“Sometimes It Snows in April” seemed like just another cryptic Prince song. But then this year, it snowed in April. Despite this odd weather, Clark County farmers harvested a bounty of spring vegetables that can be found on local restaurants’ menus.
Red Truck Farm in Ridgefield delivers lettuce and salad mixes, spinach, arugula, baby kale, carrots, baby dill, radishes, microgreens and fresh herbs to Rally Pizza, Elements, Kafiex Roasters, River Maiden and Slow Fox Chili Parlor.
The unseasonably cold weather didn’t hamper the tender greens at Red Truck Farm because agricultural row cover protects any crop that isn’t in the growing tunnel. The cover lets in light and water and keeps plants a tad warmer. As a result, crops flourished despite the odd weather. Some spinach wasn’t covered, but according to farmer Amber Baker, spinach is super cold hardy.
Kelly Peters and Patrick Dorris of Flat Tack Farm in Brush Prairie are focused on getting ready for their community-supported agriculture program. But in the past couple of weeks, they’ve harvested lots of spring raab (flower shoots from overwintered crops like broccoli, collards, kale, etc.) and green garlic. They sold it to Rally Pizza, Slow Fox Chili Parlor and Elements. In addition, Flat Tack’s chicken and duck eggs found their way to Rally Pizza and Elements. Peters and Dorris expect an abundance of greens in the near future, including arugula, mizuna, kale and lettuce.
