The myth: supermarket organic salad all year round
If you have been eating organic salad mixes (spring mix, mesclun, field greens, and so forth) you know that they can be found in the supermarket all of the time. Exactly the same mixture of greens, exactly the same size greens, in exactly the same proportion, in January, April, July, or October. So you think that this selection should be offered wherever salads are grown, right? Your locally produced organic salads should be available in the same way, right?
Wrong!
Mass marketed organic salads are produced mostly in the west (in California and other western states, as well as Mexico) but they are not produced on the same farm all year. These large operations grow the greens in different areas at different times of the year. So if it is too hot for arugula on one farm, there is another farm somewhere amongst the company's many acres that is the right temperature. In this way, supermarkets can offer the same salad mixture all year round, but different components may grow on different farms, or even in different states.
Locally produced greens from small organic farms do not have this option. We plant salad as soon as possible in the spring. It grows slowly while the weather is cool. Then, as Michigan weather frequently does, it suddenly gets hot and the greens grow very fast. Continuing the planting helps somewhat, for a while, but eventually all of the greens end up the same size. Many of the non-lettuce greens in mesclun or spring mixes will bolt to flower. Lettuce gets big, so bye-bye baby salad, hello leaf lettuce. Although I plant lettuce several times, spaced weeks apart, sooner or later all the beds are the same size.
Another difference between mass production of salad greens and small-scale production is in the handling. I handle the greens by hand. I cut by hand, wash by hand, spin by hand, and pack by hand. I pick through the greens for bad leaves and weeds three or four times by the time they go into a bag. Large-scale producers cut greens acres at a time by machine, wash and dry by machine, and pack by machine. Although human hands probably sort these mass produced greens, they undoubtedly do so on a conveyer belt with numerous other employees. On our farm, just me.
Given these differences, I like to think that I produce a better product for you. It may change from week to week according to the size of the greens and which ones are at a proper stage for salad, but it is as fresh as something you grew yourself, and it does not require the same amount of gas that you use to drive to work for an entire month to cross the country to get to you.
So don't look for baby spring mix in July and August from Whetham Organic Farm. Enjoy the greens in their proper season, and then move on to other vegetables like cucumbers and tomatoes. Salads can be many things besides lettuce. Baby salad mixes with arugula, mustard, and other greens are for spring and fall. Larger leaf lettuce and heads of delicious lettuces that never see a supermarket produce department are ready in early summer. We may experiment with different heat tolerant greens for summer salads, but mostly we expect you to eat cucumbers and tomatoes, cabbage and kohlrabi for your summer salads. Spinach and baby lettuce will be back when the time is right.