Some weeks just seem longer than others… but a few late evenings and hot days help give the feeling of having accomplished a lot more than usual in a week. We had fun moving 400 square bales of hay from the fields into the barn Wednesday evening, after the temperature had cooled down a bit! We took the afternoon to relax the next day which was even better, especially with the temperature and humidity so high. Heat warnings? What are they? It’s much easier to work in the heat when you are used to it.  We are.

Another evening we were trying to salvage old drip tape – the long thin plastic tubing we use to water the garden. In trying to use some sections from last season we were finding far too many holes to be worth patching. Do you give up and throw out a section after two holes or nine holes?

The week ended with our potluck! I’m pleased to announce the most creatively scrumptious dish, by popular vote, was Carrot-coconut Salad. A proud Albert went home with a potato-sac full of goodies including some eggs, the first of the french and purple beans, some hot peppers, zucchini, and dried camomile. His winning recipe was made from grated carrots and shredded coconut (in equal parts) with some raisins or cranberries. This salad was served with a sweet and sour dressing made from 1 cup Apple cider vinegar, 125mL of honey and 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh ginger. Apparently the salad is best when the coconut is freshly picked from a tree and ground in a coffee grinder, but we don’t happen to have any coconut trees at Riverglen! Popular vote was also strong for some Carrot Ginger Coconut Milk soup, Lemon-thyme and Spelt bread, Kale chips, Berry shortcakes and Chocolate beet cake! Recipes are going up on the website. A delicious feast

Heather

What’s in my Box?

Week No.7

• Beets: The bins are packed with two varieties for you to choose between. The Chioggia beets are white and red stripes when they are cut open – they can be recognized by a slightly more orange colour.  The (other) beets are a much deeper purple colour and the red from the stems extends onto the leaves along the veins.  Don’t forget their edible greens are yummy too.
• Carrots: Freshly dug for you to crunch, boil, sauté or bake.
• Swiss Chard: We gave our greens a week of rest, and they look all the better for it.
• Peas: Some are green, some are purple – beware the purple ones loose their colour with cooking.  There’s nothing like preparing a colourful feast, only to open the pot lid and see they have switched to green… they’re just as delicious either way!
• Shallots: Tiny members of the onion family, use them as you would their other family members.
• Lettuce: Nice heads of lettuce can still be found in our fields, but they’re heading for your salad bowls. I love summertime salad meals – throw in some grilled chicken and cheese, or some feta cheese and olives.
• Parsley: Nice little bunches to add a different herb to your dishes.
• Broccoli or Zucchini: Tuesday gets broccoli – lovely big heads which are a first for Riverglen.  The zucchini harvest is beginning and will start in the Thursday baskets this week.

This is a single weblog entry, posted on July 27th, 2011. Comment here »

First things first, we’ll see you this Sunday, right?  July 24th at 11am Riverglen is hosting a pot-luck lunch for the Intentional Eaters Community – that’s you, our CSA members!  Come out and meet each other over some good food. We’ll give you a little tour of the farm so you can see how things have changed since you were here last, or welcome you for the first time. Please bring a plate, fork, mug and a favourite dish to share. Try to use ingredients from your baskets in interesting ways – if you didn’t get a particular ingredient this week, try finding it at the market or our farm store. If you want to share, send the recipe to info@riverglen.ca and we’ll compile them on the webpage.  There will be a small prize for the most creatively scrumptious dish so bring out your best!

Beautiful sunshine, and… is that the third windstorm this season? We have to try hard not to bore you with news of the weather, but it plays an important role in daily life at the farm. The sunshine means that the hay has been cut – you can see it in the background here.  It’s nice to see fresh hay lined up for the animals this winter! The storm wasn’t as kind to us as the sunshine. There are now a few trees down on the fences around the farm.

I’d like to introduce Alice, who has been giving us a hand with weeding and harvesting!

We’re keeping up with the seeding, hoeing, weeding, irrigation, harvesting… There are freshly tilled beds to plant fall crops in, and we collected a nice batch of potato beetle grubs. We also got a lovely example of why we’re keeping all the cabbages covered this week. Insects called ‘sweet midge’ found one little section we forgot to put row cover on! They eat the apical meristem (the growing tip of the plant) which essentially halts any further vertical growth. It’s nice to experience the tangible outputs of farm work when we harvest crops, but the mistakes very tangible too. They’re covered up now in hopes that the rest of them will be saved. It might already be July, but the learning never stops at Riverglen

I’m looking forward to seeing you all out on Sunday.

-Heather

What’s in my Box?

Week No.6

• Carrots: The first of the season… these ones are orange.
• Green Onions: While many people call scallions (or bunching onions) ‘green onions’, here are some true green onions – fresh, summer onions with green edible leaves and without dry peals. Typically, onions are left in the field until the leaves dry up. These become the yellow storage onions you are used to seeing. There will be some of those later in the season!
• Turnip Greens: These tender greens have a delicious taste raw, but they can be very lightly steamed or stir-fried as well.
• Nappa Cabbage: The last of the Nappa cabbage, we still love it chopped up with an apple cider vinaigrette and a bit of fruit (dried or fresh).
• Mesclun: Spicy salad mix bags, dress them up as you like.
• Choice Herbs: The chives are back! Along with lemon thyme and oregano. Choose one bunch.

This is a single weblog entry, posted on July 27th, 2011. Comment here »