Willow Springs Market Garden LLC

Our saffron has finished flowering for the year, it lasts about 2 weeks in the fall.

The minutina is coming to harvest now, and it will tolerate the cool winter in Arkansas.

We are preparing the old fashioned Victorian hotbeds, using horse manure buried under 1 to 11/2 feet of soil. The manure provides undersoil heating for about 2 months as it rots down, with no electricity required. The plants never come in contact with the manure.

Our saffron is ready in small amounts. 30 red filaments per package, approximately enough for 2 recipes.

We have our saffron bulbs coming up again. Saffron is a crocus bulb that grows and flowers in the fall. One of the most expensive of spices because of all the labor involved in processing it. The 3 or 4  red stamens of each flower are picked by hand and then carefully dried very quickly in the oven. We try to leave 10% moisture in the stamens and then we package them. We ask $5 for 2 recipes worth, that is about 30 threads or stamens. Delicious!  Ready in a few weeks, keep an eye on our blog.