A little about our vegetable journey and is a CSA right for you.....

As CSA Day 2016 approaches we have looked back over our own vegetable journey along with answering a few questions that we feel everyone should ask themselves before joining a CSA!

We have always been big vegetable eaters but I would say our vegetable consumption has increased over the last 15 years and even more so since we started Strattons Farm.

I often wonder would we have joined a CSA 15-20 years ago and I think my answer would have been NO!!! I know shock, horror, gasp!

15+ years ago we started to do our weekly shop at the Blackheath farmers market.  We got to know our farmers, they knew us and our dogs and we would buy most of our weekly shop there.  We started to try new vegetables like purple sprouting broccoli and Samphire.  I remember asking one Sunday  for Samphire and watching the farmers eyes chuckle at me and then nicely say that it was only available certain times of the year.  I even started to mark our calendar to make sure I remembered.  This was our first lesson in eating seasonally and suddenly realising that we needed to embrace the vegetables when they are at their peak for harvest and learning that they are not available 365!

We are now great advocates of eating locally, supporting local farmers and of course in joining a CSA.
Not just because we run one, but because we believe it allows the consumer to build a real  connection with their food system. To build a relationship with the farmer, to embrace what is seasonal and to know more about the journey of that tomato, from the seed placed into a soil block to the hand that nurtured, picked it  and delivered it to it's final destination.


CSA's are great for trying new vegetables along with your old favourites. They allow your food dollars to stay within your community and support a local farm, dollars kept in your community rather than feeding the big Ag companies. Vegetables are at their freshest when you receive them and they taste how the vegetable should taste.  I can speak all about about the benefits of the CSA but we all need to remember and be honest that there may also be a downside (depending on your point of view) of joining one as well.  Many members often say the first year of joining a CSA is the hardest, learning to deal with different vegetables, the abundance of the season, the repetition of certain vegetables and adjusting to seasonal eating, but they always say the second and successive years are always easier as they have a better idea of what to expect.

Recently on a forum we are part of, one of the contributors made the following statement "The struggle AND satisfaction of eating locally is eating seasonally"

Here are a few questions we think everyone needs to ask themselves before considering joining a CSA and joining the seasonal and eat real food movement!

Tomatillos

Do I like vegetables, am I happy letting someone else dictate what I eat week to week? 

It seems a silly question at first as CSA's do provide staples of lettuce, potatoes, carrots, beets and garlic but also vegetables like kohlrabi, tomatillos, eggplant, turnips, kale, swiss chard, Asian and mustard greens are going to turn up in your weekly baskets.  I knew about all these vegetables, some I would turn my nose up at and others I could not get enough of.  One vegetable I used to really not like was parsnips, the smell used to turn my stomach, but I grew up with the motto of try everything at least once! So one Christmas I gave them another go after Michael had roasted them! Since that day I have never looked back, I now love them roasted and one of my all time favourite soups has parsnips in it!

The other thing we have to adjust to in a CSA is the farmer will make your vegetables choices for you on what is available that week and season, you do not have the freedom to choose what you might like to cook that week. 

Mustard green pesto

Do I enjoy cooking?

It seems a silly question to ask but you either need to be up for the challenge or already enjoy cooking. If you are up for the challenge most CSA's will provide you with a weekly newsletter with recipe suggestions.
Do you also have the time to prep vegetables that turn up with soil still stuck in the roots or when the spinach is not pre-washed.  These are things to think about especially when you get into peak season.

What will I do with the extra?

Will you give it away to friends, take the time to freeze or can for winter or donate to your food bank or will it go to waste?  These are things you need to think about especially if there is an abundance of a crop or if you happen to be out for dinner a few nights in a week and the vegetables start to pile up in the fridge. 

Do I travel a lot?

When you make a commit to a CSA it can be anything from 16-24 weeks, some CSA's now run year round.  If you travel a lot through the Summer do you have someone else to pick up your basket of vegetables. What happens if you do not make it to the pick up point? Can you find someone to collect your vegetables the weeks you are away?

Am I OK with 'shared risk'

In 2012 our community along with a huge portion of Ontario suffered the worst drought in years.  This meant the shares were smaller, some crops did not grow and due to the heat and we had so many pests that ate lots of our crops.
Being part of a CSA means that along with the farmer you share the risk of crop failure. You might not get tomatoes due to blight or the potato crop might be low due to bugs or a frost might wipe out a whole crop. Are you ready for this?  On the flip side the farmer might have a bounty of watermelons and they could turn up in your box every week for six weeks!

If you answered "No" to any of these questions then maybe a CSA is not for you at this time, but if you answered "Yes" then don't leave it to long to register.  This is the time of year when your local CSA farmer needs your registrations and deposits that allows your CSA farmer to purchase seed, soil and tools for the coming season.

Last year we participated in short documentary along with Carolyn Coffin of the Eat Real Food Academy and filmed by Sean Scally on making better food choices.  We hope that it will provide a little more insight into CSA's and how they can help you to achieve this goal. However, if a CSA is not the right fit, which we appreciate does not fit everyone's lifestyle, then don't forget you can start your seasonal vegetable journey by supporting your local farmers market.

CSA Newsletter ~ Week 3

Well what can we say about last Tuesday! The rain overnight on Monday filled the cistern and flooded our basement.  We got all the shares picked and then at 10.30am the heavens opened for about 30 minutes!

We had directed seeded 400ft of beans the day before, they are doing great and have already germinated.  We are however, a little concerned about the 500ft of carrot seed we planted. Time will tell if they washed away!

We have to store the ladybugs in our fridge!!

We also found we had a lot of aphids on our storage kohlrabi and our rutabaga/swede transplants. So after washing each individual transplant in water we put in a call to the Natural Insect control and purchased 2000 lady bugs. We released them under insect netting which is protecting the crops from the bad bugs in the hope the lady bugs will deal with any remaining aphids.

One of the best tips we can give for using your vegetables is to exchange ingredients for what is in your box.  i.e if you need onions use your salad onions if you need garlic use your scapes, if you are making slaw and need cabbage and carrots then use your napa cabbage and kohlrabi instead. 

This Weeks basket:

Napa/Chinese Cabbage - A few different recipes for your Chinese cabbage 

cabbage wedges, chinese tom leafery, chinese leaf parcels

Radicchio - Our radicchio is not like the traditional red variety, it is large and green! It has a bitter taste to it but I have to say it is in my top ten vegetable list! The following recipes are a great way to cut the bitterness so that everyone in the family will enjoy it radicchio mushroom frittata. grilled baked radicchio

Lettuce

Turnips - Try roasting your turnips,

Radish - You could even roast your turnips and radishes together.

Kohlrabi - kohlrabi and turnip slaw

Scapes - We like to freeze some scapes for winter.  Chop your scapes into chunks place them in the food processor with some oil and blitz.  Then place into ice cube trays and freeze.  Then during the winter months these scape cubes can be added into soups, stews or spread over a pizza base.

Beets - Beets can be boiled, roasted on the BBQ Grilled beet burgers, another burger recipe beetroot burgers kale quinoa salad, Don't forget to use the tops as well beetroot braised beet tops

Peas - Hopefully we do not need to give any recipe suggestions for these! Will they make it home even??

Kale - Add it to a lasagna.

Parsley - If you do not want to use your parsley you can place it in a Ziploc bag and put it in the freezer and then just grab out what you need when you need it! Our you can try one of the 10 best parsley recipes.

Spinach 

Don't forget you can post your photos and recipes of your meals on our FB page or e-mail them to us.

CSA Newsletter ~ Week 2

It was a great week last week catching up on all the news from our returning members and meeting all our new members.  We look forward to catching up this week with our week 2 half share members.

At this stage it is a bit of a juggling act between, transplanting, weeding, seeding and harvesting and of course the weeds are huge after all the rain we have had.   We are now waiting for a gap in the rain so that our neighbours can start cutting our hay! We have everything crossed that it will be this week!

Some other great resources for recipes.

I really like the Well Fed cook books by Melissa Joulwan

One of our members also recommended the following website. Yummly

This weeks basket:

Scapes -

Salad Onions - Never sure what to call these! In England we call them Spring onions, in North America it seems to be green onions or bunching onions!  These can be tossed into salads, or cooked as a replacement to onions.

Spring Turnips

Chinese/Napa Cabbage

Chinese/Napa Cabbage - Is an amazing vegetable and can be cooked in so many ways.  You can use it in coleslaws, make rolls with it, kimchi, roast it or even grill it on the BBQ.

We roasted ours this week on the BBQ and finished with a mustard glaze.

Cut the cabbage in half and then quarter.  Brush lightly with olive oil.  For the glaze you will need 3 tbsp of mustard (we used Dijon) 1 tbsp of honey, 1tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, 2 garlic cloves chopped and 2 tbsp of chopped basil.  Mix the glaze ingredients all together.  Place your cabbage quarters on a hot grill/BBQ cook for 5-7 minutes on each side all depends on how charred you like it.  Remove cabbage from the grill brush with the glaze and Enjoy!

Lettuce - Why not try cooking your lettuce in these tartlettes

Kohlrabi -We kept insect netting on the kohlrabi this spring and the leaves are amazing so do not forget to add these to salad or a stir fry.  We have attached the Riverford Farms video on how to use Kohlrabi.  We just love it raw grated into salad.

Kohlrabi

Kale - Found a great recipe for Kale Pesto

Chard - You can always use your chard to make this secret greens tabbouleh recipe.

Radish - Not everyone loves radish raw but roasted they become sweet and juicy and are amazing as a side or tossed into a salad!

Winter Newsletter...

Tilly just loves the camera!

We have had a few cold days so far this winter but nothing like last year's, but we are missing the snow here at the farm! We have lots of ice to skate around on while we carry buckets of water and feed around the farm for all the animals! I think everyone is missing the snow, but with 51 days till spring here's hoping for a nice big dump of snow sooner rather than later!  

A huge thank you to everyone who has had bulk boxes this winter.  We have been providing vegetables now for nine months and it is so nice to see so many people keeping it local not just through the summer months but also through the winter.  Due to the demand this year for winter vegetables we are looking at expanding our box availability for next winter.  

We are now sold out of our bulk boxes but still have root vegetables available in our stores.  So before heading out to the grocery store please contact us for our vegetable list of what is still available at the farm.  

Market Garden Spring 2014

As we enter our seventh year here at Strattons Farm preparations are well under way for our sixth year running our CSA.
Seeds, organic potting soil and organic compost have been ordered and our kitchen table is full of spread sheets and field plans for the coming season. It's always odd for some when we are in the depths of winter to be thinking of spring greens, summer tomatoes and fall squashes but shares for the 2015 Summer CSA are selling fast, so don't leave it too long to register for this season.

Nigella's piglets in 2014 sharing some loving! 

Along with the market garden preparations, Elly and Eva are due to kid in March,  then April will see Delia pig farrow and our first batch of spring chicks arrive so we will have another busy spring on our hands.

Don't forget if you want to receive our monthly newsletters with up to date farm news and along with notifications of when we start taking pre orders for pork, poultry or the CSA then please sign up to our mail chimp newsletters.  Remember to add our address to your safe list as due to last years legislation on Spam newsletters can end up in your junk box rather than your mailbox.