Radish season is here again! We have tons of beautiful red radishes coming out of the field this week!

Hello farm friends!

Our farm stand will be back in operation this Tuesday after a break last week due to the Hurricane Irma rains. We are thankful that nothing was damaged, very few plants even blew over in all the wind we received!

Honestly the worst thing that all that rain did was cause fire ant mounds to pop up EVERYWHERE!! We use a safe, organic-based product called “Come & Get It” from Renfrow’s to treat the mounds in the fields. This is also the preferred product we recommend to customers who have pets and children running around their lawns. It is consistently effective for us and one bag goes a long way. We are diligently treating the mounds in preparation for our special farm dinner in a few short weeks – details below!

This week, expect to see:
Radishes, green onions, eggplant, okra, tomatoes, collards, henpeck mustard, garlic, winter squash, peppers, honey, flower bouquets, and more – all grown at our farm.

Wednesday & Saturday pre-ordered produce boxes will have radishes, choice of collards or mustard, green onions, garlic, a winter squash, eggplant, & a couple slicing tomatoes.

Our farm stand will be open this Tuesday (9/19) from 10am until 1pm or 2pm at 409 W Charles Street in downtown Matthews.

Order Produce Boxes Here!

Outstanding in the Field Farm Dinner

Most of you probably remember hearing about our crazy farm dinner last October, but as many of you are new subscribers to this newsletter I want to briefly mention it! Outstanding in the Field is a traveling company from California that pairs local-foods-oriented chefs with farmers in their area and orchestrate a fine dining dinner experience at the farm. We were honored to be asked to host their first-ever Charlotte dinner in 2016.

Here is the newsletter from the week following this dinner, which was nearly rained out due to Hurricane Matthew – thank goodness we had the hardware store building to host the dinner and didn’t have to cancel it!! Our guests came from far and wide (California, DC, Raleigh, etc) and we provided a brief tour of the farm when the rain slowed to a sprinkle, though enjoyed the multi-course meal inside the various hardware store rooms. The ambiance of a 120-year-old hardware store was unmatched as a venue across their nation-wide tour and remains one of their most memorable events!

There are still a few tickets available for this year’s dinner catered by our friend Chef Adam Reed of Sante of Matthews on Thursday, October 5th.

Want to join us? Learn More

Fruit Plant Arrival!

We received our enormous annual shipment of fruit plants at the hardware store last week. From apples, pears, and persimmons to grapes, blueberries, and brambles, this is will be the peak of availability for the next 12 months.

I updated the variety inventory on our website and recommend stopping in soon, especially if you are looking for apples, pears, persimmons and goji berries – these typically sell out first!

Fruit Plant Availability

Want to learn more about planting these perennial crops in your landscape? We have growing guides for Blueberries, Brambles: Blackberries & Raspberries, Muscadine Grapes & Figs available for download from the website.

Download Fruit Growing Guides

Japanese persimmons – a pest-free, disease-free, no-maintenance fruit in our climate!

These fruit also arrived just in time for our next gardening class that is all about these fruit and so many other perennial food crops for your garden!

Successful Gardener Series Class

taught by Jeff Rieves

Rabbiteye blueberries loaded down with fruit to ripen in midsummer

Perennial Food Plants

Not every food plant is an annual. Some food plants last for years. With proper management, some of them can last for decades! We’ll look at several of them, and learn how to make them a part of a successful garden. We will meet on Wednesday, September 27th at 10am at Renfrow Hardware and walk up to the farm, weather-permitting.

Get all the class details here

We will discuss a wide array of crops – fruit plants of all sorts, asparagus, perennial onions, herbs, and self re-seeding annual crops that you won’t have to replant if provided with their ideal habitat!

Let Jeff know you’re coming!

Pecan trees are a long-term investment and require a large amount of open space to grow to maturity, but will reap delicious and nutritious rewards for generations to come!

Produce Boxes

Wednesday & Saturday pre-ordered produce boxes will have radishes, garlic, choice of collards or mustard greens, green onions, a baby winter squash, eggplant, & a couple slicing tomatoes.

Order Produce Boxes Here

How it works:

Pre-ordered $20 produce boxes are available on Wednesdays and Saturdays each week, with ingredients and the order form link updated in each week’s newsletter.
Please place Wednesday orders before 2pm on Tuesday, and Saturday orders before 2pm on Thursday! The order form will be shut down after 2pm on Thursday.
Pickup of produce is always at Renfrow Hardware during business hours (Wednesday 8am-5pm and Saturday 8am-2pm). Day of choice is specified on order form.
Payment is accepted upon pickup like any other hardware store purchase. Ask for your order at the counter and we will get it for you.
We cannot reserve quantities of produce that are less than these $20 boxes, but if you are looking to place a specific flower order or have a different type of request, please email me directly – Pressly@RenfrowFarms.com.