Hey Reader,
Dusti here. It's been a minute!
I've been in the backyard, listening to podcasts, running experiments, and growing approximately one metric fuckton of tomatoes.
Beginning this week, you'll be hearing from me slightly more often - I'm shooting towards a monthly cadence to share more of what's going on at Hearth & Hollow and in the wider community regarding food security, local resiliency initiatives, and looping you in on the national conversation where it's relevant re: big ag and how it impacts our health.
Upcoming markets
I'll be at the Kindred Flea Market on September 27th from 10-4. Stop by, celebrate Kindred's 5 year anniversary, and pick yourself up a plant or an herb bundle. And please, share it far and wide with your friends! These small markets matter so much to building local resiliency.
What's growing
I've got a variety of fall starts in the greenhouse right now, and they are looking pretty happy!
We'll have:
- Broccoli
- Bibb lettuce
- Bok Choi
- Spinach
- Curly Kale
- Leeks
- Peas
- Turnips
- Celery
- Lots of herbs, but they aren't ready yet.
Thanks to an overabundance of them out back, I'm also prepping strawberries and raspberries that will be available for porch or market pickup this weekend. These are an unconfirmed variety, but they are extremely productive, mostly thornless, and I think are Willamette.
Thornless blackberry will be available soon, so put a pin in that for later if it's been on your list!
What I'm listening to
If you're not familiar with Eliot Coleman, you should be. He's one of the OGs from the 1960's who led the organic movement, fought the USDA, and he's still alive and kickin' today. (Not to mention still going to bat with the USDA over their bullshit.)
He was recently on The Market Gardener Podcast with Jean-Martin Fortier, and the episode is an unexpectedly rich history lesson that takes us right to this critical moment for small farms.
What I'm making
I don't know about you, but my greenhouse is still rich with tomatoes, and a few too many cherry tomatoes if I'm being honest.
This tomato jam is canning approved, super easy, and turned out very nicely.
Two notes from me -
1. It was initially a little bit too sweet, so I ended up adding some additional vinegar.
2. I didn't bother cutting the tomatoes the way she recommended, because my tomatoes were all fairly small. That said, definitely take the time to strain out the extra liquid. I pressed mine into a colander which worked well, but I should've gotten out a little bit more to decrease cooking time.
What's coming
Hearth & Hollow was born out of the ashes of the inauguration, fueled by wanting to create a path forward for my son's blacksmithing interest and to ensure I'm doing what I can to support local food resiliency.
Since May, I've been selling plants at markets, hosting porch pickups, and meeting so many new people. I've grown hundreds of plants, thousands of tomatoes (oops), and learned a ton along the way.
The project has been humming along all year, and things are about to get very exciting a big way: I'm offering a quarterly plant CSA in 2026!
It's just like a regular CSA, except instead of food, you get vegetable and herb starts.
You can either choose your own plants, or I can put together a selection for you. Plants will be ready for pickup beginning in February, but you can pick them up anytime between Feb 15-April 15.
Want to become a founding Hearth & Hollow CSA member?
There are only 20 spaces available for the CSA at this time, but I'm looking to get another greenhouse and expand by the next quarter.
Final Thoughts
It's been a wild year on so many levels, and I'm grateful for folks like you who are committed to staying grounded and connected, too. Thank you so much for being here.
Talk soon,
Dusti