Greens Growing and Winds Blowing

**Silas and Pippa showing off the spring greens harvest**

The wind has certainly kept us on our toes this week. Alongside the usual demands of the market garden, we’ve found ourselves chasing after netting and tarps as gale-force gusts have swept across the Moss Valley. We always take care to weigh everything down securely, but the odd exceptional gust still manages to catch us out, creating the extra task of gathering and resetting once things calm down. At this time of year in particular, it’s vital that newly planted crops—like our early brassicas—stay protected. Those tender young leaves are all too tempting for pigeons, pheasants, and rabbits, and it doesn’t take much nibbling to set a crop back or lose it entirely.

**Jacob fighting against the wind to cover up recently planted seedlings**

Tuesday’s harvest was a brisk and blustery one, but it came with a milestone we’ve been eagerly awaiting: our first big pick of the season’s greens. We harvested 26kg of beautiful spring greens, and most customers this week will be receiving a portion, or our tasty spinach beet. Greens like kale, chard, and spinach are a cornerstone of the market garden, they offer a high yield from a relatively small area and, with careful succession planting, can be harvested continuously throughout the season. Beyond their reliability in the field, they’re also incredibly nutritious—packed with vitamins A,C, and K, along with a wide range of essential minerals. Their versatility in the kitchen makes them a firm favourite too and a recipe members of the team have been enjoying recently is Meera Sodhas’ miso butter greens pasta, which is a brilliant way to use up a large portion of greens.