Welcome back to a slightly delayed episode of Lost in the Farmer’s
Market. As some of you might know, the semester started so rapidly that the
posting of this episode is almost two weeks late. With that said expect a
double post, as this week’s post will be coming sometime this weekend, and then
all will be up to date. Now in regards to the topic at hand, this week’s topic
is about the compiled information for the 2014 growing year. In reviewing and
organizing the data I was able to immediately tell it was a tough year by more
than one criterion. For instance there are no recorded harvests in January,
February or March. But then we knew it was a bad winter and it is noted on record
that I had an 80% crop loss of all crops planted in the ground. Potted crops
struggled and were brought into the lab repeatedly and well 2015 seem to be
more of the same. So the first record of note for 2014 is for the most
productive plants by total weight of harvest.
Top 5 Most Productive – 2014,
by weight
11.
Fig, White Ischia, 4 pounds, 11 ½ ounces.
22.
Fig, Brown Turkey, 2 pounds, 5 ½ ounces.
33.
Blueberries, Rabbiteye, 2 pounds, ¼ ounces.
44.
Tomato, Cherokee Purple, 1 pound, 7 ¾ ounces.
55.
Mustard, Japanese Red Giant, 1 pound, 6 ounces.
2013’s winning top producer, the red giant mustard had a bad year but
somehow held onto a top five productivity spot by weight. However the unusually
wet weather seems to have been a great help to blueberry and fig crops.
Interestingly the Cherokee purple tomatoes despite being smaller than normal out
produced all other types (22 varieties grown in 2014) by weight. It seems 2014
was made of surprising twists and turns as far as crop productivity was concerned.
However one must also consider the numerical amounts of fruit produced.
Top 5 Most Productive – 2014,
by Quantity
11.
Blueberries, Rabbiteye - 375 Berries.
22.
Ground Cherry, Cossack Pineapple - 181 ground
cherries.
33.
Tomato, Mexico Midget – 169 tomatoes.
44.
Fig, White Ischia – 85 Figs.
55.
Fig, Celeste – 67 Figs.
I am sure that Red Giant Mustard would have made the quantity-based top
five easily however counting how many leaves you pick is a bit much to keep
track of. I can safely assume there were more leaves picked than blueberries
simply because of the sheer amount of leaves it tends to take to have a pound
of greens for cooking. Either way, the blueberries won the confirmed quantity
count followed by the ground cherries and last year’s tomato quantity favorite
Mexico Midget. White Ischia figs make up the fourth spot while celeste figs
lacking the weight of the brown turkey figs take up the fifth spot for
quantity. But of course, these two charts only tell part of the story.
Most Successful
Non-Perennials – 2014 (by quantity)
11.
Tomato, Mexico Midget – 169 tomatoes.
22.
Ground cherries, Cossack Pineapple – 181 ground
cherries.
33.
Tomato, Brown Berry – 48 tomatoes.
44.
Tomato, Blueberries – 43 tomatoes.
55.
Pepper, Yellow Devil’s Tongue – 32 peppers.
So now it’s starting to show the real demographics of success, we now
know what did best, produced the most and now the final aspect of this survey
of our records is something LITFM has never posted for public scrutiny before.
At the Farmer’s Market every week your purchases were recorded and noted, and
the following indicates what you preferred the most and thus will be returning
in 2015.
Best Sellers – 2015
11.
Aloe
22.
Assorted Basil
33.
Lavender
44.
Artemesia
55.
(Tie) Rosemary, Red Giant Mustard and Stonehead
Cabbage.
66.
Irish Eyes Rudbeckia
77.
Golden Rudbeckia
88.
Parris Island Cos Lettuce
99.
(Tie) Rouge D’hiver Lettuce & Sage
110. Sweet
Banana Peppers.
I have to admit, the interesting thing about the above record is how
well all of you out there responded to the offering of Aloes of assorted types,
and that of this entire list half of it is comprised o of new offerings for
2014. I might add your response to my offerings of fruiting shrubs was also
very encouraging, who knew the Chicago Hardy Figs and Dwarf Pomegranates would
be gone within a week of their initial offering? I can assure you that 2015 will have some
real surprising additions and a number of your requests have been taken into
consideration for this year. With any luck the remainder of January and all of
February will not be nearly as bad weather wise so far we’ve already had our
first real deep killing freeze with that weather about a week ago where
temperatures hit 14 degrees with wind chill. Honestly the test gardens still
have damages from that and I am currently trying some new and inventive means
to keep the crops alive as February is typically when we have been getting
additional freezes and snow. However
know that things will keep rolling here and in the next installment you get to
see some of what I am doing to keep the crops alive.
In the meanwhile this Sunday is the Sustainable Neighbors Yearly Seed
Swap event. The event is happening on Sunday January the 25th at
2:00pm at the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex. Also, I am still at
the Fayetteville Farmers Market on Saturdays between 9:00am and 1:00pm however
due to the bad weather this weekend I might not attend, hopefully the weather
will cooperate next weekend.
P.S. Stay tuned however this weekend's normal update is coming soon.
