Thank you for a wonderful 2019! 

We are CLOSED for the season.  Join us Opening Day, March 27, 2020 for a whole new season of Family Fun on the Farm!  See you in the Spring!!

What’s Ripe and Ready for Picking?

Sign up for free U-Pick Alerts! You'll always be the first to know what's ripe and ready for picking at Great Country Farms.

Thanks for signing up!

By submitting this form, you are granting: Great Country Farms permission to email you. You may unsubscribe via the link found at the bottom of every email. (See our Email Privacy Policy for details.) Emails are serviced by Constant Contact.
Close

Great Country Farms

Community Supported Agriculture, CSA, Produce Farm, U-Pick, Field Trips in Loudoun County, VA

Pick your Own Fruit Farm

CLOSED for the 2019 season.

Winter Office Hours: Tuesday-Thursdays 10am-4pm
540-554-2073
18780 Foggy Bottom Road, Bluemont, VA 20135

Extended Forecast
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Get U-Pick Alerts
  • Home
  • About
    • Attractions
  • U-Pick/Farm Market
    • Pick your own: What’s in season?
    • Crops By Season
    • U-Pick Tips and FAQs
  • Roosteraunt
  • CSA/Fan
    • CSA Produce Membership
    • Community Group Sites
    • Fan of the Farm Season Pass
    • CSA Frequently Asked Questions
    • 2019 CSA Membership Agreement
    • Neighborhood Farming Since 1993
    • Recipes
    • Sample Produce List
  • Picnics
    • Company Picnic Ideas
    • Meetings & Team Building
    • Barn Wedding Venue
    • Family Celebrations
    • Picnic Venues
  • Birthdays
    • Barnyard Bash
    • Evening Bonfire
    • Gem Mining Adventure
  • Field Trips
    • School Field Trips
      • Strawberry Tour
      • Gem Mining Tour
      • Garden Tour
      • Pollinator Tour
      • Apple Tour
      • Pumpkin- Fall Tour
    • Summer Camps
  • Festivals
  • Blog
  • Contact
    • Farmhand Central
    • Donations
    • Employment Opportunities

GCF Kale Watch Week Three: Spinach

February 13, 2015 by Mark Dewey

IMG_1030

Spinach roots convert starch to sugar when temperatures drop below freezing, so the stems, which are close to the roots, taste especially sweet.

I picked the spinach in that bowl on February 10, which is the dead of winter on the Blue Ridge, but the leaves I pulled from the ground were not dead. The big leaves with the red streaks on their stems had probably been alive for three or four weeks, during which time the temperature had dropped as low as 12 degrees now and then, and the little crinkly ones were basically newborns — that is, they had emerged from rootstock during a few hours on Monday and Tuesday when temperatures crept into the forties.

To express my wonder at the resilience of those leaves, I was going to write the harvest date on them in dark balsamic vinegar and then photograph them — their life deserved commemoration — but by the time I had poured the first two digits, I realized that the full date would hide the subtle spinach flavor under too much vinegar, so I stopped pouring and covered the numbers with sunflower seeds and a couple of Craisins.

That was dinner.10982337_10153129121134185_2853593772418185950_n

“These leaves,” I told my dog, “shouldn’t be able to grow in an open field at this time of year.”

He quivered in excitement at the natural phenomenon the spinach represented.

“I’m not saying it’s a miracle that they’re alive,” I granted, “only that they shouldn’t be, and yet they are.”

He inched closer to my chair, closer and closer, in flagrant violation of established dinner table etiquette, believing I suppose that the meal we shouldn’t be able to eat would nullify such trivia as behavioral covenants.

And why not? How often does a meal of food that shouldn’t exist show up on your table?

IMG_0948Well, three or four times a week, if you have access to the spinach patch at Great Country Farms, but my dog lives in the moment, so I offered him a leaf.

He snatched it from my hand and ran into the kitchen, where he skidded to a halt, shook his head vigorously, and spit the leaf out on the floor.

It had a lot of vinegar on it. I hope he doesn’t associate that flavor with miracles.

Temperatures this weekend are supposed to drop to three degrees. If the spinach survives that kind of cold, I’m going to pick as much as I can and offer it to the sick, the forsaken, the broken-hearted, and the bored.

Maybe I’ll take some to Martin’s and sprinkle it into the bins on the salad bar.

Because either everyone deserves a miracle or no one does.

Filed Under: Eat, On Foggy Bottom Road Tagged With: balsamic vinegar, cold weather gardening, greens, spinach, temperatures, winter crops, winter greens

Join Our Award Winning Produce Delivery (CSA) Program

Now is the time to join our Community Support Agriculture (CSA) program, which offers your family 20 weeks of freshly picked fruits and vegetables grown just for you at Great Country Farms.

Learn more about our CSA

What’s Ripe and Ready for Picking?

Strawberry Season is usually mid-May to Early June! Sign up for our email newsletter and receive free U-Pick alerts! You’ll always be the first to know what’s ripe and ready for picking at Great Country Farms.

Sign up for U-Pick alerts

Latest from the Farm Blog

What’s My Delivery Day?

Why Drink Apple Cider Vinegar?

Microbiome Is Our Inner Soil

Learning to Love Our Bacteria

CSA 2018 Survey Results

Upcoming Events

There are no upcoming events.

View Calendar
Add
  • Add to Timely Calendar
  • Add to Google
  • Add to Outlook
  • Add to Apple Calendar
  • Add to other calendar
  • Export to XML

Connect With Us

Follow us on Social Media and stay up-to-date with all the wonderful happenings and fun events at our farm!
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

© Copyright 2015 Great Country Farms - All Rights Reserved
18780 Foggy Bottom Road Bluemont, Virginia 20135
540-554-2073

Small Business Websites by 5.12 Design Lab · Admin

▲