We’re going to have an early spring thanks to Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction on this Groundhog day as he was unable to see his shadow when he emerged from his burrow on Saturday morning. It’s only the 19th time in the past 133 years that the famed groundhog has predicted an early spring outcome.

He usually goes with “six more weeks of winter” probably because on Feb. 2, there really are six more weeks of winter, seasonally speaking.

This is great news for us affected by the historic code purple polar vortex that hit us last week. And good news for the participants in the Lewes Polar Bear Plunge which begins today at 1:15 pm in Rehoboth Beach.

Pickup/Delivery Service Resumes

We are back on for our delivery / pickup service for Saturday, February 9.

Thankfully, Chesapeake Organic, Totem Farms and Fresh Harvest have been harvesting from inside their greenhouses, and do have great fresh vegetables for us.

In addition, Jen from Flying Squirrel is back with her wonderful pies! Look for Patty’s soup of the week — Italian peasant soup with cabbage, white beans and fontina cheese.

We also have lots of delightful cheese in stock from Chapel’s Country Creamery and the mushroom houses at Davidson’s continue to produce nice fresh, nutritious mushrooms all winter. Of course, don’t forget to get your free-range eggs from Twin Post.

Hattie’s Garden still has honey from our own hives for both general use and for soothing, medicinal care of colds and flu. Plant Wisdom Within provides lots of great herbal products and remedies too.

Wineberry Jam

We are featuring Wineberry Jam, an exclusive to Hattie’s Garden from Backyard Jams and Jellies!

It’s a long story, but Totem Farms acquired some beautiful locally harvested wineberries, passed them on to Hattie’s Garden and we passed them on to Krista Scudlark at Backyard since we knew she would make the best use of them! She’s made enough jam only for Hattie’s Garden to offer, so get some of this limited item this week before its gone.

For those that may not know, wineberry is an Asian species of raspberry. The fruit looks and tastes almost exactly like a raspberry with a tinge more orange.

Plant CSA

Remember to sign up for your plant credits with Hattie’s Garden Plant CSA Program.

If you are a home gardener, we encourage you to participate. The program lets you purchase plant credits ahead of the season at a 10% discount to get nice healthy plants for your garden.

Although primarily meant to purchase plants, your credit can be used for any product sold by Hattie’s Garden and they will not expire. You may join anytime during the month of February.

The CSA model (Community Supported Agriculture) helps farmers like us to purchase inputs for our season. This socioeconomic model strengthens the sense of community through local markets. Hattie’s Garden Plant CSA is an important partnership with our community for our survival as a small business, as we focus on bringing real value and education to our customers. You can read more about it on last week’s post.

Yours in the Garden throughout the winter,