If you’re planning to have a local, organic thanksgiving this year, we thought it might be helpful to let you know everything we will have in abundance this weekend at the market. This market is your chance to get everything you need to celebrate in the coming week.
Holiday staples: green beans, butternut squash, summer squash and zucchini, sweet potatoes, carrots (orange and rainbow), turnips, kale and hardy herbs (oregano, thyme, basil, parsley, sage, mint, turmeric) – we have all of these things in ABUNDANCE NOW!
Other crops we’re harvesting now: peppers of all types (sweet, bell, hot, banana, poblano, shishitos), cherry tomatoes, eggplant, leeks, scallions, cauliflower, fennel, radishes, lettuces of all types, greens of all types (kale, dandelion, bok choi, and more)
And Florida’s most special holiday treat: Roselle hibiscus! (pictured top right) We are harvesting this crop now for the holidays. Here are some ideas with clickable links. If you’re new to roselle, you can try it in a fresh tea for Thanksgiving (we prefer it chilled). If you’re more familiar with using this crop (or you’re feeling adventurous), use it as a local alternative to cranberries and try a “Florida cranberry” sauce. Other folks have found success using roselle in a simple syrup for cocktails, and the famous Jamaican Sorrel Christmas Drink. Another way to try it is as a jam. (Are you a member of our private Facebook group? If not, join our group now, and search for “roselle.” You will be truly inspired by over 30 posts from group members with unique ways they have prepared roselle hibiscus over the years! Join our “Veggie Success” group here.)
Flowers for your home: Our farm grows Florida’s only certified organic chrysanthemums. We grow truly spectacular heirloom varieties in all forms and colors. Each year they bloom right in time for fall festivities. Because we have cultivated heirloom types, you will discover mums you have never seen before, in all of the perfect fall colors. The best part is, they will last for two weeks in a vase (just make sure to check the water level often – they drink a lot). Given their vase life, mums that you take home this weekend will last you until Thanksgiving and beyond. We will also have snapdragons, marigolds, and celosia that are long-lasting and will bloom in your home over the course of the coming week.
We love celebrating the changing of seasons with food and flowers. November is the time of year where we are settling into the harvest season, new crops are becoming available each week, and we are reaping a fruitful harvest after months of planting and tending crops. We are grateful to share this plenty with our community and friends. Thank you always for your support of our work.
All the best,
Ellen and Cole and the Little Pond Farm team