Lindsay (customer experience director) took us on a trip to Siena Farms last week. It was the first big field trip since Covid, and it felt so good to be out in the sun learning about all the amazing stuff that Siena is doing (if you are in the market for a CSA, Siena’s dropping off at Clover this year and if you use SNAP benefits, you can shop at one of Siena’s brick-and-mortar farmstands around town).

Isaac, a farmer, toured us around a Dahlia field. This has been a labor of love for Siena two years in the making – they have a waitlist a mile long for the flowers once they bloom.

When we toured the field at Siena, the crew was planting dahlia tubers. They get planted in warm soil, will grow all summer and will be ready for harvest in the fall. They reminded us of sunchokes, so we got to talking about whether the tubers are edible and it turns out they are! One of the farmers made a kimchi out of them.

If you find yourself munching on a dahlia tuber, be aware: you only want to break off the part of the tuber that is no longer connected to the main “stem” – those are the ones that won’t contribute to producing the flower and so are not really worth planting (I’m sure this is an incorrect term/simplistic understanding of how flowers grow.)

How did they taste? Kind of like a mix between a jicama and a mild radish? PS: the photo is a nod to this one, we aren’t afraid of eating a little dirt.