This is a single weblog entry, posted on June 30th, 2011. Comment here »

The first root crop of the season is ready for your boxes this week – radishes!  They’re not all red though… some lovely purples and whites too.  It’s exciting to see the plants soaking up all this sunshine.  The peas are flowering, the turnips are getting bigger and there’s some brussel sprout and cauliflower seeds just cracking open.  Great growing conditions also apply to the weeds, but we’re on top of those with some helping hands.  An Otesha group joined us to do some careful hand weeding around the smaller plants in the garden this week.

It’s nice to get into the routine of harvesting for your boxes, and to see the produce coming out of the garden! We’ve also been busy preparing the last field for planting, incorporating as much green matter into the soil as possible. We found some small orange clusters of Colorado potato beetle eggs on some of our potato plants this week, so we’ve picked those off in hopes of keeping the beetles under control. An afternoon farm field trip last Wednesday took us over to another vegetable farm nearby where we got see a slightly different farm setup, and compare crop progress so far this season with fellow farmers and interns.  Your carrots aren’t coming up as thickly either?  Sounds like seed density and soil tilth was the issue, not the interns being overly enthusiastic with the hoes

-Heather

Week No.2

• Mesclun: Mixed tender greens of the lettuce and mustard families. The super frilly ones are the spicy bits, as you may have figured out last week. Nice with a bit of dressing, or to add some crunch and spice to your sandwiches.
• Romaine Lettuce: Two different varieties are headed out this week – please only pick ONE head of lettuce to bring home!  In growing different varieties we don’t always have enough of one variety for everyone – some choice is nice, right? The speckled leaves are Forellenschluss, the plain ones are Paris Island.
• Potatoes: These are stored over from last summer. They are in good shape, so our over-winter storage test run is a success! Flick the sprouts off before you cook them, they are not edible.
• Oregano: Classic Mediterranean herb. Rub the leaves off, chop and add to your meal or throw a whole branch into sauce or stew.
• Lemon Thyme: A slight twist on another classic.
• Pak Choi: Classic Asian hardy green. Chop and wilt, sautée or stir-fry with other veggies.
• Garlic Scapes: The tasty flower stalks have been nipped off the garlic, so nice bulbs will develop underground.  These can be used much like chives or scallions.  Unfortunately, their lovely curly pig tail shape is usually lost if you chop them up into a dish.  What about grilling them whole to put on a fresh burger or veggie patty?
• Kale: Slightly different leafy green this week, have you ever tried a smoothy made from greens?  Two varieties, like with the lettuces, so please only pick one of them to take home with you: Red Russian or Black.
• Radishes: Here’s the first of the colourful roots!  If they are a bit too spicy for your taste when raw, cook them up in a stir fry or sauté them to add a milder flavour to your dishes. The large purple ones have the most kick to them.

Garlic scapes curl up at the top of the plants.

This is a single weblog entry, posted on June 25th, 2011. Comment here »

Sun has continued to pump calories to our plants over the past week and we have noticed significant growth in the garden. It looks like we can start on time! Make room in the fridge; here come the veggies!

The following document indicates which pickup location you have been assigned to. Please confirm the information is correct! PS This is important…

Please Check This List

For members who have purchased a bi-weekly box: Names in red will pickup on odd weeks (1,3,5,etc) while names in blue will pickup on even weeks (2,4,6,etc)

When do I pickup? 

 
Pickups starting on Tuesday, June 14th:

-Chipworks (newly changed) 3:00pm to 5pm

-Britannia 3:15pm to 8pm
-Westboro 3:30pm to 6pm
-Wellington 3:45pm to 7:45pm
-Centertown 4:00pm to 7:30pm

Pickups starting on Thursday, June 16th:
-Yoga & Tea 4pm to 7:30pm
-Riverglen Farm 4pm to 8pm

*If you have purchased a bi-weekly produce box, please make sure you pickup on the appropriate weeks. This is important to ensure everyone gets their food.

This is a single weblog entry, posted on June 9th, 2011. Comment here »