Chefs love this creamy tuber for its versatility, celebrating them in savory and sweet recipes. Find out more about its past and present—and imagine its future!

Mother (Nature) Knows Best Winter weather has arrived at the farm. On this particular day, a wintry mix of sleet and rain is crusting our windshields with sheets of ice as smooth as glass. The bare field rows, relieved of their summer duties, are parallel streams of muddied soil and rainwater. The last few stragglers of fall foliage are holding on, but not for long.

“Peas and carrots,” Farmer Lee Jones mused just a few days ago, “go together like a sock and a shoe.” That’s hard to debate and we quickly realized that his mind was on the best of the summer crops. So, we asked him to share what fresh vegetables he’d put on his 2018 summer crops list. The first? Petite carrots! The second? Mixed snow peas. Here’s more.

Seaweed has always played an important role in the cultural, culinary and spiritual life of the Irish people. For thousands of years, they have farmed, bathed and cooked with seaweed and it is as important to their cultural identities as their Celtic songs and the message of tolerance that St. Patrick planted in their hearts forevermore.

“One of the biggest misconceptions about farming is that, when winter arrives, it’s all over until it’s time for spring peas.”

Imagine slithering through a plastic tunnel – outdoors, mind you – that’s eight feet tall and six feet wide. You’re slithering because it’s full of beets and carrots, and there is ice hanging from the top of the tunnel. If the ice breaks off, it could damage the crops you’ve worked so hard to grow. The truth is, even if you didn’t bump into the icicles and break them off, the blustery winter winds could do it for you. And, here’s one more catch. While in the tunnel, you also needed to figure out to oh-so-delicately harvest the crops.