Thursday, June 27, 2013

Week four CSA


It seems as though the weeks have just been flying by here. The crops are looking great and we had another nice CSA basket going out this week. There were two new additions to the basket this week, peas and scapes. Everyone seemed pretty excited to get the peas.  The taste of summer as one CSA person put it. 

If you have never had scapes they are what would be the flower of the garlic plant. They are removed before blooming to encourage bulb growth. They have the same flavour a garlic but are more mild. 
If you are not part of our CSA watch your local farmers market for there appearance. They usually come in bunches and are long and green. 
This weeks CSA items



Fresh batch of lettuce!


Monday, June 24, 2013

Things are bursting

Well I just took a lovely walk around the farm and things are looking fantastic! There are tiny cucumbers bursting forth off the vines and loads of little summer squash. We are also hoping for a big haul of peas this week as the plants all look heavy with delicious peas. 
The lettuce that was decimated last week is also starting to perk back up which is great news. Those sad little eaten carrot tops are also starting to grow. Nature is pretty resilient which is good news for us. 

That's Sydney munching on a fresh pea. She is pretty sneaky and just eats the super sweet tiny peas inside and discards the shell. 

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Little Critters


We have been enjoying a great season so far with a nice selection of summer greens. It's exciting to see how fast things can grow. Today we saw the first tiny summer squash emerging. We are also pleased to see the first peas of summer! 

Despite all of the great stuff that has been going on we have had a small set back. A family of ground hogs has decided to make our lettuce patch it's primary food source.  
It's not that easy to tell but just a few days ago this was full sized heads of lettuce.
They also had a munch on our growing carrots and peas. 


Tomorrow we will be heading into our third week of CSA and despite the setback in our lettuce the baskets will still have a nice selection of items. 

This is a photo of week 2. It included spinach, lettuce, garlic, turnips, radishes, and onions. 

Monday, June 10, 2013

Cooking with your CSA box

Well people often ask me how to use certain items that they receive. We try and be helpful and offer suggestions and recipes. However we are always glad when a member shares up some tips! This week I'd like to forward on a handy recipe to use up your radish and turnip tops.

I'd like to thank Susan for sharing the following recipe:

I made soup with your turnip and radish tops, along with two of the red onions, four cloves of garlic and three little turnips.
I sauteed some spices in olive oil (one dried chili, snapped in half; half a teaspoon of coriander powder; a quarter-teaspoon each of black pepper and turmeric; and a very small piece of cinnamon bark) and added the chopped onion and garlic, continued frying until the nice smells seemed to mingle. Then I added the chopped turnip and one small chopped orange sweet potato from my never-ending bag in the basement. In a separate pan, I quickly blanched the turnip tops and radish tops, then poured off the water (pity for the vitamins but I thought the greens might otherwise be a bit bitter). I then chopped the barely wilted tops and added them to the soup pot. I added salt to my taste (maybe half a teaspoon), and floated the whole batch with hot water from the kettle. Simmered the pot until everything was soft, let it cool, then whizzed it with an immersion blender.
With bits of homemade bread dumped in, this made a great soup for a raw, damp Thursday. The pot made about 4 cups of soup.
This was accompanied by a salad using some of your tender red-leaf lettuce and spinach leaves, dressed with some homemade yogurt flavoured with a mashed garlic clove and salt, and toasted sunflower seeds on top.

Many thanks!
Susan





Wednesday, June 5, 2013

A New Season


Well we are excited to be diving into a new season of harvesting. Today marked the first day of our summer CSA program. The baskets looked great sporting a selection of fresh produce picked fresh. 

We are always excite to start a new season and to meet all the great people who will be joining us on our culinary adventures. 

It looks like its going to be a great season and we hope that everyone enjoys the fresh produce that we dish up. 

Check out a few pictures of what went into this weeks baskets.