Você está na página 1de 1

Food Crops 183

end of May, the arugula began to become slightly bitter


and very spicyperfect for pesto. We then harvested the
whole bed at once and ran it through the food processor
with olive oil, sunower seeds, pepper, and some green
garlic pulled from the burgeoning garlic beds.
Looking back, I gure that this bed produced the
equivalent of $250 to $350 worth of leafy greens if
bought from the local co-op at the going late-winter/
early-spring rate of $8 a pound. Beyond those savings is
an equal or greater value: These greens tasted far better
than arugula from the marketand of course they did!
Every time we ate these greens, they were mere minutes
old. Fresher, nearly free, and from the remineralized
soils we made, such greens are guaranteed to be nutrient
dense. The value of taking ve steps out the kitchen door
to harvest a salad while the rest of the meal is on the
stove is also immeasurable.
Pestoheavy in garlicone of our favorite ways of using arugula
The power of overwintering plants so they can begin
growing again in the spring was fully realized at the
WSRF in the late winter and early spring of 2012, begin-
ning with a late September 2011 sowing of arugula from
seed in a 3'8' raised bed. This bed was established in
September 2011 with a local college course group that
was visiting the farm for the day. The students and I
lled a slew of newly built raised beds on the south side
of the WSD workshop and seeded them immediately,
most with cover crops, one with garlic, and one with
arugula. The remaining days in September and much of
early October were mild and rainyperfect to start the
arugula, which had been broadcast and spread by hand.
By the time the real cold of winter set in around
mid-December (late compared to normal), the arugula
had reached about three inches in height and lled the
surface area of the bed. At this point the plants stopped
growing. They went through the winter in this condition
covered by one layer of greenhouse lm draped over
metal quick hoops (one-eighth inch or exible metal
rods bent into a half hoop over beds). During the cold-
est time of the year, the arugula died back to near the
surface of the soil. Although I thought they might have
died, by February the tiny plants had greened up.
A heat wave in March (seemingly more common each
year now) caused the plants to begin rapid regrowth, and
by mid-March we were eating the sweetest, most avor-
ful arugula Id ever tasted. We then proceeded to harvest
this bed in cut-and-come-again style about eight times,
taking a week or less between harvests. Finally, at the
Silvetta arugula is almost impossible to beat for an early- and late-
season crop in this very cold climate.
THE ENDLESS ARUGULA BED
Silvetta arugula growing vigorously in March after overwintering in
dormancy for three months
ResilientFarmHomestead_finalpages.indd 183 8/15/13 11:12 AM

Você também pode gostar