Tuesday, September 29, 2015

CSA Newsletter ~ Week 16

The sound of rain filling our cistern on Monday is always a lovely sound! As we sat with our coffee feeling a little sleep deprived after one of your farmers spent over 20 hours in a car driving to collect our newest edition to the farm, and the other farmer has been getting up at 2am the last two mornings to do pee breaks for an 8 week old puppy.  But finally after a very long wait for this little man, Louie is at the farm and everyone is getting used to the newest edition!!!
Apart from puppy news we are getting the field ready for winter and about to start breeding the goats for next years kids.









This weeks vegetable basket:
Potatoes - cheesy bubble and squeak cakes
Sweet peppers - sweet pepper, yoghurt and harissa soup
Cauliflower - curried Cauliflower Soup
Carrots - Harira
Turnips - We did these turnips in the spring.  They can be eaten raw cooked or even added to your curried cauliflower soup.
Beans
Asian Green - Golden Frill is this weeks green,  eaten raw in a salad or tossed into roasted or mashed potatoes towards the end of their cooking time.
Lettuce
Broccoli - Wok- fried sirloin with broccoli and leeks.
Garlic
Onions
Leeks - Welsh Cawl
Help your self to hot peppers.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

CSA Newsletter ~ Week 15

Autumn officially arrives tomorrow and you can certainly feel it in the air! Toques have been back on the last few mornings and we are making sure the floating row covers are ready to protect our more sensitive crops as the nights get colder.








This weeks basket:
Onions
Sweet peppers
Sweet potatoes - Sweet Potato and Peanut Rosti You could swap the peanut butter out for any type of nut butter.
Cauliflower - We are hoping to have enough for everyone this week, if not it will be two broccoli as our second planting has caught up with our first! Which means we have lots of broccoli that needs harvesting! Spiced Cauliflower
Broccoli - Tandorri Broccoli or Broccoli Walnut Rarebit
Kale - Turksish Tahini Greens You could also add the Bekana to this as well.
Cabbage - This week it will be either Savoy, red or green cabbage. Brasied savoy Cabbage Warm red cabbage with walnuts and blue cheese. Hock and Cabbage
Beans - Summer beans with Basil
Asian Greens - This week it is looking like another round of Bekana.  You can stir fry this or use it as a warp or even eat raw in a salad. Chilli Soy Greens
Lettuce
Garlic
Herbs - This week it will be Thai Basil, great in curries or pesto.  If you want to save the basil for winter pick the leaves off, place in the food processor with a little oil and blitz.  Then freeze in an ice cube tray.
Beets - Beetroot cake
Hot Peppers -As ever help yourself.  We do not include this in your box as not everyone enjoys heat.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

CSA Newsletter ~ Week 14

Another hot and humid week but thankfully the weekend brought some much needed rain.
Last week we had our own back to school science assignment to complete for Grade 2/3 students at Queen Elizabeth P.S  Belleville.  They are looking at different soils so we selected four samples from our farm.  Two from the field and then two samples of the different certified organic potting soils we use for starting and potting up our seedlings.



This weeks vegetable basket:
Onions - These are not our long term storage onions but they will store for a while in a cool, dark spot.
Broccoli - How about a slow baked broccoli frittata.
brocco leaves and sweet potatoes
 Brocco Leaves - I think these are one of our new favourite vegetables! We used them in dishes where we would normally put chard or kale, they went into stir fry's and quiches as well as a few vegetable smoothies.
Sweet potatoes - These where dug on Monday so they are not cured.  They will still last for a while in a brown paper bag in a cool dark spot.  Don't put them in the fridge! Sweet potatoes can be roasted, boiled or fried.  We like to make a meat crust quiche but I also like the sound of this cassoulet.

meat crust quiche.
Lettuce - We had hoped to do lettuce every week but last week Mr Skunk thought he would help us with our turf grub problem which was really nice but sadly he dug up 100+ transplants of lettuce and tossed them aside!! 
We are reseeding just to see if we can get a few more for the end of the season and the Fall boxes.
Sweet peppers - Stuffed peppers.





Cauliflower - This was a surprise to see these ready for picking on Monday, must have been the rain!! Cauliflower Stilton soup.
Beans
Tomatillos - You can make a Mexican Salsa Verde with your tomatillos this week. I like to roast mine rather than boiling them.
Eggplant - Last week for these. 
Melons - We never thought we would make four weeks of melons but they held on!
Micro greens - micro greens in your box are not something that will sit in the fridge for long.  They are great to garnish a salad or a sandwich but do make sure you use them within the first few days of receiving them.
Cherry Tomatoes - Summer is trying to hold it will be a pint of cherry tomatoes for everyone this week!
Hot Peppers - Help yourself as usual!

Monday, September 7, 2015

CSA Newsletter ~ Week 13

The heat has continued over the last week and we have had some amazing foggy mornings at the farm. 
The sprinklers have been running every night and we continued to labour on labour day by harvesting vegetables and unloading the second wagon of hay for the goats for winter.




This week vegetable basket:
Zatar bazaar
Carrots - If you did not try last weeks carrot salad we highly recommend it!
Beans - Roasted green beans with zaatar replace the sumac with cumin.
Broccoli - Toasted broccoli with sesame, garlic and soy sauce
Sweet Peppers 
Leeks - Kale and potato cakes just replace the kale with your broccoleaf!
Lettuce
Tomatoes - This might be the last week of tomatoes, we have had a good crop this year even with all the pests and disease. We are pleased with the amount we have been able to harvest for the CSA and we hope you have enjoyed them!
Pac choy - Ginger and garlic pac choy stir fry.
Eggplant - Lazy brinjal bhajis.

BroccLeaf - Our friends at McFadden Acres did this for their members and we thought it was a great idea! The plants have such amazing leaves on them it always seems such a shame they are left behind.
So this week we are introducing you all to BroccoLeaf! Will it be the next super food?  Who knows? The link does provide some great recipes along with this one that McFadden Acres shared with us!
Broccoli and Rice au Gratin 
1/4 cup butter, 1 small onion chopped, 2 garlic cloves finely chopped, 1/4 tsp thyme, 1 cup long-grain rice, 1 tbsp all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups chicken broth, 1 cup chopped broccoli(I added extra broccoli plus 2 big brocco leaves or kale chopped) 1 cup (250 mL) milk 2 tbsp (30 mL) grated Parmesan cheese 1 tsp (5 mL) grated lemon zest Crumb Topping: 1/2 cup dried bread crumbs, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 2 tbsp melted butter, 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional) Preheat oven to 375 °F (190 °C). In a large skillet sauté onion and garlic in butter for 1 minute over medium heat. Add thyme, rice and flour, stirring for 1 minute. Pour in chicken broth, stir and bring to a boil; cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in broccoli, milk and Canadian Parmesan cheese. Mix well and pour into a buttered 6-cup casserole dish. Cover and bake for 35 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, to make crumb topping, toss together all ingredients; set aside. Remove casserole from oven. Stir in lemon peel and sprinkle with crumb topping. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes or until golden. Serve immediately.
Potatoes
Melon - It will either be a watermelon or cantaloupe.
Hot Peppers - Help yourself!