Word on the street from MGFD forager Chris Padin is we have a few more weeks of South Florida heirlooms.
If you’re a public radio junkie like me, you’ve been hearing a bunch of NPR reports on WLRN/91.3 FM about how dramatic the changes in weather are this year across the globe. Here in the United States, the National Weather Service is reporting a record-breaking warm winter with more than 7,700 daily highs busted last month, on the heels of the fourth warmest winter on record. March was so hot in Iowa with temperatures hitting 84 degrees that oats are now running ahead of schedule, with 58% percent of the crop planted up from 7%. Experts are divided as to if this is good news for farmers, extending the season’s productivity, or dangerous, since crops could still get hit with frost as late as May.
Closer to home, in the midst of our growing season winding down here in South Florida, farmers appear to be optimistic. The feeling from the warmer winter, less dramatic than up north, is less growing pains and more dazed and confused than anything else. We tapped farmer Margie Pikarsky, our trusted source who not only has a handle on what’s going on at her Bee Heaven Farm in Homestead, but many others across central and South Florida, for the outlook on upcoming summer crops.
