Focus
on Coop Suppliers:
Meet Janet Britt and Her Plants
by Suzanne Fisher
It’s gardening season
again and
flats of young pants of all varieties greet shoppers outside the doors
of
Honest Weight. As you peruse the offerings, you may wonder where the
organic
heirloom tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables and herbs come from.
Honest
Weight is fortunate to have a supplier who grows almost exclusively for
the
Coop crowd — Janet Britt.
A long-time member of
Honest Weight,
Janet has been farming for 25 years in various venues. She used to run
her own
Community Supported Agriculture farm (originally CSA of the Hudson
Mohawk,
later renamed Buttermilk Farm), which is probably why she knows so much
about
which varieties to plant in our climate and how to care for seedlings
so well.
She moved on to growing plants for Honest Weight, which she has done
now for
about ten years. She also works for Slack Hollow Farm, which supplies
Honest
Weight with vegetables, and in the winter for Underwoods Greenhouse,
growers of
Shushan Select tomatoes.
What makes Janet’s plants
so good
for our gardens begins with the environmentally sound way she raises
them. She
pro- duces everything in one 21-by-32-foot greenhouse that is not
heated fully
unless absolutely necessary. The seeds are sown into shallow, slotted
trays of
20-inch-deep troughs on heated pads, and covered by their own little
tents of
wire and plastic that resemble the covered wagons of yore. These
mini-greenhouses
keep the heat where it belongs,, so that Janet doesn’t have to have the
whole
greenhouse steamy for seeds to germinate. From these flats, the tiny
seedlings
are transplanted into sixpacks, where they will grow into a size more
appropriate
for planting in the garden. Before leaving the farm to be sold, plants
spend
time in one of the four cold frames outside of the greenhouse to
“harden off,” a
process that helps them to tolerate sun, wind and cooler temperatures.
This, of
course, means that we don’t have to harden them off ourselves when we
bring
them home!
Janet farmed in
Schaghticoke for 17
years and moved to Cambridge
18 months ago. She has applied for organic certification through
NOFA-NY for
this season, and closely follows all certification requirements. This
year’s
line-up of heirloom tomatoes is impressive, and includes names like
Persimmon, Rose
de Berne, Cherokee Purple, Striped German, Goldie and the two most
popular,
Brandywine and Sun Gold. One of Janet’s favorites is Rose de Berne, a
smaller, pink
tomato that resists cracking, is productive and tastes good. For short
seasons,
Janet recommends Golden Boy or Moskvich. Her selection of hot peppers
includes Hungarian
Hot Wax, Early Jalapeno, Cayenne
(for drying), Annaheim (good for chiles rellenos, Habaneros for
Carribean cooking),
and Thai (tiny peppers with a huge amount of heat). Among her sweet
pepper
offerings are Valencia
(which ripens to orange), Lipstick (a pimento type) and Ace (an early
ripener).
Janet grows several varieties of basil: Lemon, Cinnamon, Red Ruffles,
Bush
Basil and Genovese. She also offers starts of parsley, dill and
cilantro, as well
cucumbers, melons, three kinds of kale and broccoli, lettuces, leeks,
dandelions, chard, beets, arugula, okra, and four varieties of onion.
And this
is not an exhaustive list!
When
asked if she has any advise to give, Janet recommends planting tomatoes
and peppers
later, because they prefer warmer weather. Think of that advice when
you are sorely
tempted to buy and plant tomatoes one fine afternoon in the beginning
of May. She
also says that it is good to try a new vegetable every year to see if
something
else besides what you usually plant does well in your particular
gardening
spot. Janet says that growing plants for Honest Weight is a labor of
love, and
it is for her a nice way of staying connected with those who were in
her CSA in
earlier years. Her plants do look well loved, and healthy enough to
survive
whatever abuse you or the weather might dish out to them. Take home a
few, dig
in — and enjoy the growing season!
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