This summer's cold and wet spells had us worried, but our late tomato plantings ripened just in time for the Tasting Tent at the 7th annual Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello. Seeds were swapped, local food was savored, and fresh information spread through new networks of friends and neighbors. Save the date for next year's festival: Friday & Saturday, September 12-13, 2014. heritageharvestfestival.com

Available for a Limited Time: Onions, Garlic & Rare Woodland Medicinals

'Tis the season for planting garlic and perennial onions, ginseng, and goldenseal, so place your orders now while there's still time. These items ship in the Fall Only and are best planted in fall, so don't miss your chance. We include a detailed planting guide with all these special seasonal items.

• Perennial Onions: Yellow Potato Onions and Egyptian Walking Onions
• Gourmet Garlic Bulbs: Italian Softneck Garlic, California Early, Inchellium Red, Chesnok Red, and Music, or try a Garlic Sampler for a small amount of several varieties.
• Ginseng, seeds or roots.

New (Old!) Varieties for Summer Squash (and other summer variety trials)

As part of our winter squash variety trials this year at our farm in central Virginia, we are evaluating various winter squash for quality when harvested young and tender like summer squash. To our surprise, many varieties traditionally grown for winter squash are also delicious and tender as summer squash, and come in a variety of unique shapes and sizes.

This is a boon to gardeners in the Southeast, since two species traditionally grown for winter squash, Cucurbita moschata and C. argyosperma (mixta) are more disease- and pest- resistant in our climate than C. pepo, the species to which most summer squash belongs.

Finding the young squash under the sprawling vines took extra time, but it was worth it. We found that when picked small and tender, Tennessee Sweet Potato squash, an argyosperma variety, is tasty and very similar to traditional summer squashes. Immature moschata squahes have an agreeable texture and a delicious, buttery taste.

We'll have more on the results of our trials soon, and our 2014 catalog (available in December) will be updated with these surprising (and flavorful) discoveries.

We've also been experimenting with heirloom sesame seeds from Monticello, and hope to be able to have enough seed to sell this year. And as another alternative to summer squash, we're running trials of edible gourds (Luffa is a favorite edible gourd that can be used like summer squash when picked young).

Young Farmer Mixer

Join us on our farm in Central Virgina for a Farm Tour, Seed Saving Demonstration, Potluck dinner, music, and much more at our Young Farmer Mixer, Saturday, October 19, beginning at 4 pm. RSVP to applefolktale@gmail.com for directions.

Upcoming Events

Come meet the Southern Exposure crew or catch one of our workshops at these upcoming events.

Help Us Support Fresh Food and Local Farmers!

We donate 30% of the purchase price of every Virginia Heritage Seed Collection to the Piedmont Environmental Council and their "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" campaign.