Tuesday’s Giving Garden harvest is going to be a little heavier than most!
The team at the Nature Center’s Giving Garden will be harvesting hundreds of pounds of Eastham turnips on Tuesday, November 15, the first time this crop has been grown at the garden.
Eastham turnips are a distinct variety of turnips known for their creamy white flesh, purple tops, large size and a pleasing, sweet taste. Grown for generations on Cape Cod in the sandy, well drained soil of Eastham and surrounding towns, seeds for the variety were saved by an Eastham farmer after the agricultural focus of the region had moved on to tourism in the 1900s.
Today the Eastham turnip is celebrated on Cape Cod with a November festival bearing its name and a resurgence in popularity, particularly at New England Thanksgiving tables. Turnips, popular in some Latin American recipes, are also one of the most requested produce crops from customers of the Gemma E. Moran Food Center, reports Giving Garden Assistant Farm Manager Koralee Lawrence.
We look forward to a spectacular harvest of the basketball-sized Eastham turnips on Tuesday. Farm Manager Craig Floyd estimates the average weight of the Eastham turnips may be upwards of 20 pounds each, adding hundreds of pounds to the year-end total for the garden.