If the squash blossom is the darling princess of The Chef’s Garden, then asparagus is king. Heck. Asparagus might as well be the whole royal family.

In Europe, chefs almost always use white asparagus, rarely green. Because white asparagus beautifully offers up luscious notes of corn and sweet cabbage, we fully appreciate their love of this marvelous vegetable. European farmers mound soil over the asparagus plants to block the chlorophyll process, which creates the white color. But, these plants need to push hard through the soil and end up with tough outer skins that need peeled off. This adds labor (costs and time) to the mix, and then the most nutritious part of the vegetable is thrown away.

According to Inc.com, there are ten reasons why it’s important to create a happy workplace. For one thing, the article points out, happiness is contagious and can spread throughout an entire company. And, here another benefit: happy employees also tend to be the most successful ones. People who enjoy their work are “more productive, happier, and more successful. This increases self-confidence and inspires greater performance and greater success for both employee and employers.”

Yes, it’s that time again, the time when we all mull over what happened in the year that’s about to close and imagine what’s yet to come. And, at The Chef’s Garden, that’s exactly what Farmer Lee Jones has been doing: reminiscing over a fantastic year and envisioning how next year will be even better.

At The Chef’s Garden, we have experimented with 100+ varieties of lettuce, narrowing that down to 20 to 25 of our chefs’ favorites. Plus, we always have eight to ten new varieties in research or trial stage, each of which thrive in cooler weather.

Our fifth annual Roots conference took place from September 25th to 26th, and our goal was to bring together the most groundbreaking chefs, farmers, thought leaders, activists and food scientists, so we could engage in dynamic discussions about culinary innovations.