lavender

I had a few bunches of lavender at the market last week, but most of it was ready earlier this week. Erin and the kids harvested it and hung it up to dry in the basement. The house smells glorious. (Though we’ve been having arguments in our house about whether lavender is the best-smelling herb or whether something else, e.g., basil, takes that prize.) At any rate, we should have plenty of it at the market this week. Despite it being dried, I don’t expect we will have it for many weeks since it usually all sells quite quickly.

I should also have plenty of lettuce this week. It will probably be the last time for a while, since lettuce is another green that does not appreciate summer heat. Recent rains helped this planting grow reasonably well, but I’m not planning to push my luck any further. Lettuce is one of the prettiest vegetables in the garden. Few things are more beautiful than a bed of different varieties lettuce with their diverse leaf colours. Putting it in a bag largely spoils the effect, but doing so seems to be necessary to the lettuce from being a hopelessly wilted mess by the end of a hot market morning. So, here are a couple of pictures of this week’s lettuce:

There is also one new item on the list for this week: fennel. I don’t often have fennel so, if you like fennel, you might want to grab it while you can. — Sydney

This week’s items

Items we plan to have at the market this week (an asterisk indicates unusually limited quantities):

• Beets (Chioggia, Gold, and Merlin)
• Bok choy
• Carrots
• Chard
• Collards
• Cucumbers*
• Dry beans and cowpeas (assorted varieties, including Tiger’s Eye beans, Peregion beans, Red Kidney beans, Pinto beans, and Black Crowder peas)
• Fennel
• Garlic
• Granola (Pecan Cushaw Granola)
• Herb plants
• Kale
• Lavender
• Lettuce (Butterhead, Romaine)
• Mustard greens
• Onions (Candy and Red Candy)
• Pea shoots
• Potatoes (Carola, Purple Majesty, and Red Gold)
• Zucchini*