Happy Thanksgiving! Asparagus – After a tough couple of months of short supplies, both Peru and Mexico are cranking up and should have good supplies going into the holiday season. Pricing is coming down. Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts– Are going strong locally and quality and pricing are excellent. Items like Broccoli like the chilly weather. Cabbage – Is coming from Eastern NC as well as the mountains now and quality and pricing are great. Celery – You can count on celery to always go up every year as we get closer to Thanksgiving. People who haven’t bought a stalk of celery since last Thanksgiving suddenly need it for several Thanksgiving recipes, creating a yearly shortage in the market. Cucumbers, Peppers, and Squash – The hard frost last week wrapped up many growing areas all of the way down through Georgia. Florida is starting some items and should be able to pickup the ball and run with it from here on. Mexican harvests are well underway too. Greens – Cooler weather here in NC is really helping the quality of our local greens shippers, and also getting more people in the mood to eat collards and kale. We should have plenty for Thanksgiving. Lettuce – Supplies remain extremely limited across the industry in romaine and all lettuces. Quality is improving with the transition to new growing areas, but the government shutdown created labor issues on Western farms who couldn’t get guest workers across the border to harvest the product. This should be over now and I think we’ll see much lower pricing next week. Potatoes – There are plenty of potatoes available as the Holiday pull has begun. Shippers are working vigorously to get everything packed and shipped on time. There are excellent supplies and quality on reds and yellows from multiple regions, and lots of russets of all sizes out of Idaho. Strawberries – Remain extremely tight this week due to torrential rains in California fields. Driscoll has warned everyone of expected shortages over the next two weeks. Florida is harvesting just a few berries but won’t really get their season going until Christmas. Our local grower is also harvesting a few berries each week in his greenhouse but it’s not enough to cover demand. Q: What do you get when you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter? A: Pumpkin Pi.