Spring forward with Sesame, Scotch Bonnet, and Spinach
Dear Friend,
Seeding season is officially and well underway. For me, it’s one of the most magical and exciting times of the year. After a decade of growing it still delights and awes me to watch the germination process unfold for all of our favorite vegetable varieties. It’s also an important time of year to honor the important histories of some of the heritage varieties we grow.
This year, at Common Good we’re growing a lot of great varieties including a selection of heritage varieties kept and bred throughout the African diaspora such as Amaranthus viridis, the species of amaranth called Calaloo grown in Jamaica, Scotch Bonnet (ubiquitous in West Africa) and Fish Peppers (originating in the Caribbean and brought to the US in the 19th century): two hot peppers with great regional importance to the Mid Atlantic.
We’re also growing Paul Robeson tomatoes this year. Named in honor of the famous Black opera singer, actor, and civil rights activist of the same name, Paul Robeson. He was especially admired in the Soviet Union for his activism and his communist beliefs, both of which had made him a target of McCarthy era censorship in the United States. A soviet era tomato breeder named their tomato variety after him and seeds were finally made available in the United States by Marina Danilenko in the mid 1990’s.
Seeds such as these have great cultural legacies and we are much indebted to the network of growers working hard to preserve them. Soul Fire Farm, in New York, for example, preserved the Scotch Bonnet pepper seeds we’re growing this year, made available to TrueLove Seeds, a Philly based seed company offering “rare, open pollinated, and culturally important seed varieties” by about 20 different farms committed to community food sovereignty, cultural preservation, and sustainable agriculture. Preserving important plant varieties such as these is also a preservation of history, culture, and tradition. And starting these varieties is an opportunity to connect to these histories and continue their legacy.
I look forward to making these connections with you and our community throughout the season,
Foster Gettys
Farm Production Manager
Coming up soon
If you are looking to start some seeds in your home garden and hopefully learn some new seed stories throughout the process, join us on Saturday, March 20 for our Seed Exchange and Farm Market!
Our weekly Farm Market will run on Wednesdays from 3:30 - 6:30 pm, starting on Wednesday, April 14 until November 17.
And if you are excited to try some of what we will be growing, we still have CSA spaces available- there is a weekly and bi-weekly option and we have added a sliding scale fee option so we hope you'll check it out.
As we look ahead to our 2021 planting season, we also look back at what we were able to accomplish in 2020, despite all the struggles that 2020 brought for our community and the entire world. We could not have done it without your support and hope you will be pleased to see the results in our 2020 Annual Report.
Scenes from the Farm
In the past month, we had quite some change on the farm! While we had snow in early February, our kale was still growing under the row cover. In late February, we worked to prune our fruit trees so they could produce more fruit this year and we started preparing beds to plant spinach and other greens.
Sponsor the Farm
Are you looking for a fun gift? Check out our Teespring store, with super cute farm merchandise including t-shirts of all sizes, mugs, and farm-inspired masks or take a look at our farm sponsorship options.
