Purple Pea Flowers: Cross Pollinating With Purple Peas

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It's getting dangerously close to the end of my second apprenticeship here at Stone Barns Center.  I have seen and worked on incredible projects from my first days with Matt as a green volunteer, still believing that carrots grew in the back of a supermarket, to the Captain handing me the keys to the greenhouse back in December.  Relationships with the space, the plants, myself and others. Exploring internally, emotionally pushing myself through false walls and expanding into a capacity I never realized I had both physically and mentally.  This journey has been one of unlearning and learning, hiding from demons and slaying them face to face.  I hold each one of these experiences close to my heart.  Experimenting with these beautiful pea varieties has definitely been one of the more all-encompassing learning experiences on the farm.  I propagated them, built the trellis, transplanted them and have watched them grow.  Over the last few weeks, they finally began to flower and that means it's time for us to cross pollinate the two purple varieties (Caruthers pea and Sugar Magnolia pea) with the green Oregon Giant snow pea. In this process, we select a host or female flower, which will remain attached to the plant we would like to produce a seed pod.  The male flower will be plucked off of another plant and used solely for its pollen.  Peas have what is known as a "perfect flower" which means it has...

Turnips Timing: How choosing when to sow turnip seeds can change everything

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As we continue on into the early spring we begin to analyze the last of our winter decisions in the greenhouse.  This is a key moment, soon we will be back into our high season production and the increase in work is dramatic.  The time of growth and development of each plant will transition from weeks to mere hours.  Back in early February, we seeded a bed of mixed mustards.  It was not only the most beautiful bed I've worked with, but also the most unique in it's practicality.  We seeded the slower growing 'Hakurei' turnips with the fast-paced Ruby Streaks micro mustard green, both in the same plant family Brassicaceae.  Ruby streaks was cut out first leaving 6 evenly spaced rows of turnips to grow in and produce delicious and round turnip roots as pictured above.  This planting could not have come out any better.  It is almost a joke for me to try and explain how good it feels to set out on an unknown path for the first time and find a result as gratifying as this.  The boost in confidence is incredible and the growth and knowledge from the experiment is truly satisfying.  But what may be the most interesting finding from this turnip test is the comparison to...