washing goes are the lettuces and radishes.
Cucumbers and peppers just get sprayed off and put in the fridge.
Soaking the lettuce is a must in our opinion.
It’s really the best way to get everything nice and clean.
The romaine heads get placed in the sink filled with water and submerged.
The outside leaves that don’t look great get pulled off and then the core gets trimmed
up so that it looks nice and pretty.
One more dunking and the romaine can be placed in the bin.
Water gets added to the clear tote to help keep the lettuce as fresh as possible.
Radishes get pulled from the harvest bin and placed in a black tote that has holes in the
bottom and sides.
This is where we sort off the small ones and any that have started to go to seed as well
as clean off the dead leaves and the occasional weed that snuck in.
Then they get sprayed and moved around until all the dirt looks like it has been removed.
A clean table is where they will wait until packing time.
Now onto the leaf lettuce.
This is the most tedious to wash.
Mike built a bubbler to help agitate the lettuce in the sink and remove particles and the grit
that can catch between the leaves.
It’s actually a really simple tool to build and just requires some pvc, glue a small drill
bit and an attachment to hook the bubbler to the air compressor that’s in the shop.
Once hooked up to the compressor the air is forced through the small holes that were drilled
and the water and lettuce moves around in the sink.
Unfortunately we still have to sort through the leaves and pick out a few weeds and dead
lettuce leaves.
There’s just no getting around this part with leaf lettuce.
We move the lettuce through the stations of the sink so by time it goes into the spinner
it nice and clean.
This large 5 gallon spinner is then used to help remove most of the water and help the
lettuce dry.
Mackenzie thinks this is an awesome toy and entertains herself while waiting for some
lettuce to be ready for spinning.
Lettuce gets loaded in and the top gets put on and away we go!!
The water comes out the bottom and the leaves come out significantly dryer then when they
went in.
Everything gets dumped on the table until we’re done washing.
After a mountain of lettuce and radishes have been accumulated it’s packaging time.
Radishes get gathered into a bunch and a rubber band gets wrapped around them.
Another black tote gets used for their final storage and will be placed in the refrigerator
when done.
Lettuce packing for market uses some rather large produce bags.
A couple handfuls are placed in the bag and a certified scale is used to make sure all
the bags are the same weight.
Our customers really appreciate knowing that all of the packaged lettuce bags are the same
size.
By time we’re done the commercial refrigerator is pretty full but nowhere close to what it
will be in a few weeks time.
Lettuce washing is definitely not my favorite chore on picking day.
I’m lucky that my mom is always there to jump in and help and she doesn’t mind the
lettuce sorting as much as I do.
As much as I dislike washing lettuce I’m always glad to have this early season crop
at the beginning of market.
This is not the first year that the gardens are slow for me so I’ve learned to time
out the lettuce so that it’s ready during the first few weeks of market.
In the next few weeks there will be much more variety in our harvestable crops.
Rainbow chard, napa cabbage, beets and turnips will all be ready soon.
In the high tunnel there’s even a few tomatoes starting to turn red.
As crazy as this sounds it’s time to start thinking about fall crops being planted.
August 1st is our target date for more lettuce, radishes and spinach to go in the ground outside.
The weeding will also continue until about the middle of August and I will finally say
enough is enough and I’m done.
The work never stops around here and my to do list is long but I am ridiculously happy
when I’m in the garden.
The life of a market farmer is the life for me!
Thanks for watching today and make sure you like us on Instagram and Facebook for when
you go through withdrawals while waiting for the next video.
As always thanks for joining me in Our Wyoming Life.