1st 2011 CSA Pick-up

Well another season of CSA pick-ups started today with a full truck load of farm fresh veggies headed for the Charlottetown deliveries. It was the perfect harvest day, overcast all morning which allowed me to get all the veggies picked before the heat of the sun came out to try and wilt everything. The kale and arugula did get harvested after lunch so it did not get as much time in the cooler as the rest of the greens.


Not a bad view for my Charlottetown pick-up location

It was great to meet all the new members as well as to see old friends. The large share had lettuce mix, spinach, hakurei turnips, bok choy, arugula, red russian kale, green onions and a black seeded simpson lettuce head. It was also supposed to include a bunch of Giant Red Mustard but there was just no room in the bins so it went in the grab box which also had mizuna, rhubarb, radish and Chinese cabbage. There was lots of grabbing going on so I think people enjoyed the extra selection. The grab box is nice as we can offer those veggies that are not that plentiful as a grab option. The radishes were the most popular grab item today. The picture of the share this week did not turn out that great but as you can see it was quite green.




My new favourite vegetable, hakurei turnip. I'm loving it raw, its really crunchy, sweet and delicious. The greens can be eaten as well


Giant Red Mustard - Gives your salad an extra kick


Beautiful Black Seeded Simpson head lettuce


Bok Choy - Great start to a wonderful stir-fry. Chop the stalks and leaves separate. Saute or stir-fry the stalks first and then add the leaves just at the end. The stalks give a really nice crunch


Green onions - great chopped into salads or scrambled eggs or my favourite with egg salad sandwiches


Bins all filled up


Oh so spicy Arugula - try it on pizza or on steak or just toss in your salad. Its not everyone's favourite so just test a leaf first before you make a big meal.


Red Russian Kale - super food!! You can chop it up and add it to your salads or its also great added into a quiche or frittata.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone Thursday at the Summerside pick-up.

In other news our 1951 Allis Chalmers G cultivating tractor was delivered to the farm on Saturday. We needed to get a new battery for it which I got tonight and Derek is out as I type driving around in the dark. It's quite the little rig, "cute" is what everyone says when they see it for the first time. Ben & Jake refer to it as "mommy's G". We have high hopes for this little tractor to be able to do the weeding that the eco-weeder can not. We need to rig up some cultivators for this season but we are looking at buying a basket weeder next season. The highlight of this tractor is that the engine is behind you so you have full visibility of the crops you are weeding, just awesome.


Ben giving the G a good look over


Going for a spin - quite noisy and very smoky, but still awesome


I think the Ford is feeling a little "blue"