collards Archives - Rural Studio

This week was marked with large harvests, which were the endings of some spring crop cycles, and seed starting in the seed house, the beginning of new crop cycles.

A close-up of harvested and washed carrots, both purple and orange

A close-up of collard greens — collard greens

A row of mature collard greens in the field, ready for harvest — collard greens

Thankfully, teaching faculty, Mary English, Steve Long, Emily McGlohn, and Xavier Vendrell all graciously volunteered their time to help farm manager Eric during this busy period.

A professor poses with carrots and collards she helped to harvest from the field

A professor washes down trimmed carrots on washing table

Harvested spring crops included lettuces, carrots, collard greens, kale, cutting celery, turnips, arugula, beets, and scallions, as well as herbs like spearmint, dill, thyme, and oregano. Many of these commodities were eaten fresh, but the rest were given to the kitchen where chef Cat processed and stored large quantities for future meals once students have returned.

At the same time, Eric and Emily started seeds for late spring and summer. These future crops were zucchini and summer squash, determinate tomatoes for the field, eggplants, red and orange bell peppers, spicy peppers, and butternut squash.

A view of several trays filled with soil blocks — zucchini seeds day 3

A professor is planting seeds into prepared soil blocks — zucchini seeds day 3

Mature zucchini plants growing in the greenhouse — mature greenhouse zucchini

Eric also planted seeds for various beneficial insect-attracting flowering plants, culinary and medicinal herbs, and perennial ornamentals. While many of these accessory plants do not yield tangible crops, they do confer other benefits on the farm, such as bringing pollinators, deterring pest insects, and aesthetic compensation. It is also a key feature of Rural Studio Farm to use a polyculture model, planting a wide diversity of different crops and flowering plants.