Monday, August 31, 2015

CSA Newsletter ~ Week 12

Turf grubs!
The heat is back on this week and we are feeling a little thankful for it as it is helping to ripen our melon crop at last!  Sprinklers are back on the market garden and we are in the middle of clearing out our seeding greenhouse to transplant a few winter greens into.  We will shortly start work on our tomato hoop houses as well.




This year among other things we have had a huge problem with turf grubs! Lucky for us the chickens find them a great protein treat!










This weeks basket:
Potatoes - potato flat breads
Sweet Peppers
Tomatoes - We are hoping to get you each a quart of field and a quart of cherry tomatoes again.
Eggplant - Eggplant stir fry and you can replace the spinach with your Asian greens!
Cucumbers - Cucumber and melon cooler!
Asian Greens - This week we have Bekana,  light green with a slight peppery taste.  Can be eaten raw or cooked.
Lettuce
Carrots - This salad will be on my list to make this week! Zatar bazaar!
Onions
Leeks - If you are not in the mood to eat leeks with this heat you can just slice them place in a Ziploc bag and freeze.  If you do want to cook them how about char-grilled leeks!
Melons - We are starting to pick our cantaloupe melons. If we do not have enough this week then you may find a watermelon in your baskets instead!  The cantaloupes are ripe so don't leave them too long before you eat them.
Zucchini or beans - The zucchini and currant bean patch are both slowing down.  We are going to start the week with zucchini and if we do not have enough for the whole week we will move into beans.  We will have beans again in a few weeks.
Hot peppers - we do not include these as part of your box so take what you need!

Monday, August 24, 2015

CSA Newsletter ~ Week 11

Weed free parsnip bed
We have had another mini heat wave along with more rain this last week.  Some things are loving the weather some things are not and we are dealing with a few things that we have not dealt with before due to the weather this year!
This newsletter is a note of caution for those of you who grow your own gardens!! More and more people are becoming more aware of wild parsnip.  We have had our own experience with this over eight years ago, Michael got burnt by this plant on his arms and legs so we have always been very cautions of it.  Now we are being more cautions of our parsnips for eating! A week Saturday I spent most of the day weeding our parsnips being very careful (but not careful enough) and within 24 hours I started to get blisters on my wrists. They had been caused by the parsnip sap (in conjunction with sunlight) when I had been placing my arms between the leaves to pull weeds! So for anyone who is weeding their own parsnips long sleeves and gloves are recommended!!

blisters caused by parsnip weeding!!














This week Vegetables:
Onions
Sweet peppers - Ina Garten's Spanish Tapas peppers
Tomatoes - 1 quart field and 1 quart cherry tomatoes. (Thank you to everyone who are returning their tubs please keep bringing them back!)
Eggplant - Roasted eggplant slices is a great base for any topping! Pre heat oven to 450. Slice the eggplant to about 1/4" then place on a cookie sheet lined with tin foil. Melt some coconut oil and brush onto the eggplant then roast in the oven till cooked. Crispy and golden if possible!!
Then top with what ever you like! Our favourite is sauteed onions, seasoned ground pork and then some cherry tomatoes to top it off!
Cucumbers - Cucumber soup
Celery - It is not the best celery we have grown but it is very juicy with all the rain we have had! If you are not a celery lover then just chop into chunks and place into a Ziploc bag in the freezer then you can just add it to winter soups and stews.
Lettuce
Beans - Roasted tomato nicoise salad
Beets - Beetroot gravadlax
Zucchini tacos, roasted pork hock, onions & tomatillo salsa.
Tomatillos - We are not going to have a bumper crop of these.  We know that most have forgotten the very late frost but that frost killed our first planting of tomatillos even though we covered them with two layers of fleece and kept the plants sheltered by the greenhouse.  We did a second seeding, the plants have grown but do not have a lot of fruit on them. 
If you are trying these for the first time they are a Mexican tomato and all you need to do is peel the paper husk from them.  They can be eaten raw or most like to roast them, saute them or make into salsa. Here is a link to 15 delicious ways to use tomatillos.
Watermelon - They are going to be watery for sure, but not sure how sweet they have become as when we compare the temperatures over the last few years we have not had as hot a summer as usual.
Zucchini - We hear the cheers as we say this might be the last week as the patch is really slowing down! Going to miss them if it is!

Help yourself to Hot Peppers.

Monday, August 17, 2015

CSA Newsletter ~ Week 10

From 60mm of rain overnight last Monday into scorching heat over the last few of days it has been another roller coaster weather week!
Thankfully the direct seeding we had done on Monday survived the downpours and has germinated really well.
What has been sad this year is the lack of pollinators at the farm whether it be our honey bees or wild ones. We have seen a huge decrease this year, more than any other year at the farm.  So we have some crops that are slow to produce or are just not producing at all! We are hoping to have watermelons next week but we are not going to have the bumper crop that we had last year.

Thank you to all our members who have been returning the tomato and potato tubs please keep them coming as it allows us to reuse them and fill them up with more vegetables for you!






This weeks vegetable line up is:
Lettuce
Onions
Zucchini - Made this over the weekend and it was amazing
Zucchini Hummus
1 zucchini chopped into chunks,
2 TBSP of tahini
1 clove of garlic
1/2 tsp of salt
Extra virgin olive oil
We like a bit of seasoning so I would recommend
1 tsp of cumin
1/2-1 tsp of cayenne or sweet paprika
Place all ingredients into the food processor apart from the oil.  Blitz! You may need to scrape the sides down.  Then slowly pour in the oil 'till you reach a consistancy you like.  We like it thicker over runny so it is maybe only 2 TBSP of olive oil for us.
Sweet peppers - Texas Eggs
Eggplant -
Tomatoes - This week you will receive one quart of field and one quart of cherry tomatoes.
Cucumbers
Beets
Sweet Beetroot and Carrot Salad
  • 225 g beetroot
  • 225 g carrots
  • For the dressing:
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 75 ml olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

    Boil the beetroot in their skins until tender (you can also do this in a glass dish in the microwave). Cool, peel and then chop the beetroot. Peel the carrots and then grate them. Mix the two vegetables together in a dish and then pour the dressing over the top.

    Kale - Kale Caeser
    Carrots
    Beans
    - Beans and Beetroot salad
    Herbs
Hot Peppers - Help your self.

Monday, August 10, 2015

CSA Newsletter ~ Week 9

Fall transplants are flying into the field. We spent Friday transplanting around 1700ft of crops and direct seeded another 700ft! We are also still seeding in the greenhouse for Fall and winter harvest! 

Onion harvest has started at the farm! It has taken 6 months to get to this stage from seeding in flats to spending a few long days on hands and knees transplanting and then the battle of keeping the weeds down! But all the effort has been well worth it this year as it is looking like we are going to have some great onions, once they are cured! 

This weeks box of vegetable goodness!
Lettuce
Onions - This weeks onions are a Spanish variety called Valencia with a mild to sweet flavour.
Zucchini - This is on my try list just need to find something to replace the breadcrumbs Zucchini soft taco shells but they look amazing!
Potatoes - This week we have Onaway again. Do remember these potatoes are fresh out the ground so no need to peel
Eggplant - We made the following recipe over the weekend and it uses both potatoes and eggplant and it was just to die for. Roasted potatoes and aubergines/eggplant!
Sweet peppers - Fried eggs and grilled peppers
Tomatoes - Our field tomatoes are still slow to ripen this year so you will be getting lots of the yummy little tomatoes from the hoop houses.  You could even make a Cherry tomato tarte tatin with them.
Cucumbers - spiced-cucumber
Chard
Carrots
Cabbage - Add a little spice to your cabbage! Spiced Indian cabbage.
Herbs - Parsley

Hot peppers - We never include hot peppers as part of the share, as not everyone shares our enthusiasm for heat! The hot peppers are slowly starting to ripen and we will have a help your self basket at the stand and at pick up locations.  If you want milder peppers then please just ask us about the different varieties.


Tuesday, August 4, 2015

CSA Newsletter ~ Week 8

Cosmo the buck would like to say "Sorry" for the the slight odour that may be in the air! He has said it is not his fault as all the does have come into heat at the same time and what is a boy supposed to do but pee on himself and stand with his head against the fence post and watch!! 

Please remember to return all you boxes the following week that the tomatoes and potatoes come in.








This weeks basket:
Onions
Beets - Beetroot and carrot burgers.
Salad onions 
Tomatoes
Sweet Peppers - Sweet sour pepper tart with basil custard
Basil - Pan bagnat
Lettuce
Potatoes - Buttery herby potato cake
Cucumbers - This recipe will also use some of your salad onions cucumber dill salad
Garlic
Thyme - If you do not want to use it fresh them place into a brown paper bag and leave it to dry and then sore in an airtight jar.
Zucchini - Zucchini and basil soup
Eggplant/Aubergine - Spiced aubergine and tomato or aubergine potato Parmesan gratin