vegetable Archives – J. G. Coleman Photography

Yankee Farmlands № 84 (Field of eggplant and produce box, Bloomfield, Connecticut) — “Yankee Farmlands № 84”
Field of eggplant and produce box, Bloomfield, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

As the final days of September approach, this leafy field of eggplant rears its final crop of ripened vegetables. A waxy produce box, honest in its “farm fresh” claim, lays beside the field in wait for the harvest.

It’s not uncommon that farm fields might be planted with dramatically different crops from one season or year to the next. For one thing, this practice ensures that the nutrients important to a given type of crop aren’t exhausted from the soil disproportionately. Sometimes, the motivation may be purely monetary: the old crop just isn’t fetching the same profit as it once did.

This particular field had been dedicated to shade tobacco for years before being planted with eggplant instead. And, although it surely had no bearing on the decision to switch crops, it’s interesting to note that eggplant contains more nicotine than any other vegetable. Strange, right? But no worries, you’d need to eat nearly 30 pounds of eggplant parmesan to consume the same amount of nicotine found in just one cigarette.

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Click here to visit my landing page for “Yankee Farmlands № 84” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

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Be sure to check out all of the work in my on-going Yankee Farmlands project.

Yankee Farmlands № 32 (Farm field with kale, Granby, Connecticut) — “Yankee Farmlands № 32”
Field of kale, Granby, Connecticut
© 2015 J. G. Coleman

In the latest addition to my Yankee Farmlands project, wrinkled plumes of kale climb over encroaching weeds on a swath of sunny cropland in the hills of West Granby. Warm, summertime air drifts lazily through the field, the breeze too faint to stir the still forests along the farm edge.

Vegetables such as kale, collards, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi and brussel sprouts are popular greens that occasionally even share the same field. But would you believe that every one of those vegetables represents the same species? That’s right… even though they may look dramatically different, they all possess genes which are virtually identical to those of a weed known as “wild lettuce”.

How was such a diverse array of vegetables derived from a single species? Thousands of years ago, early farmers carefully selected generation after generation of cultivated wild lettuce to promote certain desired traits: long stems for kohlrabi, enlarged flower buds for broccoli, broad leaves for kale and so on.

Purchase a Fine Art Print or Inquire About Licensing

Click here to visit my landing page for “Yankee Farmlands № 32” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

Want to See More?

Be sure to check out all of my work in my ever-growing Yankee Farmlands project, a series which celebrates the agricultural heritage of Southern New England through the beautiful farmlands of Connecticut.