The solstice happens at the same instant for all of us, everywhere on Earth (those in the southern hemisphere have the opposite effect with day and night light hours). For us in Delaware, the solstice will occur on Wednesday, December 21, 2016 at 5:44 am.

Winter solstice. Late sunrise. Short day. Early sunset. Long night. At the North Pole, the sun never rises on this day. But it’s not all doom and gloom.

Though a very short day (5 hours, 25 minutes shorter than the Summer Solstice), it also means every day after that will be just a little bit longer, even as we enter the throes of winter. It’s a seasonal shift that nearly everyone notices. The days get longer and the nights shorter as the sun’s steady climb towards the long, warm days of summer. And when we reach 10 hours of daylight (January 25), I can think about growing something new in the high tunnel!

Holiday Schedule

This coming week we will have our delivery/pickup service one day early, on Friday, December 23 instead of Saturday. We did not want to mess up Christmas eve for those of you who celebrate Christmas. We hope this fits your schedule. We will follow the same Friday delivery/pickup for the New Year’s holiday. We will resume our normal schedule on January 7.

• Friday, December 23 – Pickup / Delivery Service — (deadline to order: Tuesday, Dec 20).
• Friday, December 30 – Pickup / Delivery Service — (deadline to order: Tuesday, Dec 27).
• Saturday, January 7 – Pickup / Delivery Service — (deadline to order: Wednesday, Jan 4).

The order form is now available for you and orders will close a day earlier on Tuesday at Noon.

Our vendors can provide plenty of great produce and artisan foods to stock up for the holidays. Although our recent cold snap may have compromised some of our produce, we are hopeful that there is no damage. Most of the produce is very hardy at this time of year and quite a lot of it is being grown in high tunnels and greenhouses, so we are trying to stay optimistic. Please order as normal and if something becomes unavailable, we will let you know early in the week.

Deep Grass is now out of orange sweet potatoes, but has plenty of white O’Henry sweet potatoes. We know people are generally unfamiliar with this gourmet delight, but these are quite delicious. Even if you’ve never been a fan of sweet potatoes before — you have to try O’Henry and we encourage you to try them. Roast them until nice and done and you will enjoy the most wonderful caramelized creation you have ever tasted!

Here at Hattie’s Garden, we are still harvesting young sweet carrots and nice mature arugula from the high tunnel.

Remember the deadline for ordering is Tuesday 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 Monday, but please order early to be sure you get everything you would like. Supplies are sometimes limited.

Yours in the garden, looking forward to the solstice,