You might be wondering what’s going on here. I was pretty confused. This is the first step in creating an onion.
I took the commuter rail to see Drumlin Farm. Calyb and Anne were working in the greenhouse. That’s a knife and a little piece of paper. That transparent sheet has holes, and one seed goes into each hole. It’s tedious work, one tray takes about an hour.
The onions grow to about an inch high. Then they get transferred outside to a raised tray where they “harden off.” It’s less of a shock to the young plants than going straight into the cold earth. Every year Drumlin grows something like 15 different varieties of alliums: onions, green garlic, scallions, leeks. These make it to CSA shares and to restaurants like Craigie on Main.
Drumlin will drop CSA shares every Thursday to Clover restaurants. Shares are $600, with the option to pay in 2 installments. Clover is their only Boston CSA drop, so it’s your only chance to get Drumlin shares unless you live out in Lincoln.
