Our next delivery/pickup service will be this Saturday, February 29 on Leap Day!

Why a leap? Well, it turns out we need leap years for our calendar (the Gregorian calendar) to stay aligned with the astronomical seasons. The calendar and the planet fall out of sync because of a mismatch between the length of a day and the length of the year. It doesn’t take exactly 365 days for the Earth to complete an orbit around the Sun — rather it’s approximately 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds.

Without an extra day on February 29 nearly every four years, we would lose almost six hours every year. Within 100 years, the calendar would be off by 25 days. Within a few hundred years, February would end up becoming a summer month according to EarthSky.com.

To resolve this discrepancy, our calendar adds one day (24 hours) to the calendar every four years. But even this adjustment is not exactly correct because it effectively adds 6 hours per year rather than the exact amount of the discrepancy. To compensate for this, most century years (like 1700, 1800 and 1900) are not leap years. The exception to this is years divisible by 400 (1600, 2000, 2400 and so on), which are still leap years.

To complicate matters more — even adding an extra day to February every four years doesn’t quite do the trick, which is why scientists sometimes call for a Leap Second in order to keep the Coordinated Universal Time (or UTC) in alignment with the earth’s rotation. Leap Second events occur on June 30 or December 31 and do not happen very often — about every two-three years. In Rehoboth Beach, the previous leap second occurred on Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 6:59:60 pm. It’s possible the next one will be on December 31, 2020. Check with the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) for when the next one will be officially announced.

Plant, Produce & Cut Flower CSA Deadline: March 1

This is the last week to sign up for Hattie’s Garden CSA!

The cut off for joining the CSA is March 1 and payment is due by March 15 to secure those credits. We are excited with the response so far and want to thank all of you who have already signed up. You make much of what we do possible through your support.

If you have not yet signed-up, consider getting 10% off for any amount of credit so that you may purchase healthy organically grown plants for your garden. This year, we are extending the CSA so that you may also use your credit for any of our produce or cut flowers during the growing season. And remember, your credits do not expire. More information on this program can be found on our website.

Delivery/Pickup Service Schedule

No Delivery, Saturday March 7. Be sure to order this week. As the growing season approaches we do tend to move to a more intermittent schedule and skip a week now and then as produce becomes scarce and our work load slowly increases. Please order any extras things you might need to get you through an extra week as Hattie’s Garden will not operate the service for Saturday March 7. We will resume for the March 14 service.

What’s New This Week

It might be cold outside, but things are heating up in the Backyard Jams and Jellies‘ kitchen with a new hot jam to the line-up: Passion Fire Pepper Jam.

This jam, exclusive to Hattie’s Garden, is a tasty blend of peaches, apricots, hot peppers, and a “kiss” of passion fruit juice. We think Passion Fire Pepper Jam will be delicious on cream cheese or creamy goat cheese, as well as making a wonderful glaze for meats, seafood, vegetables, and even ice cream. Distributed exclusively through Hattie’s Pickup/Delivery Service, this jam will be available for a limited time only.

Hattie’s Garden has brought California to Delaware with delicious organic fruit. We now have Organic Medjool Dates, Organic Mission Figs, Organic Oranges and new this week, Organic pink Grapefruit. All the items are top quality and delicious.

Nancy’s Cafe has added some new soup, quiche, salads & sides, pasta & sauces, and sweets to the line-up. Check it out!

Remember the deadline for ordering is Wednesday at noon. Unfortunately, we won’t normally be able to take late requests, as we must place vendor orders quickly. You will receive an updated reminder on Tuesday, but please order early to be sure you get everything you would like. Supplies are sometimes limited.

Yours in the Garden,