Tuesday 17 September 2013

Week #12 - FFF CSA Blog - To everything there is a season...

This week marks the last of our CSA shareholder boxes :(  It is always a time of year that I greet with mixed feelings. I will miss the weekly routine and opportunity to meet our customers and share our the bounty of our labours.

However, I would be lying if I wasn't looking forward to a bit of slower pace and less pressing deadlines. But as some famous playwright said... to everything there is a season.

Now we turn our attention to preparing for the coming winter - harvesting, preserving, storing and building and preparing new winter homes for some of our animals. And of course - more time for the best thing we've ever produced - our three wonderful children.

A big thank you for those that came out during Open Farm Day! We had over 200 visitors on Sunday and loved being able to show off our operation and teach a bit about what we do!

This week our customers will enjoy (among other things) a lovely watermelon, several different varieties of squash and some tomatillos. A tomatillo is also known as a mexican tomato or tomato verde (green tomato). It grows on a plant that is similar to a tomato but a papery husk forms around the tomato (a lot like the ground cherries). Many people have not eaten a tomatillo before and therefore I've put a few links below to some ideas of what you can do with them. My favorite is making Salsa Verde (green salsa) - absolutely love the stuff. A trick I use is to make the sauce - blend it and then pour into ice cube trays and freeze. Then I place in a ziplock bag and whenever I need a bit of Salsa Verde to add to recipe or put on my taco - I can take out as little as a tablespoon or as much as a cup just by selecting the number of ice cubes I need!

http://www.canadiangardening.com/food-and-entertaining/in-season/five-things-to-do-with-your-tomatillos/a/37287

http://allrecipes.com/recipes/fruits-and-vegetables/vegetables/tomatillos/

What's in the Box this week?

Peppers
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Honeydew melon
Tomatoes
Squash - several varieties
Tomatillos
Leeks
Beets
Watermelon
Ground Cherries
Ground Coriander
(Cilantro when it goes to seed becomes Coriander - we've ground it up and provided it to you in a little bag. Fresh coriander is the best!)

So to our shareholders we bid farewell for now and promise to check in regularly when we have something new to share or sell. Let's hope for a quick, mild winter followed by a glorious spring! Hoping we will see you all back again for veggies share next year! Bye for now! Take good care!

Tuesday 10 September 2013

Week #11 - FFF CSA Blog update


Yikes! Its week #11 of our twelve week CSA! Where has the time gone! Hard to believe that we will be done for the season! We will miss our weekly chats with our customers and the weekly routine of picking and packing!

We are also busy getting ready for Open Farm Day which is this Sunday. If you are looking for something to do on Sunday and want to explore the farm other farms - this is a great day to take one in. Here is a link to information on Open Farm Day:

Also in case you  haven't seen it, check out our Open Farm Day video previewing the farm:
http://youtu.be/zM0_LyXHJjY


What's in the box this week?!

Peppers (assorted sweet and hot)
Potatoes
Cucumbers
Carrots
Zucchini
Herbs (Basil, Parsley, Chives)
Ground cherries
Spring onions
Squash
Tomatoes (a rainbow of varieties)
Honeydew Melon
Leeks
Swiss Chard
Beets
Green Beans -  The warm weather has given us a second flowering which is quite a treat this late in the season.

Just a heads up, next week, which will be the last week, there will be a number of extra items so bring your muscles! Our pumpkins are almost ready so we hope to tuck them in for the last week. As well our bumper crop of tomatillos has taken its time but if finally ripening up. (Don't worry if you don't know what those are ) - they are yummy and I'll provide some recipes. We will also have a watermelon for everyone! (We had one this weekend and it was heavenly!)
 
Hope you enjoy this week's goodies!

Tuesday 3 September 2013

Week #10 - FFF CSA update


This week the CSA boxes are so full we almost couldn't fit everything. You each get a very heavy box brimming full of goodies, so bring your muscles to pick up!
 
Peering into the box, so many recipes come to mind….. How about potato and leek soup? Salsa? Chocolate Zucchini cake? Baba Ganoush?  Simply click on the link below to see how to create these yummy items from this week's box contents!
 
Potato and Leek Soup

Salsa

Chocolate Zucchini Cake - Gramma Fenez's recipe

Baba Ganoush (eggplant dip)


What's in the box this week?!

Peppers (assorted sweet and hot)
Potatoes
Cucumbers
Carrots
Zucchini
Herbs (Basil, Parsley, Chives)
Ground cherries
Spring onions
Squash
Tomatoes (a rainbow of varieties)
Eggplant
Honeydew Melon
Leeks

This is a busy time of year for many reasons… we are bringing in the majority of our harvest, Philip helping to combine for a local farmer, we are getting ready for Open Farm Day and of course our kids are going back to school this week!

The gardens continue to grow well however we have had a fairly significant attack of flea beetles! They love plants like kale and other brassicas and can reduce a beautiful lush plant to a skeleton within hours. We are hearing from other farms that we are not alone as many others are suffering the same fate. Flea beetles typically only are an issue in the spring an we haven't been troubled with them in the late summer before. While there are chemical responses that could be used there are very few natural remedies  so … no kale this week!