Q1. Where can I buy your salads?

A1. You have several options:

1. Salads can be ordered by phone, fax or E-mail (see contacts button).
2. You can buy or pick them up:
   a. At our farm during the season - (see Contact info, Hours & Map for details).
   b. At our stall the St. Albert Market on Saturdays July 1 - Sept 30.
   (see Contact info, Hours & Map for details).
   c. Beginning in June 2006, on Thursdays we will bring them to a central Edmonton location. Watch this space for more information.

Q2. What is ‘mesclun’?

A2. Mesclun is a Provencal term for a mix of many varieties of young red and green lettuces, arugula, endives and chervil, either grown together or grown separately and then mixed in the salad bowl. Most of the pre-mixed salads that you can buy in the supermarket will have some combination of the above lettuces and greens, plus occasionally a few herbs.

Q3. Why do they call them ‘baby greens’?

A3. It used to be that we grew lettuces and waited until the leaves reached maturity before picking them. This had 3 big disadvantages – one, the leaves were often bitter by then (or ‘picked over’ by various pests), two, once you picked these leaves the plant was done so you ran out quickly, and three, if they aren’t picked at the right time they would quickly go to seed, making them even more bitter.

‘Baby greens’ are from the same lettuces and greens as those our mothers & grandmothers grew (although we have access to more varieties now), but they are harvested as immature plants, usually less than four inches long, and usually less than six weeks old. They can be harvested entirely at that time, or using what’s called a “cut-and-come-again” method which is trimming with scissors or picking each leaf by hand, leaving the crown or growing point intact to regrow so that new leaves can be harvested again in a few weeks. These greens are usually extremely tender and tasty.

Q4. What are ‘micro-greens’?

A4. Micro-greens are intensely flavoured thin delicate seedlings, shoots, and tiny leaves of specialty vegetables. You can use them as garnishes or toppings on almost any dish or make an entire salad out of them. Included in our micro-greens mix will be delicious beet tops, cutting celery, kale leaves, kohlrabi shoots, upland and peppergrass cress, show pea shoots, baby chard, and spinach.

Q5. If I can buy greens in the supermarket why should I buy them from you?

A5. I can think of many reasons, but there are three compelling ones:

1. The most important one is FRESHNESS. It is unlikely that a salad could go from a large commercial producer onto the supermarket shelves in less than several days; many of the salads that you see on the shelves may be over 5 days old. Particularly with baby leaf mixes, that is one reason why they seem to deteriorate so quickly. We sell our salads the day after they are picked. We literally rush them from the field to the fridge to keep them crisp and cool.
2. The second is CHEMICAL-FREE. If you wash green leaves vigorously (which is what you’d have to do to truly remove the sprays that might be on them), you will cause them to wilt and literally wash some of the taste away. Even if they are grown organically, commercial growers have to pre-wash them before sending them to the large retailers. As soon as you wash them they will start to deteriorate at a quicker rate. We do not wash our salads before we sell them. We know that they might have a bit of dust on them, or even a tiny bug – but nothing that is going to harm people, and most customers take it out of the bag and put it right on the plate. If you do want to wash them (and we understand that you might), we suggest that you wash only what you will immediately use, and leave the rest in the bag in the fridge – it will keep much longer that way.
3. The third is VARIETY. You will never see pre-packaged salads with as many different ingredients as ours have – and we believe they are unique because they contain edible flowers. Ours will give you more flavour than you are likely to have tried outside a gourmet restaurant.

Q6. How can I grow my own salad greens without growing a full vegetable garden?

A6. Mix salad veggies in your herb and flower beds – plants such as Arugula, Garland Round (Shungiku), and Mustards have lovely edible flowers as well as providing tasty greens. Many cabbages and lettuces are now very colourful and have interesting textures as well as being flavourful. The great thing is that most of these grow quickly, easily, and do not have heavy nutrient requirements. You don’t need to grow the 40 or 50 different varieties that we do to enjoy a lovely salad. You can even sprinkle in just a few varieties, and then 10 days later, re-seed again, for continuous growth all season.