Jen and Derek's Farm Fresh Veggies

And we're done - well almost

2012-01-26T04:03:00.000-08:00

The view from the end of the driveway

***I started this blog a few days ago and am just finally getting it posted***

I'm sitting here typing waiting for the boys to wake up and looking outside to a very green looking January 26th. It was been a very strange winter so far with pretty mild temperatures, not great for the local ski hill (which I'm employed part time) but its been great for us being able to get work done on the greenhouse. We finally got the plastic on so I can now say the greenhouse is officially done, well officially sort of. We still need to get the end doors installed and of course now we need to plan and focus on the inside stuff like benches and stuff like that but for now the greenhouse is covered and we are so glad!!

We had been planning on putting the first layer of plastic on the greenhouse last Saturday (January 20th) morning but the weather was calling for snow the night before so we decided last minute to do it Friday morning. Derek was home anyway as it was his day off and we had Larry coming anyway to close in the end doors with plywood until the doors get installed. We got ahold of my Dad and my uncle who were working on a tractor just down the road and called my Mom to watch the boys while I went to help. Derek's brother was also going to come out later on. The winds were about 15km/h when we started which was fine but as soon as we got started they started to pick up. We had read lots of info about how to put plastic on a greenhouse and the biggest piece of advice was to it when the winds were calm. Well the weather forecast seemed ok but we should have know better. The winds picked up and that sheet of plastic started acting as a bit of a sail.

The other problem was the way we had decided to pull the plastic over. We talked to some folks and read a bunch of methods online and decided to pull a rope over and pull the plastic over with someone using a stick underneath helping the plastic to go over the hoops. Well that turned out to be NOT a very good idea. The plastic was too heavy and would not easily pull over. We ended up putting some not so nice stretch marks along several parts of that sheet. About forty five minutes in I was tempted to just tell everyone to let it go and let the wind take it where it wanted. But I got on the phone and called my brother and he and my other uncle came over and gave us an extra hand. It was still hairy but we managed to get it on and fastened down with the channel lock. The winds had gotten pretty strong by the time that was done so there was no chance of doing the second layer.

First layer all done, very stressfull!!!

Monday (Jan 23rd) morning we started again but this time with more hands right at the first and with 15km wind forecasted until noon. We put 5 ropes over the first layer and pulled the second layer over in about 3 minutes, brilliant!! It took another hour or so to get all the channel lock on and everything tightened up. Derek cut a small hole in the first layer of plastic and hooked up the inflator fan which blows air between the two layers keeping the plastic fairly tight and ridgid to keep it from flopping around against the hoops of the greenhouse.

We must have pulled the top of the plastic a bit too tight as we could not get the opposite side of the greenhouse to inflate. We made a quick call to the greenhouse company and they suggested putting a piece of hose along the top to create a spot for the air to go across to inflate the opposite side. Derek found a piece of pipe insulation and put it up and it inflated right away. It's been a little over a week since both layers have been on and I'm still noticing that sometimes the opposite side does not seem as inflated as the first side. We might have to make some small adjustments to get that working better.

Second piece of plastic waiting to be installed

Allan and Ronald finishing up the South side

Andrew and Mark getting the north side all tight

Pulling the plastic tight and putting on the wiggle wire

We had lots of help, we were very grateful!!

Finishing the east end

Going in to check it out after the plastic was installed

The inflator fan

Ben & Jake love going in there with their trucks as its great fun driving back and forth, there is a bit of ice in there as well so its a bit of a skating rink at times. We haven't had that much sun this week, just a bit here and there so it hasn't been that warm in there yet.

Looks like they are playing "chicken"

Enjoying a nice bit of afternoon sun climbing on the swing set

We still have to wait to get the end doors installed and as soon as the frost is out of the ground we'll be thinking of planting. We have to decide what kind of benches we are going to build for our transplants but we're thinking for now just cinder blocks and pallets.

So we're not completely finished but it sure feels great to have the plastic on. Just want to say a quick thanks to everyone who's helped us during this latest adventure!!
Gordon Waugh, Andrew Waugh, Allan Waugh, Ronald Waugh, John Campbell, Mark Bernard, Larry Lecky, Gerry Reicheld, Natalie Woodburn-Heron, Andrew Chappel, Mike Cormier and of course my Mom who got those last minute early morning phone calls to come watch the boys.

***January 31st update***

We had some really nice sun yesterday and the thermometer was reading 29degress but that's not really an accurate reading since it was in the sun. But it sure felt nice but now the ice of the above picture is now a foot of water, not so nice!!

Beautiful sunny day

Very muddy boots

Mud bath anyone??

Greenhouse setback

2012-01-10T08:36:00.000-08:00

Greenhouse setback. We were told our big end doors would be ordered on Friday and installed this week. We got a call yesterday that the order was missed and it will now be three weeks!!! Grrrrrrrr.

At least its not April!!!

Another greenhouse update

2012-01-09T06:50:00.001-08:00

Just a quick greenhouse update for all our readers. I unfortunately do not have any pictures as I'm having trouble getting them from Derek's phone to the computer. Derek updated our computer, again, and its giving me grief!!!

Our two big garage doors are set to be installed this week which we are very excited and nervous about. It seems that we may have not paid as much attention as we should have to things being square and level as our man door did not get installed as perfectly as it should have. We thought we did a good job but the man door sticks out about an inch on the bottom left hand side, grrrr. Derek thinks he can fix it, so here hoping. We think everything else is finished including checking for sharp edges, covering the 2X6 posts on the end walls with pieces of plastic and finishing up the last few screws on the end walls. Hopefully once the doors are installed we will be able to put the plastic on. So we are hoping for some really calm days and preferably no snow!!!! I don't think that's alot to ask for in January, do you??

I'm back to work at the ski park which is a nice break but also throws a loop in greenhouse building and garden planning. We haven't had very much snow on the Island so far this season but I would imagine it will start any time. Hopefully it will just wait until the plastic is finished on the greenhouse.

I'll try and post a few pictures as soon as I figure out my computer issues!!!

Christmas, sick monsters & more greenhouse pictures

2011-12-28T09:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over for another year and what a year its been for us. We are pretty much all settled in to the new place and are trying to get the finishing touches done on the greenhouse to be able to put the plastic on. We are putting up two layers of plastic and I've been told we pretty much need no snow and no wind but frost in order to successfully put up the plastic. That could be interesting!!

We got the trench dug last week and laid down water and electrical lines. We were going to rent a trench digger but when we priced a local source it was pretty much the same to get a professional to do it, excellent!! We laid the water hose and electrical ourselves which turned into an adventure in its own right. We knew it was supposed to rain the following day so after we got the boys to bed we went outside to bury the water and electrical lines. Head lamps, shovels, and four hours later we were pretty much done. The rain came sooner than we had expected so we got nicely soaked.

I'm not sure if it was because of that or probably just that did not help but the next day I was so sick. I could hardly move, no energy and just felt like anll I could do was sleep. Derek had to come home from work to take care of the boys and I basically slept the rest of the day and night. Jake also was not feeling very well due to a bad head cold and his conditio continued to get quite a bit worse and lasted all through the Christmas weekend. He's starting to come around but his sleep pattern at night seems to be off which makes for a long sleepy day for me!!

We did have a good Christmas despite the mountain of kleenex that seemed to pile up. The boys were still not really into opening presents but really enjoyed seeing new toys. We went back to our woods in Brookvale for our annual Christmas tree hunt but Jake was not really in the "spirit" so we just took the first one we saw that we liked. It looked great in the woods, it was very full, but when we got it home we realized it was way too big, especially when we tried to bring it into the house. It pretty much filled our front living room.

Here are some pictures of the greenhouse progress since the last blog

Derek and Larry working on the end walls

Larry

End walls finally done

Derek and I working during a chilly afternoon while the boys napped

Using self tapping screws to attach the plywood to the end greenhouse hoop. It was chilly up there

Trench digger

Water line ready to be buried

The trench was about 200', looking towards the house

Looking toward the greenhouse

The skidsteer ran into a big rock and could not dig a clean line so we ended up borrowing a pair of post hole diggers to finish the job. What alot of work!!

No need for a gym membership now

Almost done, and yes I helped too

Ben helping Daddy with the big drill

Drilling the hole for the water line

We rented this drill and it worked like a dream!!

The hole almost done, it took about 4 minutes

It seems like there is not much left to do before the plastic goes on but it all still takes time and the weather is slowing us down. So basically here is our to do list before the plastic goes on
1. channel lock on end hoops with drip edge under the channel lock
3. checking for smooth edges on everything
4. installing big doors & little door

Hopefully the next update shows some real progress.

Greenhouse update

2011-12-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

We have been steadily working on the new greenhouse for the last few weekends. We have been very fortunate that the weather has stayed so nice. Although the warm temperatures meant we were trudging through lots of mud, made a tough job just that much harder with all that extra weight attached to your boots!! The days are getting colder so we have to kick it up a notch. We have had some great help which has really speeded things up. A big thanks to Andrew Waugh, Andrew Chappell, Natalie Woodburn-Heron, Larry Lecky, Gerry Reicheld, Mike Cormier and my Dad, Gordon Waugh. I also can't forget to mention my Mom who has watched the boys so I've been able to help out as well. We are still a fair bit away from being finished but we can definitely see the end in sight. We have to get a trench dug for power and water which is a pretty big job but hopefully I can find someone locally with a trench digger who can do it for us. We could rent one but time is getting to be a bit of an issue!!

The greenhouse is 30X96 and we purchased the kit from Multi Shelter Solutions in Ontario. They have amazing customer service and are always ready and available to help when issues come up. We can't say enough about how great they have been to work with. We are building the end walls using pretty heavy materials but knowing what our Island winds are like we decided to build it extra strong to hopefully sleep better at night during those nasty Island gales!!!

We are very excited about the new greenhouse, it is something we have been wanting to have since we started farming in 2006. We are looking forward to spending time in there basking in the sun during the chilly winter days. We will be able to expand our CSA offerings greatly by being able to add an extended season that the greenhouse will be able to provide. We are also really excited to have so much more space to grow seedlings for early spring sales and CSA plantings.

Here are some pictures of our progress.

Waugh's Construction getting started to level the ground

Working away

Two hours later, almost perfectly level!!

Tractor trailor dropped off alot of material

More stuff

Lots of smaller stuff too

More materials

Getting started

Setting up the hoops

The end of the first day, sure looks impressive for one day

The next day was very cold, poor Mike's fingers were so red while he and Derek started putting up the top level of supports

Derek and Natalie working away on the top layer

Just about finished

Getting the holes dug for the 6X6 end posts

Derek treating the end posts, organic standards do not allow for pressure treated wood, hopefully our homemade recipe will work!!!

Larry Lecky came to help us with the end walls. Carpenter extraordinaire!!

Getting started on the end walls

Roll up side material all installed

Dad working on the header for the man door

End walls going up

Both end walls pretty much done. The west door still needs the header to be completed.

So pretty at sunset

Dreaming of what yummy goodness will be growing in there soon

The weather this weekend is supposed to be rather chilly but we're hoping to have the man door installed, plywood all installed on both end walls and the channel lock installed as well. Hopefully everything goes according to plan!!

We'll keep the pictures coming as progress continues.

Life is busy!!

2011-11-11T03:05:00.001-08:00

The CSA wrapped up with a successful last pick-up and it was great to see everyone take home extra veggies to keep their fridges stocked up. We still have a few veggies left in the fields and I'm hoping to have an on-farm u-pick soon for the members who may want to get carrots or beets for winter storage. The carrots are so delicious right now, super sweet. A big thanks to everyone who filled out the CSA survey, what great comments and suggestions. We really appreciate our members and the effort they put into making our program a success.

We have been busy getting the new land prepped at the new farm for next years plantings. Seems like there is never enough time in the day with Derek working full time and with me chasing the monkeys and keeping them entertained but I got the garlic planted this week with help from Kim & Natalie and my Mom who tediously separated cloves. Dad was kind enough to plow the new ground
which was a big help.

Freshly plowed ground

My new soil

Some of the 2500 cloves planted this week before the rain

The view towards Summerside

Natalie working away

Ben & Jake have been enjoying all the trips to the "new house" and I think are starting to feel pretty much at home. We are planning on moving within the next few weeks so hopefully they will still feel the same when we get there!! Just a picture to end off the blog of my sweet little Halloween cutie pies!!

Final CSA Week

2011-10-25T16:16:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe another CSA season is wrapping up this week. I feel truly blessed to have such a great supportive bunch of members, it really feels like I grow food for friends!! I was very surprised & touched today to receive some lovely parting gifts such as flowers, fresh hot biscuits and super cute muffins, which apparently I have to share with the rest of my family : ) I also got to see a super cute baby who's going to grow up to be a real heart breaker, watch out Ben & Jake!!!

This weeks large share had beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, potatoes, kale, green cabbage and bok choy. The grab bin had Chinese cabbage, mizuna, winter squash and lots of extra carrots, potatoes, beets, turnips, parsnips, kale & garlic.

A new recipe I saw this week that was posted by another farm for parsnip soup. Looks like a great way to use up this weeks final parsnips.
Here is another great recipe that I saw on heart beet organics web site for kale.

I celebrated my 31st birthday this week and what better way to spend the day then harvesting farm fresh veggies. The weather was beautiful, sunny, low winds; just awesome. I also got to spend a small part of my day being filmed by a local film maker who is currently working on a documentary for the National Film Board of Canada about organic farming on PEI. It will be interesting to see the final work of art!!!

Just a few pics of my super thoughtful end of CSA season thank-you treats!!

fresh from the oven, still steamy!!

Two bigger muffins for Derek and I and two smaller ones for Ben & Jake. Mine already had a bite out of it and two minutes later it was gone!!

Beautiful bouquet of flowers given by some very lovely ladies!!

So, what will we be up to now that the CSA is over for another season? We will be in fall clean-up mode trying to get the gardens all finished up and put to bed and getting ready to start on our new farm in the spring. The to do list seems frightfully long but I guess we can just pick away at it one item at a time. I often think a nice mid-day nap is in store but I'm sure my restless spirit will win and out to work I will go!!

Just a few pictures of my little men as we enjoyed a nice sunny day last week exploring around the farm. They are growing up so fast!!

16th CSA Week

2011-10-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

The weather continues to be quite lovely this fall which makes for pleasant harvesting. The garden is quickly wrapping up and we've decided that next week will be our final CSA harvest and deliveries. We still have broccoli, cauliflower, purple cabbage and some lettuce heads that are still growing and if we get enough ready we will either have another pick-up later on in the fall or have an open farm day for members to come and pick-up some more goodies.

This weeks large share has carrots, parsnips, red onion, kale, beets, leeks and bok choy. The garb box had winter squash, pie pumpkins, dill, cilantro, chinese cabbage, small green cabbage, summer turnips and more of the above mentioned veggies.

As next week is the final CSA pick-up it will be a big one so make sure to bring an extra bag. We will have pretty much the same veggies as today but there will just be more of them. There should be lots of winter squash and garlic for winter eating.

Bok Choy - My favorite way to enjoy this tender yummy vegetable is very quite simple. Remove the greens from the stalks and set aside. Chop the stalks into 3/4" piece and saute in melted butter, onions and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add in the greens and stir until wilted and then put on top of rice or noodles with a splash of soy sauce. Yum yum yum!!!

A look at the grab bins

Farm fresh kale

Chinese cabbage and regular green cabbage all up for grabs

I'm going to make this weeks blog entry shorter this week as I've been battling a head cold and an early night is definitely needed!!! Enjoy your veggies

15th CSA Week

2011-10-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

I'm typing away to the warmth of our wood stove. My fingers were absolutely frozen by the time I got home tonight from the pick-up and I was some excited to see the smoke curling out of the chimney as I drove up the driveway. They are calling for frost tonight with temperatures going down to -1 so bring on the heat!!!

Kim and I cleaned up all the pumpkins, winter squash and cucumbers today in anticipation of tonight's weather. Last week's nasty weather did a number on many items in the garden but in particular it killed all the cucurbit families foliage (zucchini, cucumber, winter squash & pumpkins) so tonight's frost would definitely have done some damage. They are now all tucked away nicely in the greenhouse shed. Last weeks weather was particularly hard on the greens. We had winds over 100km/h for most of the day on Wednesday/Thursday along with hail and snow for most of Thursday. The Summerside CSA did not see any greens in their shares last week as they were still looking very unhappy on Friday. I was very glad to have pushed off the Summerside pick-up till Friday as the weather turned out to be very nice, although I was still lucky enough to have been able to harvest all day Thursday during the lovely hail/snow.

The car early Friday morning, brrrrr. Hard to believe that it was 23 degress on Sunday!!

The garden is definitely slowing down but the shares today were still very diverse. The large share had potatoes, carrots, parsnips, beets, onions, leeks, garlic, mixed greens, arugula, winter squash and bok choy. The grab box had brussel sprouts, dill, cilantro, parsley, leaf celery, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, chinese cabbage & gourds.

We dug the last of the potatoes on the weekend so this will be the last week with our potatoes. We were able to provide potatoes for 10 weeks of the CSA which is by far the longest we've ever been able to go. Seeing as this year was so crappy in terms of weather and disease I think we did pretty good. We topped the plants quite early so they did not get a chance to get as big as I would have liked but we followed a strict blight control program which resulted in a clean crop and no blight.

Need another recipe for leeks? Thanks to Shannon for passing this along. Courtesy of allrecipes.com!
Leek Apple Soup
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons curry powder
3 leeks, chopped
3/4 cup diced potatoes
2 or 3 apples -- peeled, cored and chopped
3 cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup plain yogurt

Directions

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in curry powder and cook 1 minute. Stir in leeks, potato and apples and cook 5 minutes. Pour in broth and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
Puree in a blender or food processor, or using an immersion blender. Season with salt and pepper and serve with a swirl of yogurt.

Just a few photos for your amusement!!

Jake inspecting Derek's wash technique

Ben stealing a parsnip

Carrots, potatoes and parsnips

Boss getting a hug

Wash station

The boys really think that Boss should enjoy carrots as much as they do

14th CSA Week

2011-10-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

The weather for the next few days sounds down right miserable. Heavy rains, high winds and chilly temperatures all make up for some crazy weather warnings. I sure hope the garden can survive the next few days. We have decided to push back Thursdays CSA pick-up to Friday just to try and avoid harvesting in the nasty weather. I find I have to harvest for about 2-3 hours the day prior to the pick-up and even though I have great rain gear I don't think it will keep me dry in 100km/h winds along with pounding rain they are calling for. I'm just hoping its all calmed down for Friday.

Today turned out to be a pretty nice harvest day weather wise but it also felt like a rushed day. Kim and I just could not seem to get ahead. I had the carrots, potatoes and parsnips harvested and bagged up by last night so we should have had all kinds of time but the greens are very slow going. Our current mixed greens are made up of six different kinds of greens and our wash barrels are not big enough to mix everything up at once so it takes quite a bit of time sorting through them and then spinning them. Then they also need to be weighed and bagged up which also takes quite a bit of time. I never even got a chance to clean up onions for today's shares, sorry to everyone about no onions today. But even though it felt like a rushed day the pick-up went very smoothly. Everyone was there by around 5:45 and I was pulling out of the parking lot at 5:55, excellent. Ben & Jake were giving Derek a bit of a hard time so I went right home to hang out with my little men. They have decided they no longer wish to nap at the baby sitters so they are quite the handful as they are super tired. Luckily they still nap here which is a life saver for getting work done.

Today's large share had carrots, potatoes, parsnips,mixed greens, zucchinis, cucumbers, leeks, garlic, beets and baby turnips. The grab box had spinach, radish, arugula, gourds, parsley, cilantro, dill, winter squash, pie pumpkins and more of the above goodies. I had hoped for a pie pumpkin for everyone but I only had about 10 that were ready. It was great to see the kids get all excited over the gourds!!

Golden and red beets mixed

Baby turnips, great roasted with other veggies, eaten raw or cooked like regular turnips. I like a bit of brown sugar mashed in for extra sweetness.

First parsnip harvest - They are still a bit small but still very tasty. Their flavour will improve with some frost but I'm hoping that won't happen for a few weeks yet!! Great added into soups or with a roast.

Showing off their new hair cuts - big boys now!!

They were quite happy as their blankets and puppy and bunny had just gotten out of the dryer and Mommy let them watch a movie and eat their snacks. Jake still is munching on his carrot we picked on our morning adventure in the garden, silly boys!!

If your looking for a fresh chicken for Thanksgiving Barnyard Organics will be doing a Charlottetown drop off at the Charlottetown mall on Friday Oct 7th from 4-5pm. Certified organic chickens weighing aprox 7-8lbs. $3.50/lb. If you want more details or to touch base with Sally or Mark their e-mail is info@barnyardorganics.ca or check out their face book page
If your in the Summerside area you can pick them up at their farm in Freetown.

13th CSA Week

2011-09-27T16:33:00.000-07:00

We sure have been getting some great September weather. Yesterday was a corker of a day and today was beautiful and sunny although a tad bit chilly towards the end of the afternoon and down right cold by the end of the CSA pick-up. They are calling for a chance of frost tonight but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll miss us once again.

This weeks large share has leeks, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, dill, garlic, sweet yellow onions, red onion, arugula, mixed greens (tatsoi, kale, purple mustard, mizuna), winter squash, radishes and some cauliflower. We harvested the last of the cauliflower today so there won't be any for the Thursday crowd. We have more growing in the field so hopefully the nice fall weather will continue and we'll be able to all munch on the yummy white goodness again. The grab box had broccoli florets, parsley, cilantro, leaf celery, hot peppers, a few sweet peppers, beets, spinach, cabbage and more of the above veggies.

I'm having a bit of trouble with my onions. I have them curing up in the barn and yesterday when I went to grab a few bins I noticed that some of them looked to be rotting. So I started to sort through them and I ended up chucking out about 1/3 of them. So, make sure to check your onions and best to store them in the fridge until you get to use them. The red ones seem fine, so far its just the sweet ones (variety name Walla Walla) that seem to be affected. Fingers crossed that the storage onions will be ok.

We are harvesting the last two rows of potatoes. I was so pleased I was able to grow such a great crop and be able to provide spuds mostly through the season. I was really impressed with the reds but wished the whites could have been a bit bigger. We topped the plants back in the middle of August as the threat of blight was just too great. We did follow a strict 7-10 day blight spray schedule with our organic allowable product called Parasol but this seasons weather was just so crazy that we decided better safe than sorry and so the tops had to go. I'm hoping to have potatoes for at least 2 more weeks.

The zucchini have really slowed down. We no longer have bins filled with extras but everyone was able to get at least one in their share. The cucumbers are still going strong so hopefully the frost stays away for a bit yet so they will continue to produce.

A great way to enjoy your radish this week is my new favourite sandwich. "Radish Sandwich" For lunch today we had left over leek and potato soup, fresh sliced tomatoes and an open faced radish sandwich. For those of you who have not had a chance yet to try it its super easy and yummy. Just toast a piece or two of toast, butter, layer with thinly sliced radishes and top with a bit of salt and pepper, then enjoy.

Loving the leeks yet? If you haven't had a chance to make the potato leek soup I posted last week its worth taking the time. Many members commented today how much they enjoyed it and how easy it was. I made a double batch Saturday and we have been enjoying it so much. The boys actually request soup every day when I ask them what they would like for lunch. The leeks are also great sliced into rounds and sautéed with garlic and butter until soft and added to pasta or mixed into mashed potatoes. If you want to wait for a bit to enjoy they freeze really well. Simply slice into 1/4" rounds and put on a cookie sheet or casserole dish and put in the freezer. After a few hours put them into a plastic freezer bag and they are all ready to use when you need them.

I had a variety pack of winter squash at the pick-up today. Members got to pick from spaghetti, acorn, buttercup, butternut, delicata/dumpling, and hubbard (red kuri). I cooked a spaghetti squash on the weekend and I really enjoyed it but unfortunately Ben & Jake did not feel the same way. They are usually pretty good eaters but they were not big fans. I found this website on the weekend which explains pretty well the art of the spaghetti squash http://www.sprinklemassacre.com/2011/09/06/italian-sausage-spaghetti-squash/

I found these websites which help describe the different kinds of winter squashes and a great looking recipe.

Butternut Pudding Cups
Squash Reference

Spaghetti squash

Butternut

Acorn

Buttercup

Delicata

Baby hubbard (Red Kuri)

Winter squash assortment

A few recipies sent by members for everyone to enjoy. Thanks Lori & Marti for passing those along
Carrot Salad

"I roasted Zucc chunks for about 15 minutes in oven after marinating in Greek Dressing. Actually I threaded them on Skewers with red pepper and red onion and meatballs - it's a recipe from the Sobey's magazine, that free seasonal one? The zucchini was AMAZING, so sweet."

12th CSA Week

2011-09-20T15:59:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day today!! The temperature was just nice at 18 degrees, no wind and full sun. Awesome.

This weeks large share has regular cucumbers, lemon cucumber, zucchini, carrots, red and yellow sweet onions, garlic, leeks, potatoes, cauliflower, radish and a bag of gourmet mixed greens. There are eight different types of baby greens mixed together to make a delightful and ultra healthy salad including tatsoi, kale, swiss chard, arugula, mizuna, bulls blood beet greens, regular beet greens and purple mustard. Beautiful and delicious!!

Greens getting all mixed together in the wash station

Picture perfect

Mizuna

Regular beet green

Bulls Blood beet green

Tatsoi

Arugula

Purple mustard

Swiss Chard

We pulled about half of the onions on the weekend and they are all up in the barn curing for fall/winter storage. There are lots of onions!! We had some great help on Saturday afternoon, thanks to Martin, Nicola, Sofie & Lucie who did a great job putting the onions in the crates, weeding the peppers and entertaining Ben & Jake. We still have a few onions in the ground that I'm hoping will grow a bit bigger but its hard to tell at this point if that will happen.

The winter squash are the next item on the list. They do not like cold temperatures and anything less than 4 degrees and they could get chilling injuries which would shorten their storage life. I have quite a few varieties but they are not as big or as mature as I would like so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the cold and especially the frost will stay away for awhile yet. We have some lovely looking spagetti, butternut, buttercup, acorn, delicata and hubbard coming along just nicely.

I've officially declard it "soup season" around here and in my opinion a good soup is not complete without lots of onions and some leeks!! Here is one of our favorites.

Potato & Leek Soup
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup beef stock
2-3 leeks (white and light green parts, I don't use the leaves but some people do add till the soup is done and remove before eating for more flavour)
3 medium potatoes, cut in small cubes (I peeled them but you would not have to)
2 carrots, cut in small pieces
1/2 onion
salt & pepper, to taste
summer savory, couple of shakes
thyme, couple of shakes
Fry the chopped onions and leeks in a bit of butter for a few minutes along with the salt, pepper, thyme and summer savory. Add chopped potatoes, carrots, chicken & beef stock and bring to a boil. Simmer for 1/2 to 3/4 hour or until veggies are soft. It can be eaten just like this or pureed as well. I often will puree about 3/4 of the soup and leave a bit for a chunkier feel.

Thanks to Jennifer for the following blueberry zucchini muffin recipe. If you have a few zucchini kicking around or if loving neighbors have decided you need their extras its a great way to use them up!!

Blueberry Zucchini Muffins
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 c applesauce ( I used motts blueberry applesauce since it was the only applesauce I had in the cupboard)
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 c white sugar
2 c shredded zucchini
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1 pint fresh blueberries ( I used frozen )
(Optional topping: Oats sprinkled with cinnamon sugar)
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, applesauce vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer batter to greased or lined muffin pans. If you are using the topping, sprinkle on top of batter.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.

For all our farm facebook followers you've probley already seen these pictures but here are some of the latest farm fun photos!! Enjoy and have a great rest of the week.

11th CSA Week

2011-09-13T17:37:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day!! Much nicer than the chilly rainy day this time last week. It was an interesting day for sure. Kim and I had harvested a few things yesterday as the weather was calling for thunder showers today so thought it was a good idea to try and get ahead. I was able to get the beans, potaotes, carrots done yesterday and Kim was able to get the beets and cucumbers done. It was a good thing we did so much as the truck went on the blink after I dropped the boys off so it was back to harvesting with the tractor. Kim was kind enough to lend me her van to do the Charlottetown delivery. I thought there would be all kinds of room but trying to fit all the bins in the van turned out to be a lesson in patience and trial and error. I was able to get all the bins in but some of the grab items did not make it. I had celery on top of the bins and at one point I had to make a quick stop and the celery came flying from the back. I'm glad the police did not see me as I'm sure I had broken some visibility laws or something along those lines.

The large share had cauliflower, red and white onions, cucumbers, zucchini, fennel, swiss chard, baby carrots, yellow beans and potatoes. The grab bins had celery, sweet green peppers, hot peppers, summer turnip, garlic, cilantro, dill, parsley, basil, leaf celery and more of the above veggies. This is the first year I have grown celery successfully. It looks like celery, other years it looked like very stunted small sad versions of the real thing. I actually haven't had a chance to try it yet as I did not think it was ready yet. I walked by it today and thought I should harvest a few for the grab boxes. I don't have many plants as it hasn't been exactly a success other years but I'll be trying more next year!!

Some of the cauliflower were gigantic today. I weighted a few and several were over two pounds. That's a lot of cauliflower!! Below is a repeat recipe from last year. Laura said she made it again this week and it was just as good as she remembered from last year!!

Cream of Cauliflower Soup II (from allrecipes.com)
2 Tbsp butter
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, chopped
2 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth (I started with 4 cups)
1 head cauliflower, chopped
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp dry sherry
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

In a large pot, over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 mins. Stir in potatoes and carrots and cook 5 minutes more. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Stir in cauliflower, cover, reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, 10 - 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Puree in batches in blender, food processor or with an immersion blender. Return to low heat and stir in milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg and sherry. Heat through.

*I found this VERY thick, so I added another cup of broth when heating it for the final time. It could even use 2 cups more than recommended. Some of the reviews online suggested serving parmesan cheese on it. That would probably be good, too. I found it quite tasty.

I made a very yummy soup on the weekend, it was a recipe given to me by my friend Natalie. It was so easy and so yummy. I found it was rather "thin" but a great base to add other cooked veggies to.

Zucchini and Rosemary Soup
Bon Appétit| June 1995
From the Inn at Perry Cabin, St. Michaels, Maryland
Yield: Serves 8

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary (i only had dried and use 1/2teaspoon)
6 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt broth
1 russet potato, peeled, sliced (i used 3-4 small-medium sized red potatoes and did not peel them)
3 medium zucchini, thinly sliced (i used 1 large green zucchini)
1 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I did not use the extra zucchini)
Croutons (i did not have any)
Chopped green onions (i did not have any)

Melt butter with oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Mix in garlic and rosemary. Add stock and potato; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add sliced zucchini; simmer until tender about 15 minutes. Working in batches, puree in blender (I used an immersion blender and that worked really great and so much easier to clean). Season with salt and pepper.
**Cook cubed zucchini in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 30 seconds. Drain. Rewarm soup over medium heat. Ladle into bowls. top with zucchini and croutons. Sprinkle with green onions. **(I did not do this last bit as I got lazy)

The carrots in this weeks share are of the "baby" variety. This would be the size I would normally harvest for the restaurants. I had to cancel those deliveries for a few weeks as I had to make sure there was enough carrots left for the season for the CSA. This has given me the extra time I need to harvest a few things a day ahead for the shares. If the weather continues to be nice like today the carrots should keep growing which will mean larger carrots for next week. I do have one row left of larger carrots that I'm planning on leaving as emergency carrots and hopefully for winter storage. I have lots of carrots planted but I'm wondering if I planted them a bit too late in the season, they might not have time to mature before the real fall weather hits us.

Carrots peaking out from the other veggies

I have greens coming along very nicely and there may be some in next weeks shares. Arugula, mizuna, red mustard, red kale, bok choy, tatsoi, beet greens and spinach are all growing nicely. Derek got a new bearing and some new seals today to fix the tiller so hopefully this wekeend I'll be able to plant more greens for late fall harvests. I'll have to cover them with row covers to try and encourage some faster growth!! I also totally forgot to harvest the radishes today, but next week for sure.

If you've got some fennel left over from last week or if you got some new today and haven't had a chance yet to roast it up make sure you give it a try. I made another big batch of roasted veggies on the weekend. I used beets, carrots, onions, fennel, cauliflower, beans, cabbage (although I would leave it out next time), zucchini (don't add it till the last 15 minutes, i over cooked it slightly!!) and potatoes. Some olive oil, salt and pepper, 375 for 1hour. Amazing!!! Too easy, 1 dish to clean and so yummy.

The winter squash are coming along very nicely in the garden. The pumpkins and gourds are doing really well too. I think we'll plan our next CSA farm day around pumpkin and gourd picking. I'm not really sure when that will be but I would imagine the end of the month or first of October. The black flies are pretty much all gone now so if anyone wants to roam the gardens with their kids its practically a bug free zone now.

I hope your all enjoying the veggies. Thanks to everyone who filled out last weeks survey. Great comments!!

Take care of each other

Jen

What to eat first?

Peppers

The herb grab box

Oh so yummy

10th CSA Week

2011-09-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

One word to describe tonight's CSA pick-up, brrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!! I forgot to take a sweater and since I had been literally running around all day in rain gear I guess I never really noticed how cold it had gotten. So, I arrive at the pick-up wearing a fairly damp rain coat which was also wet on the inside of the sleeves to find out it had gotten down right cold. I believe I'll be breaking out the toque again and stashing in the truck for future pick-ups. As I type at 9:30pm my fingers are still feeling a tad bit chilled. But all in all another great Tuesday pick-up has been completed.

This week marks the half way point of the CSA, hard to believe seeing as its already into September. This season I added on two extra weeks from the 18 of last year as we had such a great growing season last year and could have easily gone another few weeks, hopefully the fall weather will be kind so that the veggies continue to grow and mature!!!

This weeks large share has cauliflower, 1 leek, potatoes, beans, carrots, red & white onions, broccoli, lettuce mix, garlic, zucchini, cucumbers, green or purple cabbage & baby fennel. I adapted a recipe I got this week (see below) from Kelly Hughes from Hughes Hill Farms which was very yummy!! I definitely recommend it. The grab box had dill, cilantro, parsley, leaf celery, basil, swiss chard, kale, lettuce heads, beets & more of the above goodies.

According to the weather man it was supposed to rain all day today. I was very thankful that nothing started until I was almost done my harvest and only had zucchini, some cabbage and the cucumbers to get during the rain. Around 2ish I saw a van drive up the lane-way and even though I was behind schedule I figured I best go and see who it was in-case it was a potential farm buyer or someone looking for more information. It ended up being this super cute older couple (they had to have been at least 80) looking to buy a cabbage. Not too strange of a request but they had just driven from Panmure Island for the cabbage to make cabbage rolls. Normally on a CSA day I would have told them all of the produce was spoken for but seeing as they drove all the way I could not deny their request. They had the best Danish accent and were very interested in what I was growing as they had always had an organic garden of their own but could no longer keep up with the work due to health problems. They ended up taking three cabbages and a pound of carrots and were very happy with their purchase. After they left I scrambled back down to the field to pick three more cabbages and finish off the zucs and cuks, talk about rush mode after that!!!!! My friend Kim who helps on Tuesday had other responsibilities today so it was also a bit hectic trying to get everything done, even though I did harvest some things last night it still seemed to be a day where I could not get ahead. So, seeing as I thought it was going to rain I decided that I should weigh out the carrots, potatoes and beans as I did not think anyone would appreciate doing that in the rain. I was totally behind schedule so I just weighed everything in the scale and put all items loose into the baskets. Sorry for the lack of order in the baskets today but better that than everyone getting soaked and cold.

So for the yummy recipe I mentioned above

Golden Roasted Vegetables (originally from Hughes Hill Farms)
1 bulb fennel (or a few baby ones)
1lb small red potatoes, halves (bigger ones quartered, white potatoes are fine too)
4 carrots, diagonally cut into 1/2" slices
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme (i did not have any)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 onion, chopped into large pieces
chopped red onion, if you have any
1 leek, sliced into 1/4" rounds(remove the green leaves, just use the white & greenish stalk)

Preheat over to 375F. Line baking pan with foil. Trip stalks and feathery fronds off fennel bulb; reserve fronds. Trim bottom of bulb and cut into 1/4: thick slices. In medium bowl, toss potatoes, onions, leek and carrots with oil, thyme, salt and peppers. Add fennel slices: stir until just combined. Spread mixture in single layer in pan. Roast, stirring 2-3 times, until vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes (took me about an hour but I have an old stove). Serve garnished with some of the reserved fennel fronds. I really enjoyed this dish, super easy, and very tasty. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Another fennel recipe sent by a member, thanks Craig.
Fennel and Grapefruit Summer Salad
Ingredients

1 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 bulb fennel, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and sliced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups torn romaine lettuce
1/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
1 avocado - peeled, pitted and sliced

Directions

Place grapefruit slices and any leftover juices in a bowl. Stir in onion, fennel, and artichoke, coating with the grapefruit juice. Pour mixture into another bowl, leaving a small amount of juice in the first bowl. Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper in the original bowl. Toss lettuce with the vinaigrette.
Divide lettuce onto 4 plates. Evenly distribute the grapefruit mixture on top of the lettuce and top with the Gorgonzola cheese. Place avocado slices on each salad and serve.

And yet another Fennel recipe sent by a member, I believe this is from Michael Smith's cookbook. Thanks Carolyn!
Lemon Fennel Slaw

1 fennel blulb
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp of honey
a few splashes of olive oil
a sprinkle or two of sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Remove the stalks from the top of the fennel bulb. cut the head in half through the core. Carefully trim out the woody core and then slice the remaining bulb as thinly as possible or shred through large holes of grater. Whisk the lemon zest and juice, honey, olive oil and salt and pepper together in a salad bowl. Toss with the fennel.
The recipe also adds that for variations you can toss a handful of mint leaves, chives or basil leave into the salad.

My Mom sent the following recipe along last night. I have not tried it but Mom said Dad liked it so that must mean its good, he's known for his "meat and potato" taste buds!!

Roasted Yellow Beans with Peanuts and Cilantro

Preheat oven to 400 F. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss 1 pond yellow beans with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and season with coarse salt and ground pepper. Roast until browned in spots and tender, about 15 minutes, tossing halfway through. In a medium bowl, combine 2 teaspoons soy sauce, ½ teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger, ½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice, and ½ teaspoon light brown sugar. Add roasted beans and ¼ cup each unsalted peanuts and fresh cilantro leaves to combine.

A recent trip back to the woods for an afternoon of adventures. The boys found a black and yellow caterpillar in the weeds and were not too sure how to get by it. Don't worry I rescued them from the big scary woods monster!!!

Mr. Serious

The boys enjoying a few of the tomatoes that were spared from the blight disaster!!!

Ben really loves fresh tomatoes!!

I hope the back to school transition went ok for everyone, I know I used to be very nervous about the first day!!! Have a great week and lets hope tonight's chilly weather was just a one off and warmer weather returns soon!!!

Jen

9th CSA Week

2011-08-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

After those crazy winds on Sunday night and Monday morning today turned out to be a wonderful day. Not a breath of wind with sunny skies and very few black flies making for a great harvest day. The shares today were very full with all kinds of farm fresh goodies. The large share had potatoes, carrots, beans, swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, cucumbers, onions and beets. The grab box had baby fennel, dill, cilantro, sage, leaf celery, basil, parsley, cabbage and more of the above mentioned veggies.

This weeks beans were a mixture of yellow wax, french green and magic purple!! Yes, magic beans. As they are cooked they will turn to green, a great experiment for kids to watch. If you snap the purple beans in half you'll notice they are all green on the inside. A beautiful addition to a fresh bean salad!!

Potatoes, beans and carrots all lined up ready to be weighed out. I'm not sure how I ever managed to do all the weighing out last year. This is a much better system. It really gives a better meaning to "community" as members get a chance to interact and its great to watch the kids helping out

A few great recipes that folks have been sharing!

Pasta with Sausage, Swiss Chard & Pine Nuts
Everyday Food | March / April 2003
1/3 C pine nuts
1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 pound mild Italian sausage, casings removed
1 pound Swiss chard, tough stems removed, leaves cut into thin strips
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper
1 pound short pasta such as gemelli or fusilli
3/4 C raisins, plumped in boiling water and drained
1/4 C freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

In a large skillet, toast pine nuts over medium-high heat, shaking the pan to toast evenly, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from skillet. In the same skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add sausage, and cook, breaking it up with a fork, until browned, about 5 minutes. Add chard, garlic and pepper: cook, tossing, until chard wilts, 2 to 3 minutes. Cover to keep warm.

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions, about 12 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking water. Return pasta to pot. Add sausage mixture to pasta with 1/2 cup reserved cooking water, raisins, toasted pine nuts, and Parmesan; toss to combine. Add more cooking water if pasta seems dry. Serve with more Parmesan.

Potato & Broccoli Fritata
Natalie Woodburn-Heron | August 2011
1 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
3 medium potatoes, grated
6 eggs
3/4 C goat cheese, crumbled
1 garlic clove, grated
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 cup broccoli, broken into florets
2 zucchini, sliced 1/2” thick
1 C gouda cheese, grated
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350, with the rack in the centre of the oven. In a large oven proof skillet, heat up the butter over medium heat. Saute the onion until translucent, add the potato and continue cooking for about 5 minutes. Salt and pepper the onions and the potatoes to taste. While the onions and potatoes are cooking, in a large bowl, beat the eggs together with the cheese, garlic,parsley, rosemary & basil. Set aside. Add the broccoli & zucchini to the onion & potato mixture and saute for 2 more minutes. Add the egg mixture to the skillet, stirring to distribute the egg evenly throughout. Cook on the stovetop for 5 minutes allowing the bottom of the frittata to set. Transfer the skillet to the oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes. The frittata is ready when the eggs are set in the centre (they don’t move anymore when you jiggle the pan) and the edges are starting to turn a golden colour.

Check out this website for a great looking beet recipe forwarded by a member

Enjoy this weeks veggies and keep sharing those recipes.

8th CSA Week

2011-08-23T17:22:00.001-07:00

The CSA season is in full swing with tonnes of farm fresh veggies filling the bins to over flowing. Today's weather was bight and clear with not a rain drop in sight. It was a beautiful weather weekend so hopefully the summer weather that seemed to evade us might stick around for awhile and continue late into the fall. We had a great night of rain which was welcome news to my newly transplanted fall crops as well as the tiny seeds I planted on the weekend. It's a hard call to make deciding when to plant seeds for fall harvests but I try and plan it to provide greens into the late fall for the baskets.

This weeks large share had carrots, potatoes, broccoli, lettuce mix, garlic, yellow and red onions, beans, green cabbage, swiss chard, beets and zucchini. The grab box had cilantro, dill, basil, parsley, leaf celery, kale, baby turnips and more of the above. Everyone seemed to enjoy weighing out their own veggies and its great to see the kids wanting to be so much "help"!! I will have to get another scale to try and speed things up a bit.

It was a very busy weekend around the farm. I finally was able to get the last of the garlic harvested and its now hanging out in the barn curing for fall/winter eating. The garlic we are saving for seed is curing in the greenhouse shed and I'm very pleased with the size of the bulbs this year, very nice indeed!! I got a wack of weeds eliminated from the onion patch which was long overdue and my back got a good workout during bean harvest. The weather was amazing so I finally felt like progress was made. Yippie.

A sure sign of summer, ripe tomatoes. Our tomato crop is very behind this year but hopefully it will catch up soon. Don't be alarmed, there is nothing wrong with my fingers, its just what they look like at this time of the year. Good farm girl hands!!

My new favorite veggie, lemon cucumbers. Hopefully there will be enough for next weeks baskets. So far Ben & Jake have been eating the ones I have been picking. Perfect size for a mid-day garden snack

We have a tonne of broccoli this week. I was explaining to members today at the pick-up about the side shoots that produce after the main stock is harvested. This picture shows it perfectly

The zucchini patch has officially exploded as of today. I harvested over 300 of the little beauties of varies sizes from nice grill size to super size bakers. I may have over planted by just a wee bit!!! So, if your looking to make any loafs or any other zucchini inspired dishes this would be the week. And no fear, there will be more next week!!!

Happy eating : )

7th CSA Week

2011-08-16T18:25:00.001-07:00

Another rainy day here on the farm but the long range forecast promises sun!!!!! And not just one day but three whole days. The garden sure could use some nice consistent sun and heat. I have to say that for the most part the garden looks pretty good right now. There are some weedy areas I still have not gotten to but for the most part when you drive by the farm things like they are growing well and you can actually see the vegetables instead of the weeds which I could not say was the case last week. Thanks to some early morning weekend hand weeding and Saturday my Dad and Derek spent some time getting the G all widened out to fit our current bed spacing which resulted in us actually being able to use it on some beds, and it worked great.

This weeks large share has 3lb potatoes, carrots, beans, beets, fresh onions, garlic, zucchini, dill, cilantro, swiss chard, kale, small turnips and broccoli. The grab box had leaf celery, cabbage, romaine lettuce and more of the above. The zucchini are really coming along and I would imagine after a few days of promised sunshine we will have a zucchini explosion. I had a lovely treat brought to me tonight at the pick-up, fresh zucchini loaf still warm from the oven. Yum Yum Yum!!!

Red Norland Potatoes

The beans have finally made an appearance, the first planting which I am picking now is pretty spotty but I was able to harvest enough for everyone to get 3/4 of a pound, hopefully the plants have a chance to ripen more beans before Thursday. The next planting is coming along and the plants are loaded with blossoms so i would except lots of beans in the coming weeks. CSA members are more than welcome to do a you-pick for freezing for winter eating if they would like.

A few pictures of the G's big day on Saturday. I would love to get it running better and take it in a parade!!

Widening out the front end

Turning the tires around to widen the back end

Lots of helpers

Dad taking a spin on the G through the beans

If you check out this link there will be a video of myself (Jen) trying out the G with my Dad watching that I don't rip out the beans, which I did a bit, oops. If you click on JenDereksFarm in the top left corner it will take you to two other videos from that day.

Lots of veggies

On a final note our friends Mark & Sally Bernard at Barnyard Organics will have organic lamb and chicken available very soon. They have a great blog and are wonderful hard working young farmers so check it out and send them an e-mail if your interested in ordering anything.

6th CSA Week

2011-08-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

This sure is the summer for strange weather. It started off very cold and damp, got a bit warmer with a few really hot days thrown in but we are now in the first of August and its down right chilly. The nights are very cold and the day temperatures are nothing like they should be. I had to put a sweater on during the CSA pick-up tonight. It sure has been a damp few days with a few more upcoming. Luckily the worst of the rain happened yesterday so today's harvest was just a bit damp without needing the full rain gear outfit which I had to wear yesterday. This cool damp weather is really perfect conditions for fungus and disease so we are watching the crops carefully and crossing our fingers that we get some good dry sunny weather soon. Saturday and Sunday look good as of right now so hopefully the weather will turn around and the sun will return.

We had a small but mighty turn out this past Saturday for the garlic harvest. Thanks to Edwena, Julie, Sara & Angus for all their help. We successfully got 1/2 of the garlic harvested & bunched in the morning and the garlic looks amazing. One variety in particular, Music, looked really impressive. I am hoping to get a bit more dug tomorrow but with the impending rain for Thursday I might just try and get a few things harvested for the CSA in case it does pour all day.

This weeks large share had beets, carrots, zucchini, garlic, green onions, onions, swiss chard, kale, summer turnip and cilantro. The grab box had leaf celery, parsley, broccoli, chinese cabbage, romaine, snow peas, potatoes and pea greens. Sometimes during the year we have a good variety of veggies but not enough to be able to offer everyone the same so its a great way for the grab boxes to come into play. The ground was just too wet to dig potatoes with my newly created digger so I just dug a few plants for the grab box. Many of the folks picking up today said they still had potatoes left from last week so it was just as well. The peas are definitely coming to an end but there was still lots left on the vine for Thursdays picking.

Our organic inspection last week went really well. We do not get the results right away but the inspector seemed quite pleased with all of my paper work and the fact it was all organized and easy to sort through.

I found two new swiss chard recipe from a farm I follow on facebook so check it out when you get a chance.
Swiss Chard 1
Swiss Chard 2

Swiss chard

Another interesting recipe for kale chips which was sent to me from a friend is below.

Red Kale

Lime Kale Chips

Quick and easy kale chips. A healthy alternative to potato chips.
Ingredients:
* 1 bunch kale (washed)
* 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
* 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (alternatively, you may use sherry or
balsamic vinegar)
* 1/2 tsp. sea salt
Directions: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut or tear kale into 1 inch pieces. Place kale in a medium-large
bowl. Toss kale in oil, lime juice (or vinegar), and salt.
Place kale on baking sheet lined with wax paper. Bake at 350 degrees F
for 5-7 minutes until kale is crispy.

Servings: 5
Time: 10 Minutes Preparation Time
5-7 Minutes Cooking Time

A member shared a great recipe this week for a crustless quiche

Crustless Quiche
-1 cup of grated cheese
-1 cup of cottage cheese
-6 eggs
-small bunch of fresh herbs
-salt and pepper to taste (you may not need salt because the cottage cheese is quite salty, but be generous with the pepper if you like it - it goes great with the herbs)
Mix all the ingredients well and bake in a pie plate at 350F for 45 minutes or until set in the middle. Some ovens may take up to an hour.
This recipe is great with any herbs, but chives are my favourite. You can use thinly sliced or shredded veggies as well, such as grated zucchini, mushrooms or scallions. I would recommend sautéing them before adding to maximize the flavour. This is the perfect picnic food because it is great at room temperature and easy to eat.

Last but not least a really great recipe idea for the summer turnip
Caramelized apples with turnips

Good and bad news: I saw tiny beans starting on my less than impressive bean plants today so the good news is that you should have beans in the next few weeks, the bad news is the plants are so small that my poor back will be very upset at me for all the low picking. Luckily everyone loves beans so it makes it all worth while.

The cucumber plants are starting to flower so hopefully we will have cucumbers in the next few weeks. The zucchini have been less than impressive this year but the direct seeded plants are just starting to produce so hopefully they will begin pumping out the goods so all you bakers can get your fill of zucchini muffins, breads, etc.

Ben & Jake have been busy these days exploring every nook and cranny around the farm. They love taking off and finding where the cat has decided to hide on them during that particular time. Jake loves to carry around "Boss" but sometimes she is not too keen on being carted around so hiding is the only answer. They seem to have great senses as they can always seem to find her no matter where she hides. They can also be found happily in the raspberry patch picking the ripe berries and cashing each other up and down the rows, it must seem like a maze to them at their height. Funny boys!!

Farm fresh veggies

Let's hope that summer weather finally finds us and sticks around for awhile.

5th CSA Pick-up

2011-08-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

It is pouring like crazy out right now with lighting & thunder, I'm glad it waited until I was home safe and sound from my Charlottetown CSA pick-up. It was another great harvest day weather wise, over cast and a decent breeze although the black flies were still their usual pesky selves. I unfortunately forgot my camera at home and did not get a picture of the share but superstar CSA member Shawn used his phone to snap a few quick shots for me, thanks Shawn!!!

The large share had potatoes, multi-colored carrots, dill, cilantro, peas, romaine, daikon radish, fresh garlic, candy cane beets, broccoli and summer onions. The grab box had yellow and green zucchini, garlic scapes, chinese cabbage, regular cabbage, turnips and regular red radish. The first broccoli planting is pretty much done but there are a few heads left for the Thursday large shares. We have more broccoli plantings coming along very nicely as well as purple cabbage and cauliflower.

The first planting of carrots is now done and now I'm waiting for the next regular ones to size up a bit more. This weeks carrots are a mix of three varieties, white satin, yellowstone and yaya. We have another coloured variety called purple haze but they need another week or so but they are so beautiful!! We grow the coloured ones mainly for restaurant sales which require a specific baby size so we plant every two weeks to try and keep them in supply throughout the season. Let me tell you it takes a lot of digging to get enough baby carrots to fill those orders!!!

The variety of beets this week is called chioggia, aka candy cane beets and they are wonderful. They are red and white just like a candy cane and they are super tasty. We have just been steaming them with other veggies but they are also quite tasty raw. The picture below is from last year as I forgot to take one today.

A mixture of super sugar snap and snow peas for both small and large shares. Members got a chance to weigh out their own!!

Red norland and Superior potatoes, again members got to weigh their own

I'm finding that there just are not enough hours in the CSA harvest day so today I took one of my packing tables down to the pick-up and set up peas and potatoes market style so people could weigh out their own for their share. It sure saved me some serious bagging/weighing time!!

The G finally made its official weeding adventure last night. We have been having some issues with the starter or battery (not really sure what yet) and we want to widen it out to fit our current bed spacing but we were really anxious to try it out so Derek got the tool bar all fitted up and away he went. It took some adjusting but overall we were quite pleased.

Before weeding, look at those weeds, yikes!!

First official weeding

Weeding machine

I have my yearly organic inspection tomorrow morning at 10am and I have a few things left to find so I had best get at it. Let's hope the predicted "severe thunder storms" are not too severe!!!

Jen

4th CSA Pick-up

2011-07-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

It was a perfect harvest day today, overcast, not hot and a slight breeze. The bugs were still fierce but at least it wasn't hot. The shares today looked alot less green as many of our greens are now past their best days. We will be replanting them again soon so that we will be able to offer them again in the fall. We will still have some greens every week as the lettuce mix is still growing as well as the kale and swiss chard but we don't want to over whelm everyone as there is quite a bit of variety starting to become available.

The large share had lettuce mix, summer turnip, green cabbage, cilantro, dill, carrots, beets, green onions, broccoli and radish. The grab box had chinese cabbage, super sugar snap peas, garlic scapes, baby green zucchini and lots of the above veggies.

Ben was very excited to see broccoli that was ready to harvest in the field on the weekend. He was wearing his little bug coat and all of a sudden all I could hear was "broccoli, broccoli" and I looked up from what I was doing and there he was bent over a broccoli plant trying to munch on the broccoli through the mesh on his bug coat. Too funny!!

Green cabbage and cilantro

Here is a recipe sent in from a CSA member for Kohlrabi but she said it works well with the summer turnip as well.

KOHLRABI CARPACCIO
3 small kohlrabi, peeled
4 large radishes
1 large carrot
2 tsp orange juice
2 tsp lime juice
Salt and pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp walnut oil
1 tbsp snipped chives
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Using a mandolin or very sharp knife, slice the veggies PAPER THIN into circles. Place in layers on a shallow serving dish. Combine the juices, salt and pepper, and oils and drizzle over. Let stand up to 1 hour at room temperature, then add the chives and walnuts and serve.

We didn't have walnuts or walnut oil and it was still really delicious! Enjoy!

Fresh Beet and Cilantro Salad

One bunch of beets
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
Juice of one lemon
1 garlic clove, chopped
¼ cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Directions
Wash beets and slice. Place sliced beets in pot, add enough water to cover. Add sugar and salt and allow to come to a boil. Reduce heat and cook on a medium simmer until they are just fork tender – between 5 -10 minutes depending upon how thickly sliced the beets are. Drain.
Place cooked beets into bowl and cool completely in the refrigerator. Once chilled, take out and add lemon juice, chopped garlic, chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, vinegar and stir till combined. Add additional salt if necessary and serve. Keeps well in fridge.

Thomas the travelling mechanic spent three full days with us here on the farm. We wondered what he would do for three days but he managed to get all of our tractors tuned up, all filters and liquids drained and replaced, the G investigated and cleaned up. He was a very humorous guy, he told us all kinds of stories from farms he had visited over the past two summers and showed us some great pictures. We were very lucky to have had an opportunity to have had Thomas visit us and do maintenance on our tractors and other equipment.

Have a great rest of the week and weekend!!

3rd CSA pick-up

2011-07-19T17:46:00.001-07:00

It was a very hot harvest day today, little wind, lots of sun and tonnes of black flies!! Luckily the bug coat keeps them away so I'm able to harvest without getting eaten alive.

The large share this week has strawberries, cilantro, baby beets, green onions, snap peas, swiss chard, red kale, arugual, mizuna, radish, baby carrots and spicy red mustard. The small share had lettuce mix, spinach, arugula, green onions, baby carrots, kohlrabi, summer turnip and strawberries. The grab box had chinese cabbage, dill, lettuce heads and lots of the above.

Sun ripened to perfection!!! Sweet and juicy. I had a hard time bringing them to the pick-up as I really wanted to eat them myself!!

Mizuna - Mild salad green or it can also be added to the tail end of a stir-fry

Swiss chard - Can be eaten raw, lightly steamed, sauteed or enjoyed in an omelet.

Spicy purple mustard - Chop and add to salad greens or enjoy sauteed with other greens. It loses alot of the spiceyness when its cooked

Most of the bins ready to get loaded back into the truck.

Picture perfect summer turnip

Everyone lending a hand

Such great helpers

Family shot of us all geared up in our bug coats!!

Perfect arugula - Add to a salad for a bit of a kick

Red kale - A member of the cabbage family and is very rich in vitamin A, C and has the highest protein content of all cultivate vegetables (source: From Asparagus to Zucchini)
Nancy Jane Pierce's Spicy Kale
kale leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves or use scapes if you have some
crushed red pepper flakes
1/3-1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
Bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil. Add kale, reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook 7 minutes. Drain and immediately rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Squeeze water out of the greens. Heat olive oil in the same pot and add garlic and red pepper flakes to taste. Sauté 1 minute, then stir in kale and chicken or vegetable broth. Simmer 4-5 minutes. makes 4-6 servings. (Source" From Asparagus to Zucchini)

Super sugar snap peas - Awesome snack food. You eat the pod and all.

Double rainbow, a great way to end a busy harvest day

If you have some Kohlabi kicking around from last week or in the small basket this week there are several possabilites in cooking. We have eaten it raw but I have a great cook book with the following recipe that I'm looking forward to trying.
Sauteed Kohlrabi
2 kohlrabi
2 tablespoons butter or light oil
1 medium onion, diced (or use a few of the green onions)
1 tablespoon fresh herbs (they suggest thyme, chives, sage, but try the dill or cilantry from the grab box)
1 teaspoon salt
Grate kohlrabi, place in colander, and sprinkle with salt. Let stand 30 minutes to drain. Heat butter over medium heat, add onions, and sauté a few minutes. Stir in kohlrabi, reduce heat to low, cover and cook 10 minutes. Increase heat to medium and cook 2 moree minutes. Remove from hat and stir in fresh herbs. makes 2-4 servings. (source: From Asparagus to Zucchini)

We had a nice birthday party for the boys this past weekend and we celebrated with our families and strawberry short cake!! Ben & Jake love strawberries!! It's hard to believe they are two already.

2nd CSA pick-up

2011-07-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

We had a great rain last night, almost an inch. I could almost see the veggies growing thanks to all the moisture. This weeks share is still pretty green but the carrots are just starting to bulk up so hopefully next week's shares will have bright orange treats. I forgot to take a picture of the share but I have some individual ones from this morning.

This weeks large box contains lettuce mix, spinach, chinese cabbage, mixed turnips, kohlrabi, daikon radish, beet greens, green onions, lettuce head and garlic scapes. I made a really yummy fritatta last weekend with spinach, eggs, cheese and bacon. I just sautéed the spinach, fried the bacon, mixed up 10 eggs, poured the beaten eggs into the frying pan, put in the sautéed spinach and fried bacon and covered in cheese. I let it cook slowly on top of the stove and finished under the broiler, talk about yummy. It would work well with kale or swiss chard as well.

The beet greens will need to be washed extra well as they were bunched in the field and washed in the tubs but lots of dirt will still be hiding in there.

Chinese Cabbage - The following recipe was popular last season so I added it again

Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad
3 packages (3 oz each) chicken- flavour noodle soup mixture
8 cups shredded Chinese (Napa) cabbage (1 medium head)
4 cups cut-up cooked chicken
1 cup shredded carrots
1⁄2 cup chopped red onion
1 cup sesame-ginger dressing (purchased or use recipe below)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup wasabi peas (optional- available at Bulk Barn)
3 tablespoons sesame seeds toasted (to toast, sprinkle in ungreased skillet. Cook over
medium low heat 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently until browning begins, then stirring
constantly until golden brown.)

In 2 quart saucepan, heat 1 1⁄2 cups water to boiling over high heat. Break apart noodles before opening soup packages. Stir 2 of the seasoning packets and all of the noodles into boiling water. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until noodles are tender. Do not drain.

In large bowl, toss noodles, cabbage, chicken, carrots and onion. In small bowl, stir together 1 cup of dressing, sugar, and remaining seasoning packet. Toss dressing with salad.

Cover and refrigerate. Stir in wasabi peas and sesame seed just before serving.

Ginger-Sesame Dressing
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons honey or brown sugar
2 tablespoons peeled and minced ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Combine all the ingredients in a blender. Add 2 tablespoons of water. Process until smooth.

Garlic scapes. We remove these scapes so that the garlic plant will put its energy into the bulb and not into these scapes. Just chop and use as you would garlic, so yummy!!

Swiss chard - awesome steamed lightly or sautéed with a bit of butter

Daikon Radish - a nice spicy white radish, try grating it over a salad or on top of spaghetti

Beautiful mixture of lettuce heads, all washed and ready for the cooler

Turnips, Hakurei and purple top. Many like the purple top raw just like the hakurei but I find it a bit stronger and like it better cooked. Also a few tiny carrots for the kids.

Kohlrabi - remove the leaves, peel the outer lawyer and eat the inside raw. It's amazing

Kale getting spun in the lettuce spinner

The start of today's harvest was very very muddy but thankfully the weather improved mid morning so we did not have to sloop around in the mud. We have washed all the greens but you might want to give them all an extra wash to make sure all the dirt is gone, especially with the beet greens

Muddy veggies

Some of our harvest knives

Lettuce getting a "bath"

Wash station, now under the tent

In other news, Ben & Jake will be turning two tomorrow. Wow, can it be true? Two years ago today I was picking potatoes and wondering what all the "baby" fuss was about. That seems like a very long time ago!!! A CSA member and I were chatting today about the dreaded terrible twos and I wonder if were headed for the terrible twos times two!!! Time will tell but they sure are awesome to have around. Not much work gets done but we sure do have fun going on our daily farm adventures.

Ben & Jake checking out their weekend baby sitting bunny rabbit. They had fun feeding her and trying to make her nibble on their fingers.

1st 2011 CSA Pick-up

2011-07-05T16:47:00.001-07:00

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"

A Busy Week

2011-05-29T17:25:00.001-07:00

Last week was a very busy week here on the farm. After two full weeks of wet and cold temperatures the sun has decided to return and bring some heat with it. We have gotten all of our leeks and onions transplanted and the first round of broccoli & lettuce heads. A pile of veggies have been direct seeded including beets, carrots, turnips, Asian greens, radish, spinach, lettuce mix, dill and cilantro. The peas, onion sets and the first plantings of carrots/beets/lettuce mix/spinach/radish/asian greens are all growing well and will be in a bad need of a good weeding this time next week.

The field looks quite a bit different now after all that planting, I'll need to get another picture taken

I am hoping to return to the Summerside Farmers Market for the month of June with tomato and herb transplants and early greens but the two weeks of cold wet weather has defiantly set me back. Hopefully with the sun and heat the plants and greens will grow fast so I can get back there sooner.

We had five kittens born late last week but unfortunately 1 died last night so we're down to four. Ben & Jake love to check out the kitten several times per day and are going to be loving it when they start to wander around.

This week's weather is looking promising to getting more transplants in the ground including cabbage, chinese cabbage, joy choy, brussel sprouts, tatsoi, kale and turnips as well as strawberry crowns and hopefully the remainder of the potatoes. Even though it was a wet start to May I would like to see us get some rain fairly soon. Lots of our direct seeded crops are planted quite shallow and need a good soaking to be able to germinate. Hopefully we'll see some showers tonight or towards the end of the week.

This and that

2011-05-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

It has been wet, cold and windy for about five days now. The sun has not made an appearance since last Sunday and its starting to get a little depressing. The long range 7 day forecast is looking similar to the last 5 days which is not encouraging at all. The one good thing is I've made some time for doing chores such as cleaning and organizing our porch, planning our new wash station that is going to be up in the new barn and finalising the purchase of our hopefully soon to be Allis Chalmers G cultivating tractor.

I am very excited about the AC G. From the research I've done over the past 3-4 years everyone who owns one, loves them. They are not much to look at but its a lean mean cultivating machine. Between the G and the eco-weeder it should basically cut down hand weeding by about 90% at least. It may take some time to get it all set up properly and we may not see all the benefits this season but I'm like a kid in a candy store. I have been watching way too many Youtube videos trying to see all the different cultivating options that folks have been using and I'm pretty excited about the basket weeder in particular. Oh, the options are endless.

This is not our exact tractor but gives you an idea of what I'm talking about. The beauty of this machine is the visibility you have when cultivating. The engine is behind you so you have full sight of the plants and the cultivators. I can hardly wait. The other great thing is the tractor also comes with an electric conversion kit so it will be run off batteries making it quiet and more sustainable.

Moving along

2011-04-27T15:31:00.002-07:00

Farm Fresh Family

Things are starting to move a bit quicker here on the farm. CSA registration forms are coming in pretty steady, seedlings are growing like crazy, lots more seeding to do and on Easter Monday we got our first official seeds in the ground. I planted radish, lettuce mix, spinach, carrots and onion sets. I knew there was rain in the forecast so I wanted to get a bit in and Monday was a beautiful day.

Fancy carrot sign

Taking a moment to enjoy the beatiful sunny day, measuring my bed to make sure it really was 350feet

Peace to all

Yesterday started a new round of seeding in the greenhouse shed including broccoli, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, regular cabbage, basil, kohlrabi, kale, turnip, Asian greens and mint. I also finished potting on the eggplants but still have peppers and parsley to go. I start my peppers, tomatoes and eggplant in open trays and then pot on when they reach the first leaf stage. It saves alot of space for the first 3-4 weeks of the plants life.

On an unrelated farm topic I successfully completed my first 5K last Saturday at the Source For Sports 5K Bunny Hop. I've always wanted to learn to jog but never made the time but about 4 weeks ago I laced up my sneakers and made my first attempt. It was not a pretty scene but I quickly became hooked on going further night after night. The first race was quite the experience, there was over 250 people there and they all looked very professional in their racing gear doing all there proper stretches and looking all so serious. I loved every minute of it. My goal was under forty minutes and I came in 32:49. I was very pleased even though I was towards the end of the pack. I quickly realised that the folks there were not messing around, they were there to "race hard". I took it pretty easy and tried to just finish without collapsing in a heap at the end. I hope to be able to participate in a few more this summer, hopefully the farm schedule will allow a few races here and there.

Here's sending good hug vibes to everyone reading this blog!!!!

The Waiting Game

2011-04-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

All of the 2011 CSA registration forms have now been sent out. It's now a waiting game to see how many people will respond to renewing their shares from last year or how many of the folks on the waiting list are still interested in the program. I find this time of the year to be very anxious as I'm waiting for all the forms and checks to be sent in and wondering if I'll sell all the shares or if I'll have to actually advertise a bit. In the past word of mouth has always sold the shares but this year we have expanded to 60 members and we are no longer going to the farmers market so it has gotten to be much harder to advertise the program. Derek tells me to just relax so I guess I should just take his advice.

We have started a few seeds in the grow room but we have purposely waited a bit longer than other years. I found that starting seeds too early just does not pay off as the plants often are root bound and stressed before they are even planted into the ground. So far we have leeks, onions, peppers (hot and sweet), eggplants, celery, celeriac, cutting celery, parsley and brussel sprouts planted and broccoli, green onions, tomatoes, lettuce, basil and a few others are in line this week to be planted as well.

A tray of onions just nicely coming up

The greenhouse shed is all cleaned up and ready for plants

Thermometers, I'm not sure why there is always a difference between the two. It was very toasty in their yesterday, over 30 degrees for most of the day

Ben & Jake are pretty excited that the snow is almost gone from their swingset

The raspberry canes

Boys and their toys

Potting soil, dirty fingers & smiling faces

2011-04-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally got the seedling room set up, bye bye play room, hello grow-op. The boys think its great right now as the room sounds very hollow and they can make a lot of noise with their trucks and tractors, but little do they know that "mean" Mommy will be returning soon growling at them when they touch the tiny seedlings or when they think its fun to have potting soil fights. I'm hoping that they will be nice to my tiny plants but I'm afraid it may be a battle. So far, leeks, onions and shallots have been seeded to be followed later this week by peppers, celery, celariac, parsley, lettuce and eggplants.

Just planted red onions

The Local M.E.A.L event went over really well. I had a great time and I was amazed at how many people showed up. The 20 seconds per slide trick was actually quite pleasing to listen to but it was hard being the presenter. I was glad when it was over but I really did have a great time. The video has been uploaded so if you want to give it a watch here it is A Local M.E.A.L

Work is now all done at the ski park which is a mixed blessing. I really enjoy my winter job and find it a bit sad when that season is over but at the same time I'm happy to be getting back into the farm swing of things which really means trying to catch up on the piles of paper work and the organisational activities such as planting schedules that I've neglected.

I also finally finished up the final touches on our 2011 CSA registration form and got that e-mailed out to our members. I've now got to get organised and start sending off information to all of those on the waiting list. The fun never ends!!!

The boys having fun in our friends greenhouse, it was SOOOO nice in there.

The art of timing

2011-03-20T03:21:00.000-07:00

I am speaking at an event this coming Thursday called A Local M.E.A.L
It sounds like a great opportunity to spread the word of our farm and to meet some very committed folks who are striving to support the local farming industry here on PEI. The one interesting part of the evening which I had never heard of before is the presenting style, Pecha Kucka. From what I can gather from looking online its 20 slides per presenter at 20 seconds per slide. When I first heard 20 second per slide I thought, no big deal I can handle that.

Well last night I finally sat down to focus on the presentation (a tad bit too late in the evening I must admit) and you know what I discovered, 20 seconds per slide felt like forever!!!! Derek showed me how to automatically make the slides change after 20 seconds and I was convinced that they would never change. So, the pressure is on to create an interesting time approved presentation that will inform, educate and hopefully not bore the audience.

Wish me luck!!!

Social Media

2011-03-20T02:51:00.000-07:00

A co-worker convinced me a few weeks ago that the farm should be on twitter. I have always considered myself to be rather up to date on the "social media" scene as I've been blogging for a few years, used e-mail as a farm outreach tool and have a personal facebook page. After a lengthy discussion with this co-worker about the importance of social media in the 2011 business world I decided to give it a try, so in the last two weeks the farm has joined twitter and has its own facebook page. I hate to admit the actual amount of time that I've spent trying to come up with something clever to write on my twitter wall but its also rather addicting every time someone "follows" me. Sort of like my own personal high.

Frustrations are also arising with this new social world. It's supposed to be possible to link your facebook page to your twitter account so you only have to post something once and it'll post to both areas. Seeing as my patience is sometimes thin and I'm probably not the most technologically savvy person out there I've found some of the logistics of this new social world to be a bit frustrating. But I'm plugging ahead and trying to keep up to date on what the world is doing.

If you want to follow our social media adventures join us at twitter @JenJCampbell or like our farm community facebook page

Now to learn about four square!!

Snow, snow and more snow

2011-02-22T06:48:00.000-08:00

We have a lot of snow around the farm and it seems that every few days we get another dumping. We had some very nasty weather with high winds and blowing snow last week but we had a nice day thrown in there so the boys and I enjoyed playing in the snow during the sunny and relatively warm afternoon. Today is another storm day for the school kids.

My order of potting soil arrived last week but the tractor trailer was unable to get up the driveway as it was too slippy so our friends Gary & Kelly Hughes came with their truck to unload at the end of the road and then unload here in the yard. We are truck-less at the moment as we sold ours a few weeks ago and we are on the hunt for an extended cab which is proving to be difficult to find. We get our organic potting soil from Jolly Farmer in New Brunswick and sevearl growers usually try and coordinate the order to get a bit of a better deal. My main seed orders have arrived and I spent way to many hours checking and double checking my order sheets to make sure everything arrived. I ordered for a few other people as well which made the double checking a bit more painful.

I've been working at the ski park most evenings and on the weekends and my mind is starting to wander to seeds and the warmth of the spring sun. It won't be long now until the boys front play room will turn into the Campbell's "grow-op" once again. Here are a few pics taken the last few weeks.

Making the walk to the barn to see the horses

Ben

Jake

"Ben, do you think its ever going to stop snowing?"

The horses fence is now completly buried under the snow drifts and they have to duck their heads very low to even get into the old barn.

Welcome 2011

2011-01-09T16:10:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've sat down and put my fingers to the keyboard to write about what's going on here at the farm. It's been a busy couple of weeks with Christmas, New Years, going back to work at the ski park and just general life's craziness. So what is new around the farm? Well, we have alot of snow and the forecast is calling for a lot more!! It's been interesting with Ben and Jake and the new snow fall, at first they were not big fans of it at all but they are starting to actually enjoy it. Jake likes to take random found sticks and use them to dig under the snow and flip it at the kitty cats.

Derek has gotten the doors built for one end of the barn and the other we just boarded in for the winter. We had wanted to get both doors built and installed before Christmas but life got in the way and the horses will be spending the winter in the old barn yet again. They seem quite happy in there hiding from the winter weather snuggled in with the cats.

I have been spending the boys nap time pouring over the latest seed catalogues trying to decide which varieties to grow for the upcoming growing season. It is going quite well and I'm having lots of fun dreaming of all the yummy veggies that I'll be growing this summer. The four companies I'm ordering from include, William Dam Seeds, Veseys, High Mowing Seeds and Johnny's. We have to purchase certified organic seeds as per our certification regulations and in the past we have only been doing a fair job. Our inspector has noted for the past two years that we need to purchase more organic seeds so this is the year. So far so good.

So many different varities of carrots to choose

My daily nap time homework

The 2011 Federation of Agriculture calendars came out this week and we are quite excited to see our faces on the June month. Ben & Jake were only 11 months old at the time and I can't believe how much they have grown since then.

Federation of Agriculture's 2011 "PEI faces of Farming" Calendar

Early morning reading

Ben

Jake

We are looking forward to the upcoming season and we can't wait to start providing our CSA members with farm fresh organic veggies once again.

Odds & Ends

2010-12-08T12:18:00.000-08:00

Ben laying down on the job

Here are a few pictures of Ben & Jake helping me plant garlic in the garden yesterday. They mostly chased the kittens around and played in the nice soft straw but it's nice to be able to take them outside and actually be able to get some work done while they are there. My boys are growing up.

Getting ready to plant the garlic, the soil was cold

My favourite trowel

Garlic all ready for planting, over 600 cloves put in the ground yesterday

The strawberries are all mulched and ready for a winter's sleep

Ben

Sprout

Jake

My two favourite helpers

The barn is looking great. We just need some doors

More Progress & Public Speeking

2010-12-02T06:07:00.000-08:00

It has been very mild the last few days and all our snow is now gone. We have gotten most of our farm clean up finished but there still a few projects still on the go. I still have not gotten the rest of my garlic planted but this mild weather should help to get that completed. I'm hoping to get my soil samples taken today and submitted to the lab by the end of the week. I will be curious to see if the pH levels have increaced since we started in 2007. I have a big round bale of straw waiting to be spread over the strawberries and the garlic whenever it gets finished. Other than that the fall to do list is pretty much completed.

Last Saturday was another great weather day so we made the most of it by working on getting the ends of the new barn closed in. My uncle Ronald and my brother Andrew, along with my Dad and Derek spent the day measuring and cutting steel to complete both ends of the barn as well as the back wall. Now when you drive by it looks like the barn is finished. When you get a bit closer you can see that there are still quite a few odds and ends left but the main work is done. We still do not have doors on the barn but Derek will hopefully get started on those this weekend.

Dad checking on Derek and Andrew's progress, he had the noisy job of cutting the steel

Andrew and Derek fitting the steel

Almost finished

The back wall all finished, just needs the corner piece

The first end wall all completed

The boys were not too happy with all the noise being generated by the saw so we spent most of our time admiring the work for a distance. Here are a few pics from our day while the guys were working.

Ben & Jake enjoying their apples

Ben laughing, who knew I was so funny

Mr Smiley Pants

On another note.....
This past Wednesday evening I was asked to speak to the North River 4H club about our CSA farm. I had not done a public speak in a long time so I was very nervous. The room was packed full of 4H members, leaders and parents. After a few technical difficulties in which my computer decided to not connect to the projector (luckily Kelly Hughes had brought her laptop as a backup) I was able to proceed. I was pleased with the talk but when I was over I realised I forgot a few very important points that I wanted to cover but oh well, maybe next time. The North River 4H club owns their own clubhouse in the community of Kingston, what a lovely building. I can't wait till the boys are old enough to join.

Progress - Told through pictures

2010-11-16T06:59:00.000-08:00

How the barn looked before the work crew arrived (ignore the date, I did not get a chance to actually get a picture before the crew started)

The first picture I was able to get after the boys went for a nap. I could not believe how much they had gotten done already

John & Ronnie measuring for the steel along the front wall

John working on the front wall and Allan and Derek are on the roof just finishing up the front side

Cutting steel, now that was a loud experience.

Ben & Jake were very curious about all the noise at the new barn

Ben & Jake supervising Dad & Ronnie's work.

Chris working on the front wall

Team work

Chris & John

Derek installing the soffit & fascia

Derek & Kenny

The last piece of steel for the roof

Ronnie holding the last piece of steel

The roof is finished

Dad - our hard-working foreman. There is no way we would have gotten as much done without his expert organisational skills. Thanks Dad!!

Derek and Jeremy starting the ridge cap

Finishing up the front side

The front side all completed

Still lots of work to do but having the roof completed is such a relief

Taken Monday morning, looks awesome if I do say so myself

We had a great work day on Saturday. We had 7 people show up to help us put steel on the roof and the front wall. It was beautiful weather, sunny and warm and absolutely no wind. We could not have asked for a better day. Thank you to everyone who came out to help including Dad, Ronnie, John, Chris, Allan, Jeremy & Kenny. Thanks also to Mom for the yummy lunch and for watching the boys.

Here's a few pictures of the boys playing

The boys trying to figure out where the kittens were hiding, it was so nice and warm on Saturday we did not even need coats

The boys enjoying playing in the newly covered barn

The kittens basking in the sun

The boys learning that kittens love to chase strings

Hours of fun with the kitties

Ben & Jake exploring the wood shed

Jake, what a little monkey

Rain please go away

2010-11-09T06:24:00.001-08:00

It has been raining here for what seems like forever. In reality its only been 5 or 6 days straight but its starting to get depressing. The boys are missing their regular outside play time to chase the kittens and explore. I do manage to get them out every day but it makes for some slippy exploring and the kitty cats don't like to play in the rain. I have a mile long to do list to wrap up the garden for the season but the weather is just not cooperating. Luckily I was able to take advantage of a nice sunny day last Thursday to get my saved garlic seed planted before the rainy weather arrived, although I did not quite save enough so I will have to purchase and plant some more. After all this rain we've had I"m not sure the ground will ever dry up enough to get that done. Garlic was one item on the CSA survey that was requested by pretty much everyone to have "more please"!!!

Our final CSA open farm day had to be cancelled due to the rain which was a bummer. I had hoped to reschedule but this past weekend was wet and I think I'll just have to give up for this year. I miss my weekly drives to Charlottetown and Summerside but I am enjoying having more time playing with the boys and now that I have a bit more time I'm able to focus more time and energy on my consulting business helping processing potato growers get ready for their on farm food safety audits. It may only be a few hours a week but I really enjoy meeting with the growers and helping them sort them selves out to be better prepared for their audit. They put in a lot of work to get ready and I really enjoy being part of that process.

On a different note some progress has finally been happing with the barn. To drive by you would probably wonder what we have been doing as it would appear we haven't done anything for weeks but it always seems with any project the tiny little details that no one notices always take the longest to complete. Thankfully my Dad came out to help Derek two weekends ago and they were able to get the front side of the roof ready for the steel. Last week before the rain came Derek was able to finish strapping the back side of the roof so now just a few hours of work are left before steel can go on the back. We are hoping to have a barn work party this weekend to get the steel on the roof. Lets hope Mother Nature is kinder to us this weekend than last. Here are some pics of the boys and of the barn.

Jake enjoying a slightly frozen tomato from the vine

Yogourt face

Looking for just the right tomato to munch on, they did not seem to care the texture was rather gross from having been frozen 1 too many times

More yoghurt Mommy!!!!!!!!!!

The boys playing in the greenhouse shed

Playing with the kitty cats

Barn progress

View of the empty garden from the barn roof

*** I wrote this post two days ago and am only publishing it now, thankfully Mother Nature heard my cries and the long range looks good for the next 5 days, yippie.

The final CSA Week

2010-10-26T16:21:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe the 2010 CSA season is coming to a close this week. At the Charlottetown pick-up tonight lots of people asked if I was happy to be done. I have to say I have mixed feelings, it's always nice to complete something so on one hand I am happy to be done but I"m really going to miss my Tuesday and Thursday "social hours". It's been a great summer and fall seeing everyone each week. Sometimes its a quick hello and off they go with their veggies and sometimes its an in-depth conversation about how to control crows, new and interesting recipes they tried that week, updates on what their kids were up to, etc. etc. etc. This was our third CSA season and my favourite so far. I'm not sure if its because I'm more confident in my product or because the members seemed more "into" it this year. I have had a great season and am really looking forward to next year.

The response from the surveys has been great, I'm seeing that cabbage needs to be grown less, broccoli and cauliflower more, more garlic, more potatoes. We have gotten over 50% of the surveys back which is by far the highest return rate yet. Thank you everyone for taking the time to fill them out.

This weeks large box had lettuce mix, carrots (Hughes Hill Farm), parsnips, beets, rutabaga, stir fry mix (baby spinach, baby swiss chard, baby tatsoi), yellow & red onion, shallot, baby bok choy and a leek. The grab box was filled with goodies including winter squash, kale, swiss chard, green peppers, parsley, daikon radish and more of the above mentioned veggies. Someone commented today at the pick-up that they were surprised there were still greens in the baskets at this time of the year. Greens are surprisingly hardy and do quite well this time of year. Many greens are sensitive to the heat and will turn bitter or bolt making them inedible. If I had been on the ball when I planted some of my greens and covered them with some floating row cover I could have had much bigger lettuce mix plants and would have been able to give out bigger bags. That is one thing I am hoping to improve on for next year, better season extension to have better greens such as spinach, lettuce mix and Asian greens longer in the season. With a bit of protection we could easily eat fresh salad at Christmas!!!

One little experiment that worked really well for me this year was pepper plants potted and left in my greenhouse shed for the summer. I had three different sized pots; small, medium and large. I kept them watered but not overly looked after. The small and medium potted plants are quite small but they each produced 2-3 peppers which are now a brilliant shade of red. The large pots each produced 5-6 peppers and they are also now red. We have been enjoying the nice red sweet treat and I will miss them when they are all picked. Next season when all of the rest of the seedlings get transplanted to the garden I am going to fill up the back of my greenhouse shed with potted pepper plants and then at the end of the season when all of the field peppers are long gone and the plants are frost burnt I'll be able to put nice fresh red peppers in the CSA baskets. Definitely something to look forward to. *** Did you know that a red pepper is just a green pepper that has fully ripened ***

Daikon Radish - nice and spicy

The final Tuesday harvest - all washed and ready to pack into the CSA bins

Kale and Swiss chard soaking

Baby bok choy

I'll continue to blog during the winter but it might not be at my regular weekly Tuesday evening but check back often to keep updated on our farm adventures. We're hoping to have a work party this weekend to work on the barn so hopefully some updated pictures will soon be posted.

I've said it before and I'll say it again that we have the NICEST CSA members ever. This season I have been treated with fresh zucchini bread, fresh biscuits, jams, dried herbs, homemade cookies, countless new recipes and tonight a very special treat indeed. A super cute basket filled with preserves including strawberry and raspberry jam, dill pickles, ultra cute farm fridge magnets and a loaf of yummy bread. Now you tell me I don't have the nicest CSA members ever!! Thanks to everyone for a great CSA season.

End of season gift, thanks Terry!!!!

17th CSA Week

2010-10-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

I can't believe next week is the final CSA week. This season has just flown by. I'm going to miss seeing all of our CSA members every week. It's really been my social life which is pretty sad considering I'm only delivering veggies but none the less it really was the highlight of my week. The CSA baskets were a bit on the slim side today but the grab boxes were full so everyone had the chance to fill up on goodies such as winter squash, kale, swiss chard, daikon radish, tomatoes and hot peppers. The large share this week had a small bag of lettuce mix, either spinach or tatsoi, green sweet peppers, carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, beets, leeks and onions. We almost had enough of our own carrots for today's pick-up but a few came freshly dug this morning from Hughes Hill Farm in Kelly's Cross. The rest of the carrots for the next week will be coming from their farm. Thanks to Gary & Kelly for their carrot supply!! Many of our members asked why we ran out this year when last year we were over run with carrots at the end of the season. It basically comes down to old seed maybe playing a bit of a part but mainly I used a flame weeder and I think I may have "flamed" a bit too hot causing cooked seeds. I do plan to try the flamer again next season but on a much more of a "trial" bases. Not having carrots in the CSA shares is just a big no no!!!!

The weather today was nice and sunny but by the time it came to wash the vegetables it was darn right cold!! It's that time of year again where the insulated wash gloves return along with toques and down filled vests. I feel very lucky that the majority of harvest days this season have been pretty nice.

Survey Results. We have received back a good number of surveys which is great. I had a pretty big question in which I asked the members to rate each vegetable/herb we grow based on weather they wanted to eat that vegetable every week, often but not every week, only now and then or not at all. I was not surprised at all to see the more common vegetables top the list including carrots, potatoes, lettuce, onions, broccoli, etc.as wanting to be eaten every week but a few things did surprise me including leeks being either only once in a while or not at all. Of course there were the leek fans in there wanting them every week as well. I'm hoping to get a few more surveys back to get more vegetable ratings to be able to plan better for next year. One thing I have noticed and gotten feed back from members is about beets. People say they like them but not every week please. That kind of feedback is very important so that next year I can plan better and not plant as many. That's where the beauty of the grab box comes in, if you don't like beets just leave them behind for a beet lover who may be coming behind you. Thanks to everyone who already filled out the survey last week. Great feedback!!!

I'll leave you with a few pictures of the boys. Until next week enjoy your veggies!!!

Jake

Ben enjoying his carrot

Going for a drive around the farm

16th CSA Week

2010-10-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful harvest day. The sun was shinning, a calm breeze and even though it was chilly first thing it warmed up to be an awesome day. There was definitely frost out side this morning but the only thing it might have affected was the winter squash, the tomatoes and peppers seemed fine thankfully. Over the weekend we used a tomato press for the first time, what a marvellous invention. It separates the skins and seeds from the pulp by the turn of the crank. We are now currently cooking a gigantic pot of tomato sauce for winter eating. Yum Yum Yum.

This weeks large shares have carrots, beets, parsnips, rutabagas, garlic, red and yellow onions, kale, arugula or komatsuna, lettuce mix, cherry tomatoes and green peppers. The grab box has swiss chard, leeks, pea shoots, winter squash and more of the above mentioned veggies. Normally this would be our last CSA week but this year we decided to go for two extra weeks as last time at this year we had lots of veggies in the field. We still do have lots of certain types of veggies like parsnips, beets and rutabaga but we're quickly running out of carrots, lettuce mix, garlic, winter squash, leeks and others. It looks like my veggie planning may have been on the low side but I'll do my best to fill the baskets right till the end.

Portuguese Kale & Sausage Soup (uses slow cooker)

Saute in 2 Tbsp. olive oil:
-2 med. onions, finely chopped
-4 med. carrots finely chopped
-1 lb. smoked sausage, chorizo, or andouille sausage, cut into 1/2" rounds
(I used chorizo...and only had about 1/2 lb. on hand...the soup still had lots of heat!)
til onion is translucent.

Transfer above to lg. slow cooker (5-7 quart). Add:
-1 lb. kale, chopped into 1" pieces (I used our portion from the box...not sure of weight)
-6 cups chicken broth
-5 med. potatoes, cut into 1/2" pieces
-2 bay leaves.

Stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours, until potatoes are tender.
Remove bay leaves and stir in 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro.
Serves 8.
(source: Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever, by Diane Phillips) **Thanks for Sue for this awesome recipe**

Komatsuna Saute:
2 cloves garlic
1tbs butter
1 large bunch komatsuna (chopped)
sea salt
pepper
Melt butter in large sauce pan or wok. Add chopped garlic and saute until tender, approx 3 minutes. Add komatsuna and mix with tongs until they wilt down. Add a dash of salt and pepper and enjoy. We had leftover pasta with sausage along with this meal but I think serving the greens over a nice bed of rice would be excellent. For a nutty flavor add in chopped peanuts.

Yearly Inspection: We successfully completed another organic inspection on Saturday, I always get super nervous before the inspector comes as I'm afraid my paper work will be sketchy, that data will be missing and that something glaring and obvious will be found and we'll lose our organic certification. But of course I always worry about nothing as it went well and our inspector said things were great. We do need to work on our organic seed orders however, currently we order about 50% seeds from certified organic sources but we should be aiming for 100%. So I'll have to buckle down next year when I'm seed orderning and do a better job!!!

Elizabeth and I reviewing paper work on the farm tour. It was a chilly morning. Brrrr

Survey Time!!! Every year we ask our CSA members to fill out a season end survey so we can get a feel for how we did in regards to quality, quantity, vegetable preference etc. I am using survey monkey this year so poeple can fill it out online. I am very curious to see the results and suggestions and comments members have about the 2010 season.

15th CSA Week

2010-10-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

It was another beautiful harvest day here at the farm with the sun shining full force and a light breeze. The veggies are holding on and the CSA baskets were above value yet again. This week everyone gets a nice big pumpkin so you can either save it for a jack-o-lantern or slice it up for a nice Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. I've been told that pie-pumpkins are the preferred pumpkin for a pie but jack-o-lanterns are fine as long as you add a bit more sugar and its a bit of a grainyer texture so try putting it through a food processor first to smooth it out.

This weeks large share includes: arugula, radish, carrots, parsnips, beets, a rutabaga, pint of cherry tomatoes, 6 large slicing tomatoes, onions, leeks and a choice between a butternut, buttercup, blue hubbard and bush delicta winter squash. The grab box had lettuce mix, cilantro, parsley, swiss chard, cabbage and lots of the above mentioned veggies.

Check out the two recipes below sent in by two CSA members.

Squash Casserole
Ingredients:

1 box stuffing mix (don't use one with bits of rice in it)
1/2 cup butter
1 squash
1 small onion
250 mL sour cream
1 tin cream of chicken soup

Melt butter and use it to moisten stuffing mix. Put this on bottom layer of casserole dish.
Dice and boil squash, mash. Cut onion into small pieces and mix with mashed squash. Put this on top of the stuffing layer. Mix sour cream and soup together. Pour on top of casserole.
Bake for approx, 20-25 minutes at 375. You'll know it's done as the top will be starting to boil.
**Thanks to Carolyn for sending this along**

Veggie Drawer Root Vegetable Clean-out:

It's very forgiving, and very adaptable:

Find all the root vegetables lurking in your fridge: beets, turnip, parsnips, carrots, etc. and potatoes if you need more veggies
Flavorable things like: onions, peppers, fennel bulb, mushrooms, garlic cloves
Olive oil, salt and pepper, any herbs you like.
Orange juice -- optional

Get out a really large roasting pan or a few smaller ones like 9x13inch
Quickly wash and peel the root veggies, cut everything into chunks -- maybe 2cm by 2cm by 3cm -- and throw in pan. Peel onion and quarter, slice fennel, leave garlic cloves and mushrooms whole. Drizzle with a decent amount of olive oil and add salt and pepper, and toss with hands to coat thoroughly.

Cover pan with tight lid or with foil, can cook at 350 for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours. You can adjust the temperature down if you are baking something else.

Stir (making sure things aren't sticking) and add some orange juice, if desired, after an hour or so. Test for doneness towards the end (be careful of steam when opening foil).

Serves four generous servings.

This is very basic, but if you feel like you can't bear to open your crisper because of the root vegetables taking space, this will use up a lot and is pretty tasty. Leftovers can be added to soup or a stirfry. It goes well with a salad and meat, or a salad and a grain dish.
**Thanks to Chris for sending this along today**

Pumpkin

Variety of winter squash

The barn now has the trusses attached and is about 75% strapped. The steel arrived Friday night and I was hoping that progress would have been greater to actually start putting the steel on Sunday but Derek was still strapping the roof so that job will have to wait for awhile yet. It seems pretty straight forward but I think there are probably a million little odd jobs that need to be done before its actually time for the steel. Its starting to really look like something. Derek's brothers Ronnie and John came out last week to help out which was great.

Waiting in the fog for the trusses to arrive.

The crane setting the trusses in place

Derek's brother John came out to help

Inside the barn

The front side of the roof strapped

Ben & Jake enjoying the wheel barrow

So serious - hair cut anyone?

Jake rocking the pink rubber boots

A friend of ours was taking a hike through the hills and took this great shot of the farm. Thanks Greg

If your in need of a chicken for Thanksgiving Barnyard Organics will be selling their organic chickens (and lamb) from the freezer on their truck this Thursday from 4-5:30pm near the Harbour Quay building which is right across the confederation trail from our CSA pick-up. How convenient!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and we hope your long weekend is filled with family and farm fresh veggies.

14th CSA Week

2010-09-28T17:07:00.001-07:00

Another CSA harvest day is here again. It was a bit on the damp side for most of the morning but all in all everything went fine. The count down is on as we only have four weeks left and now the trick is to make sure we have enough vegetables to finish off the CSA season but also keep some for ourselves for the winter. Every year we always seem to make sure everyone is taken care of and often forgot about our own vegetable needs until its too late and then we end up having to buy our veggies from neighbours and friends for the winter. We'll still end up doing that for some vegetables but hopefully not all.

This weeks grab box - yummy

I always heard that pea shoots were very tasty so I grew just a small patch of snap peas just for the sole purpose of cutting off the small tender shoots for the fall CSA baskets. I'm hoping to get feedback from the members as to how they liked them as I would grow lots more next year if they are wanted. They are great chopped into a salad or added into a stir-fry.

Yummy pea shoots

Back this week are radish, they are so pretty when they are tiny like this.

Bush Delicata winter squash. This squash is often called the sweet potato squash, because it's flavor and texture is pretty close to a sweet potato. They will store well for weeks.
To cook place unpeeled pieces cut sides down on a shallow baking dish and bake in a 350°F oven for 30 minutes or longer. Check for doneness by piercing with a fork. When tender, remove from the oven and allow the pieces to cool. Spoon out the soft flesh and mash with a fork or process in a blender or food processor. Peeled pieces can be cut into cubes and boiled until tender. Use with any recipe calling for cooked, mashed or pureed squash. Or microwave the squash pieces on high for 15 minutes or longer.

I made a very yummy spaghetti sauce this week. I had about 4-5 large tomatoes along with a handful of cherry tomatoes and I took the skins off the larger ones. This is easily done by making a small X in the bottom of the tomato and putting into boiling water. Just leave it there for about 30 seconds and then put it into a dish of ice cold water and the skins will come right off. I chopped up the tomatoes and set aside till I was ready to use them. I sautéed garlic, onions and 2 leeks in a frying pan until the onions were soft and added in the tomatoes, a handful of cilantro and a few shakes of cumin. I let the sauce cook away for about 30 minutes and then added some cooked ground beef that I had leftover in the fridge. I must say it was very tasty!! The boys love tomatoes so they really liked supper that night.

This coming Sunday is the 7th Annual Organic Harvest Festival taking place in Charlottetown from 1-4pm at the Experimental Farm off of Mt Edward Road, by the roundabout. Tickets are $35.00 including tax and admission for children under the age of 12 is free. It promises to be a great event. Tickets are available at the following locations:
All Sobeys stores across PEI
Charlottetown Farmers Market (Island Sunshine booth)
Summerside Farmers Market (Emmerdale Eden booth and Red Isle Farm booth)
Timothy's, Charlottetown
The Turning Point, Montague
The Dunes Cafe
Off Broadway Restaurant
Merchantman Pub
By calling 894-9999

The menu looks like this
Sweet and Spicy Carrot Salad
Crunchy Cabbage Slaw
Buried Treasure Potato Salad
Fresh Breads from the Wood Fired Oven
Mixed Green Salad w/ Apple Vinaigrette
Roasted Pumpkin and Ginger Soup
Bountiful Harvest Beef Stew with Homemade Biscuit
Ida Red Apple Flatbreads with ADL Organic Cheddar and Mustard Cream
Cranberry and Sage Stuffed Sirloin Roast with Caramelized Onion Mashed Potato
Lamb Kofta Curry or Tofu Kofta
Curry with Mint Yoghurt Sauceand Naan Bread
Old Fashioned Apple Crisp with Cane Sugar Caramel
Candied Apples
Sounds pretty awesome to me. We're planning on going unless the barn is ready for the steel.

The boys were up checking out the barn progress tonight with Derek and they found a very dirty mud puddle. Derek said they splashed around and made a great big mess and had a great time. They each now have a pair of rubber boots so they are loving the puddles now even more than before.

Ben & Jake enjoying the sunny fall day

13th CSA Week

2010-09-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

Today's harvest day went a little big smoother than last week's, I had my truck back, it was not raining and my helper was not sick. Much smoother.

This weeks large share included leeks, mixed tomatoes, red & yellow onion and a shallot, lettuce mix, swiss chard, green peppers (and the odd purple pepper), cucumber, zucchini, winter squash (buttercup, butternut or blue hubbard), parsnips, carrots and cabbage (green or red). The grab box had dill, cilantro, parsley, beets, rutabaga, and more of the above mentioned veggies.

If you still have leeks left over try out last week's potato leek soup, its a yummy one.

Winter squash can be cooked several ways. Check out the following sites for how to instructions.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2896_make-thai-green.html
http://allrecipes.com//HowTo/winter-squash-how-to-cook-it/Detail.aspx

Parsnips are typically much sweeter after they have gone through a few frosty nights but since we have quite a few in the ground I thought I would start digging a few for you to enjoy. Last evening I peeled and cut a few bigger ones and boiled until soft, then I mashed them with a bit of butter and salt & pepper. yum yum yum. A touch of brown sugar or maple syrup would sweeten them up for those that might find them a bit bland this time of the year.

If you have any amount of zucchini hanging around why not try this pureed soup recipe reccomended by Melanie, thanks for sending this along!!

Roasted Zucchini and Carrot Pureed Soup (with Curry) - From Nova Scotia Cooking Cook Book

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 Large Carrot
2 Medium Zucchini
1 Medium Onion
4 Cloves Garlic
1 tsp. Curry
Salt and Pepper to taste (a little pepper goes a long way)
4 Cups Chicken Stock
1/2 Cup heavy cream (35%)

Cut zucchini, carrot and onion in 2 cm dice. In a medium sized Dutch Oven, heat Olive on medium heat and add carrots, zucchini, and onion. Cook for 7 minutes - stir occasionally. Add garlic, curry, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Cover and transfer to a preheated 375 F oven for 15 minutes. Remove and add chicken stock and cook for another 7 minutes. Remove from heat, add cream and blend until smooth.

Beautiful mixed tomatoes

Buttercup Winter Squash

Winter Squash

Butternut Winter Squash

Blue hubbard winter squash

I'll leave you with a few recent pics of the boys. We went to Pleasant Farm on Sunday for the open farm day and the boys loved seeing the baby pigs, calves, and all the kids playing around the farm. It was a great day.

The boys getting to sit in Grampy's big blue tractor

Me & my boys

Jake staring down the camera

12th CSA Week - How many CSA bins can you fit in your car???

2010-09-14T15:45:00.000-07:00

Today was an interesting harvest day on the farm. The weather was overcast and drizzly making for tricky walking through the garden lugging bins full of CSA veggies but I was thankful for no sun as I was without my harvest vehicle. Last Thursday I was all set to head to Summerside with the truck full of CSA bins, I had 40 minutes to get to town, just what I needed. I jumped in the truck after doing one last check of the bins (which I ended up being 1 short, my silly math, but thats another story) and when I went to turn the key there was nothing!! Oh no. I called Derek up at work thinking that he would have the magic answer but unfortunately it was not to be had. Plan B, back up the civic and down went the seats, who knew a civic could hold 18 bins of vegetables, I sure did not. It was a fast drive to town but thankfully I made it only a few minutes late and no-one was waiting, thank goodness. So all weekend Derek was taking things apart on the truck trying to figure out what was wrong. Thanks to his investigations he was able to track down the fried part and we're just waiting for it to come in. So my regular harvest truck was replaced with our lawnmower pulling a small wagon. Its actually what I used to use before we got the cap on the truck and it sure was slow going compared to the truck but I'm just glad I had something besides lugging everything from the field to the wash station back to the coolers in the barn.

The other monkey wrench in my day was that my helper called in sick around 9am. Yikes!!! So I put everything into high gear and amazingly everything got done in time for the Charlottetown deliveries. It was a crazy day.

This week the large share has lettuce mix, beets, carrots, garlic, red and yellow onions, leeks, quart of mixed tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, mixed beans, rutabaga, green peppers and superior potatoes (the final ones for the season). The grab box had kale, swiss chard, cilantro, dill, cabbage and more of the veggies above.

If your new to leeks then your in for a treat. Leeks are probably one of my favourite vegetables because of their amazing flavour.

Potato Leek Soup

3 cups chicken stock
1 cup beef stock
2 leeks (white and light green parts)
3 medium potatoes, cut in small cubes
2 carrots, cut in small pieces
1/2 onion
salt & pepper, to taste
summer savoury, couple of shakes
thyme, couple of shakes
Fry the chopped onions and leeks in a bit of butter for a few minutes along with the salt, pepper, thyme and summer savoury. Add chopped potatoes, carrots, chicken & beef stock and bring to a boil. Simmer for 1/2 hour or until veggies are soft.

Cream of Tomato and Leek Soup
3 tbsp butter
2 leeks, white part only, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
8 ripe medium tomatoes, peeled & chopped
2 ½ cups milk
3 tbsp tomato paste or tomato sauce
1 bay leaf
½ tsp dry thyme
1 ½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
3 green onions, sliced
½ cup sour cream (optional)

1.Wash leeks very well; slice and use white and light green parts only (save the tops for vegetable stock)
2.Melt butter in large saucepan. Add leeks and garlic; cook without browning until tender. Add carrots and celery; cook 5 minutes. Add flour and cook without browning, 5 minutes.
3.Add tomatoes, bring to a boil. Add milk, tomato paste, or tomato sauce, bay leaf, thyme, salt, pepper and slowly bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Lower heat, cover, simmer gently 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf.
4.Puree, heat thoroughly and season to taste. If soup is thicker than you like add additional milk. Serve sprinkled with green onions and a spoonful of sour cream.

If you have any cilantro left from last week or grabbed some today from the grab box you should try out the below recipe, it was very tasty.

Cilantro & Mango Salsa

1 mango, diced
1 tomato, diced (I used 3-4 small tomatoes and a few golden cherry's all cut up)
1/4 red onion, diced
1/4 - 1/3 c cilantro, finely chopped
1-2 Tbsp lime/lemon juice (i used 1 tbsp of each)

Mix together and serve immediately with crackers, chips or tortilla chips. I let this sit overnight and mixed together before serving. It was a huge hit at a pot luck!!! Thanks Naomi for sending this along.

There are now 6 weeks left in the CSA 2010 program. I was telling everyone tonight at the pick-up that there were 7 weeks left but this is week 12 so that leaves 6 remaining weeks. Hopefully the fall frosts will stay away so we can all enjoy lots of farm fresh veggies for the remaining few weeks.

The boys turned 14 months old yesterday and I thought I would share a few pictures of their recent adventures. They LOVE going on farm walks to find hidden or forgotten treasures including dropped carrots, lonely cucumbers and their favourite of all, golden ripe cherry tomatoes off the vine. Yesterday I wanted to go and visit my neighbour but they were too busy playing with the lawnmower to follow me so I put them in the wheelbarrow and wheeled them over. They loved it!! Such great little farm boys already.

Exploring around the tomato patch

Ben loving the corn on the cob

They love the lawnmower

Ben on a mission to get to the tomato patch

Jake showing off his tiny teeth, perfect for eating corn on the cob

11th CSA Week

2010-09-07T17:11:00.000-07:00

Another CSA harvest day has arrived and with it much cooler temperatures than last week. The extreme heat last week was a bit much for this cool weather gal and I'm much happier with the current forecast even though its going to be a bit damp for the rest of the week. The CSA large shares are full again this week with farm fresh veggies including: lettuce mix, carrots, beets, cilantro, purple or green cabbage, a pint of cherry tomatoes, a quart of mixed medium tomatoes, onions, garlic, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow beans and a purple pepper.

Purple Pepper for Tuesday's large shares

Lots of cherry tomatoes this week

The grab box had a few fennel, parsley, basil and more of the mentioned above veggies. You may have noticed the carrot bunches are a bit on the small side and indeed they are. We have started to ration the carrots to ensure we will have some for the remainder of the 7 weeks left in the CSA program. I planted lots of carrots but between flaming for weed control, possible bad seed, and who knows why else the carrot crop this year is much smaller than last. I have more carrots planted but they are still very small so until they get bigger the weeks carrot supply might be on the small side.

We have a new planting of beans just coming on now which is good because the last planting that I was picking got away from me and the beans got too big and its just not worth picking that patch any more due to the amount of big ones that are no-longer at the ideal eating stage. I'm hoping that by next week more beans will be ready, today's shares got beans, 1lb for the large shares and 1/2lb for the small but Thursday's boxes might be bean less unless the next planting ripens a lot in the next two days.

There is no formal recipe this week but I just wanted to share something that we have been doing for most of the summer. Twice/week we steam up a big batch of veggies, whatever we had kicking around in the fridge including carrots, beans, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, potatoes, etc. I would then fry up a big onion in the frying pan and add my steamed veggies. I would then beat up 8-12 eggs and pour that over top and cook on medium-low heat for about 10-15 minutes. When it looks like it has started to set I would then place it under the broiler until it finished cooking. I almost forgot the cheese, grate up a bunch of cheese and spread over the top before going under the broiler!! Our boys love this and its a great way to get the veggies into them. It should slice very easily into wedges.
We also started grating up large zucchini's and putting into spaghetti sauce or casseroles. The boys will never know : ) **A great tip from Carolyn, thanks**

What's new on the farm these days?
-Well, we are still waiting on the trusses for the new barn as well as the steel. We have yet to actually order the steel as we can't agree on a color, I want red walls with a grey roof, Derek is afraid the red will fade to pink but I think it will be fine.
-The broccoli and cauliflower are all finished now which makes me sad, it was a great growing season for both vegetables. I did have more seedlings started that should have been transplanted in the field in late June but unfortunately it just did not happen with all of the other work that was going on. I'm sure kicking myself now for not getting it done!!!
-The late greens plantings are all growing well but slowly!! The peas have germinated quite nicely and I'm expecting to harvest pea shoots in the next 2-3 weeks for the CSA baskets. The fall spinach has been a bit disappointing so far, germination has been poor for both plantings and it looks like I'll have to do yet another one to try for success.
-The yellow storage onions have all been pulled and are stacked in crates in the shed for a few weeks to dry. The red onions and the shallots will be pulled as soon as the rain stops and the ground has had a chance to dry up a bit

I was able to participate in Nigwek this past Sunday on Victoria Row in Charlottetown. It was an organic festival featuring lots of local Island musicians and some Island organic producers. The music was great and I saw so many people that I had not seen in ages. The wind was a bit crazy during the event but all in all it was a great day.

Nigwek on Sunday

Veggies at Nigwek

Taking time to enjoy Edamame from Barnyard Organics, very tasty

Barnyard Organics were there along with other organic producers

10th CSA Week

2010-08-31T17:15:00.001-07:00

Week 10???? How did we get here so fast. It's hard to believe its August 31st with the weather we had today and will continue to have for the rest of the week. 30 degrees of hot PEI weather, it would be good if I were a beach bum but harvesting veggies in that heat is rather tiring. Luckily we had a wonderful breeze all morning which made the harvest bearable.

We had a small turnout for our Saturday open farm day but those that were able to make it had a good time and we were glad to see all of those smiling faces, especially Angus!!!

I planted another round of veggies on the weekend including lettuce mix, spinach, Asian greens (komatsuna, bok choy, tatsoi), arugula, radish, baby carrots & mache. I may be pushing the lateness of the plantings but if we are going to have a nice warm fall we should have time for the veggies to mature enough to be able to harvest before the end of the CSA pick-ups in late October. I'm hoping to have lettuce mix in next weeks share, it has grown alot since last weeks rain storm.

This weeks large share includes:
carrots - wonderful sweet delicious carrots

beets (candy cane) - these beets are very pretty and oh so sweet. Simply cook as you would regular beets, they are not as dark as a regular beet but just as good if not better. I boiled a few and added into a stir fry this week and it was delicious

basil or parsley or lovage - fresh tomatoes and basil go perfect together. A simple toasted tomato sandwich with basil leaves, cucumber and cheese. Lovage can be used like celery and adds an awesome flavour when used to make soups, stews or chili.

Chinese cabbage - check out a new recipe below

kale- Kale is a super food. It is the same family as cabbage, broccoli & cauliflower but does not form a head as the others do. Kale is really yummy served with sausages in a soup or for a simply tasty treat check out the recipe below.

zucchini - over run with zucchini yet?check out the recipe below for a great way to use up these summer super stars

cucumbers - Cucumber sandwiches are also yummy with salt and pepper and mayo

red onions - chop up and add to a salad or stir-fry.

garlic - Everyone loves garlic!!!

yellow beans - this is our third bean planting and the harvest is huge again. We like to steam our beans and add butter, oh yum.

tomatoes - A mixture of slicers and cherries. Nothing beats fresh tomatoes. Layer tomatoes, basil and havarti dill cheese on your favorite bread and place in the toaster oven and enjoy.

The grab box included lots of the above and fennel green & purple cabbage & cauliflower. The small shares get to enjoy the broccoli florets this week.

Feature Recipes

Crispy Kale
1 bunch of kale
olive oil
coarse sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Wash the kale and trim it by stripping each half of the leaves away from the tough center stems.

3. Place leaves on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil to coat (I used about a tablespoon).

4. Spread leaves in a single layer and roast for 5 minutes. Turn the leaves over and roast another 5-10 minutes until kale begins to brown and is thin and brittle. Remove from oven and sprinkle generously with sea salt.

Serves 2

Zucchini Soup
In a large saucepan sauté 2 large onions in 1/4 cup margarine or butter until tender. Add 8 cups sliced zucchini, 4 cups hot water, 2 chicken bouillon cubes, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp celery salt, and seasoning salt. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat 5-10 minutes. Cool. Stir in 1/2tsp chopped parsley and dill. Whirl in blender 3 cups a a time till smooth. Bring to a boil. Serve hot or cold. This can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Makes 12 servings.
Thanks to Mary-Claire for this great recipe.

Asian cole slaw
Big hit at pot lucks

16 ounces of cabbage, shredded, or cut thinly ( I use a small/med head, somewhere around 6 cups)
OR
you can do this with Chinese cabbage or broccoli slaw
1 pack of Ramen noodles (or any instant asian noodles), UNCOOKED
1/4 cup green onion chopped, or more, or red onion instead
big handfuls of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, toasted sliced almonds (any combination)
grated carrot, optional
chopped red pepper, optional

Put all of above into bowl, just smush up the noodles with your fingers - they are terrific and crunchy and absorb the dressing.
Whisk together :
3/4 cup oil (could be vegetable, olive, maybe with dash of sesame oil?)
6 T sugar
6 T vinegar (could be rice vinegar)
Dash of chili sauce?

Pour on top, at least 10 minutes before serving.
Thanks to Marti for this recipe

If you have any cauliflower left from last week here is a wonderful recipe to help use it up.
Cream of Cauliflower Soup II (from allrecipes.com)

2 Tbsp butter
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, chopped
2 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth (I started with 4 cups)
1 head cauliflower, chopped
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp dry sherry
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

In a large pot, over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 mins. Stir in potatoes and carrots and cook 5 minutes more. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Stir in cauliflower, cover, reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, 10 - 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Puree in batches in blender, food processor or with an immersion blender. Return to low heat and stir in milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg and sherry. Heat through.
Thanks to Laura for sharing this recipe.

What's coming up in the garden? Leeks, winter squash (butter-nut, buttercup, blue Hubbard, delicata) cilantro, dill, greens, pumpkins & shallots.

Garden and harvest photos to come later this week!!!!

Bush delicata winter squash

Onions laid out to start the curing process, over 600 storage onions

Butternut winter squash

The latest plantings

9th CSA Week

2010-08-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful CSA harvest day again, this summer is definitely going to go down as one of the nicest harvest summers on record, or for at least me anyway. The first summer I started farming full time I think it rained at least 1 day every week that was a harvest day and I mean it rained hard. This year the worst its been has been a light shower and even then it wasn't bad. I remember one day in 2008 when I had a friend visiting from Ontario it rained so hard that we had to take refuge in the greenhouse shed because it was coming down in torrents. Even a good rain suit that summer could not keep one dry.

It's hard to believe but this week marks the half way point of the 2010 CSA season and the height of the summer harvest is on which is reflect in this weeks shares, they are full full full. This weeks large shares include:

carrots - orange and purple. We decided to do away with the tops from here on out so just find an empty bag, throw them in and put in the fridge. The orange carrots are a variety called sweetness III and they live up to their name, very tasty. The purple carrots are called Purple Haze and are very nice sliced up and eaten raw. They are very pretty because the inside is orange and the outside is purple.

beets - we are finishing up the "bulls blood" beets this week and next week will be on to another variety in another part of the garden. If you are finding a build-up of beets why not do up a few bottles for winter eating? I love pickled beets, yum.

green cabbage - see below for a great recipe.

cucumbers - enjoy a nice summer cucumber sandwich with hummus or babaganouse

Zucchini - yup, more zucchini, and more next week. See below for a few new ideas sent in from fellow CSA members

Onions - White & red. Both are very sweet and would make a great addition to a stir-fry or a fresh summer salad.

Green & Yellow Beans - If your getting behind in your bean eating try blanching for winter eating. Simply bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and drop in cleaned & snipped beans into the water for 2-3 minutes. Immediately remove the beans from the boiling water into a dish of ice cold water and leave until no longer hot. Let them drain and then put on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer. When they are frozen put them in a freezer bag and they are all set for chilly winter dinners.

Cauliflower - This is the first year I have actually gotten cauliflower bigger than my fist. See pics below.

Broccoli florets - When the main broccoli head is harvested the plant produces tiny broccoli florets called side shoots. They are tiny but they are tasty.

Tomatoes - A few small slicing tomatoes, perfect for tomato sandwiches.
Cherry tomatoes - The first of the season's tomato snacks. The yellow ones are super sweet!!!

Potatoes - Red & White potatoes. I harvested the last of the red potatoes on Monday so enjoy this last taste until next season. I still have one row of superiors left so there will still be at least 1 more week of potatoes coming up.

Fennel - A very interesting herb. Tastes like black licorice. You can use the whole plant or just the bulb. See below for a easy yummy recipe. You can snack on the stalk, its actually a very refreshing mouth cleanser.

This Weeks Feature Recipes

Zucchini Pancakes:
3 small (8 ") zucchinis grated (squeeze out the liquid)
1 small onion finely chopped
1/2 cup flour (add more if needed)
1 tsp baking powder
salt and pepper
2 eggs
1 cup grated cheese

Cook just like regular pancakes (using oil/spray etc). Drop 1/4 cup batter on grill or frying pan.
****Thanks to Carolyn for this new recipe***

Cabbage Roll Stir Fry
One taste of this hearty supper and you'll wonder why you ever wasted time rolling cabbage. It tastes just as comforting, with one quarter of the prep time.
(from Meals in minutes, Chatelaine Food, Dec 2008)
1 Large Onion Chopped
1 lb ground beef or pork
28 oz (796-ml) can plum tomatoes drained and coarsely chopped
71/2 oz (213 mL) can tomato sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp each dried oregano and thyme leaves
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1 green pepper
1/2 cabbage

Lightly coat a wok or large saucepan with oil and place over medium-high heat. Add onion and crumble in beef/pork. Using a fork, stir frequently to keep meat crumbly until it is almost cooked through. 3-4 mins. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, and seasonings. Stir often until flavour develops, about 5 mins.
Meanwhile, slice green pepper into thin strips. Thinly slice cabbage. Add pepper and cabbage to pan, stir often uncovered until cabbage is tender, 4-5 mins. Taste and add salt if needed.
It's good on rice or mashed potatoes, or wrapped in a tortilla.
*** Thanks to Jody for this recipe***

Fennel & Carrot Side-dish
I came across this recipe on All-recipes.com last night and it was quite tasty and easy too.

1tsp olive oil
3 carrots, shredded
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and sliced
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
1/3 cup heavy cream
**I did not have all of those ingredients so I adjusted it and it still turned out yummy, see the bottom of the recipe for my alterations**

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the carrots and fennel, and season with coriander and fennel seeds. Cook until lightly brown. Mix in the heavy cream and reduce heat to low. Simmer until the cream has been absorbed into the carrots and fennel. Serve hot.
Jen's version - I really wanted to try this but didn't have all the ingredients so I winged it, something totally uncharacteristic but it turned out quite well. I did not have coriander or fennel seeds so I just used a few shakes of cumin instead. I also did not have heavy cream so I used 3/4 cup of whole milk instead. I also used a good dash of pepper and salt. I would not sit down and eat a whole plate of this but it made a nice side dish. I also did not cook the fennel long enough, it was a bit chewy so make sure you let it cook till its soft.

We defiantly have the nicest CSA members!!! Today I was given a loaf of freshly baked zucchini bread and a dish of freshly picked black berries. Needless to say I was not at all hungry when I got home from the pick-up. All I can say is thanks and YUM!!!!!

Absolutely delicious!!! And so pretty too. Thanks Laura!!!

Marti's oh so tasty blackberries. Gorgeous.

Derek and I found a giant cauliflower on Sunday

Almost as big as my head

I'm very proud of my super giant cauliflower!! I weighed it and it was over 5 pounds. Now that's a lot of cauliflower

8th CSA Pick-up

2010-08-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the farm, its been a busy week as usual but the weather has been great and for some crazy reason the black flies have taken a break from their constant pestering and the boys and I have gotten outside lots the past few days to enjoy strolling around the farm, exploring under new rocks and just plain getting dirty by walking and crawling around in the dirt.

This weeks CSA baskets include a large bunch of rainbow or green swiss chard, carrots, beets, green onion, yellow & red cooking onions, green & yellow beans, garlic, broccoli or cauliflower, bok choi, cucumbers and zucchini. The grab box had some parsley, cilantro, red potatoes and lots of the previously mentioned veggies as well. We also had two large bins of cucumbers and zucchini again for people to enjoy. Today I harvested 115 large slicing cucumbers and 137 zucchini. Needless to say we are being overrun with these veggies. The beans are also doing very well so the large share received both yellow and green, a total of 80lbs of beans was harvested Monday and I'm thinking close to that again will be picked on Thursday. Normally my back would be aching by this time of the season but for some reason I'm not feeling the pain which makes harvest days much more enjoyable.

A very exciting thing to mention is our pole barn is finally taking shape. It's been a work in progress that started officially last fall with the pad prep but winter weather set in and nothing happened until this past week. Since Thursday the holes have been dug, poles erected, strapping on and now we're waiting on the trusses and steel. It's amazing how fast things can happen when everything falls into place. The babies and I have enjoyed strolling over the barn and watching the construction taking place. They are quite happy to sit in their stroller and watch the excitement.

Day #1 - Thursday

Digging the holes - ran into a bit of shale. Took longer than expected to dig the holes but he was finally able to break through it.

And the poles are in - Day #2

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Checking out the view of the new barn from the top of the field

The boys supervising Daddy & Grampy as they work on the new barn - Day #3

Getting the strapping on

Farm Fresh Veggies perfect for the steamer!!! Yum.

Ben was very excited to find these tiny red potatoes in the porch. Best new toys ever!!!!

Jake really enjoyed eating them

Checking out the tomato situation with the boys

Me and my boys enjoying the lack of black flies, finally!!!

Jake having fun in the sun

Ben also having fun in the sun

Enjoy your veggies and the wonderful summer sun!!!

Garden Update - New Pictures

2010-08-10T17:44:00.000-07:00

Onions, leeks, beans, broccoli, cauliflower and more beans can be seen from this side glance of the garden

A tiny purple pepper

The last of the four bean plantings

Tiny green pepper on a very small plant

Green beans ready to be picked, any volunteers???

Lots of onions

The garden is growing very well this year. We have a pretty good handle on the weeds and thanks to lots of compost in the spring and a fantastic growing season things are doing very well. All the garlic is harvested and hanging in the loft of the barn to dry for a few weeks.

Garlic drying outside before being bunched

Bunched garlic heading for the barn

All the garlic hanging in the loft

I am on almost daily tomato patrol to search out those delicious sweet treats. A few golden cherry tomatoes here and there and one almost medium sized tomato, oh how I love my tomato sandwich season!!

If all of the tomatoes ripen in the patch its going to be a very big harvest!!

Four rows in total this year for the tomato patch. All staked and mulched, hoping for NO blight in my tomatoes this year.

The first almost ripe medium tomato

Golden Cherry Tomato, by far the best cherry tomato out there!!!

7th CSA Pickup

2010-08-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Today sure turned out to be a warm one. The morning started overcast and cool, perfect for harvesting and then just as I was finishing up the last bunches of veggies the sun came out in full force. Luckily I was then able to hide in the shade of the barn cleaning veggies and getting the boxes ready for the Charlottetown delivery.

This is our 7th CSA pick-up and I must say I am really enjoying my summer this year. After the season we had last year this feels like a very happy dream. Not going to the farmers market has been a very good decision and we are both happy to have full weekends here on the farm; not up late Friday night getting everything just right, then up way too early Saturday morning to finish up the last minute things and then try to get to market at a good time to set up and then stand on the concrete all morning hoping to sell all the veggies. Now don't get me wrong, I do miss the other vendors and our wonderful customers and of course the extra income was nice, but having a bit more of a life along with having more time with the boys is fantastic.

This week the shares include a large bunch of carrots, beets, lots of yellow and green zucchini, cucumbers, basil, curly parsley, beans, sweet white & red onions, green cabbage, lettuce heads, fresh garlic and a bag of red (Norland) and white (Superior) potatoes. The grab box had some broccoli, cilantro, dill, purple cabbage, swiss chard, kale and lots of other goodies. I also took a whole bin of extra yellow and green zucchini that were perfect for making loaves, lots of people took some home so I would imagine zucchini will be on the menu a few times this week : )

- Basil is one of my favourite summer treats, especially when the tomatoes ripen, nothing better than a toasted tomato and basil sandwich with havarti dill cheese. Yum Yum Yum. The basil in today's share should be kept in a glass of cold water and preferable changed every day or so. If you keep it in the fridge it will turn black.

- The parsley can be kept the same way or put in a bag and kept in the fridge.

- The cabbage should be put in a bag as I had to strip off several of the outer leaves due to critter damage. Don't worry I checked each one throughly to make sure no little Brookvale "friends" made their way to the big city.

A few recipes that might help you this week to make your way through the baskets. Happy eating.

"Mom's Yummy Cucumber Salad" (this was a family favourite while I was growing up)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
mix till dissolved
add either 1/4 cup cream or 1/4 cup milk (if using milk add just before cucumbers)
Either slice cucumbers thinly or grate cucumbers (remove seeds first), add all together and enjoy.
This is very yummy and goes with everything.

Chocolate-chip zucchini loaf
2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp each baking soda and cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups packed, grated zucchini
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray two 8x4 inch loaf pans with non-stick spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, apple sauce, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Stir in zucchini. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Spread batter evenly in prepared pans. Bake of 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in centre of loaf comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes i pans. Remove from pans and let cool on a wire rack before serving.
Source: "Looneyspoons"

Zucchini Jam
6 cups zucchini
5 cups sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup crushed pineapple
2 boxes peach jello

Prepare zucchini (peel and slice and cut into small pieces). Boil till clear, 6-10 minutes (no need to add water). Add sugar, lemon juice and pineapple. Boil hard for 6 minutes and remove from heat. Add jello and stir until dissolved. Pour into sterilised jars. This is not the most nutritious recipe but I really like this jam in the winter on toast with peanut butter.

Stuffed Zucchini "boats"
Slice a zucchini in half lenghth wise and take scoop out the seeds and some of the inner flesh. Fry up some onions, garlic and hamburger along with celery and green peppers and fill the zucchini boats. Sprinkle on some grated cheese and bake in the over at 350 until everything is heated through and zucchini is tender, about 35-40 minutes

6th CSA Pick-up

2010-08-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

Another successful Tuesday pick-up has come and gone and now its time to sit down and post my weekly CSA pictures and veggie recipes. The boys have just gone to bed but they are protesting, not keen on the seven oclock bedtime tonight!!! This weeks baskets include, carrots, beets, yellow and green zucchini, broccoli, "Superstar" white sweet onions, red onion, green beans, summer turnip, fresh garlic, purple cabbage, lettuce mix and a cucumber. I am very excitied about the broccoli in this weeks share. I have been growing broccoli for a few years but without any luck. But this year with the excellent growing weather we have had and lots of fertility in our soil we are having a great broccoli crop. The only thing disappointing is that I did not plant more!!!! Luckily the plants I have harvested should all produce side shoots so more broccoli can still be harvested. I have another succession of broccoli planted so hopefully it will do as well as the current planting.

Farm Fresh Carrots, fresh from the field

The summer turnips are coming to an end. The pesky critters that eat into them and create tiny little tracks are getting a bit out of control and I'm afraid this might be the last week for them. Try out the recipe below, yum yum yum!!!
Honey Peppered Turnips
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp honey
1 lb turnip (approx 1 small or half large turnip, cut into 1/4" cubes
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
salt
chopped fresh parsley (if you have some)

Melt the butter with the honey in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the turnips and pepper. Cook, uncovered, until tender, about 12 minutes. Add salt to taste and sprinkle with parsley if you have some. Source:Greene on Greens

This week the color of cabbage is purple. This pretty purple treat is wonderful chopped in a salad or try the below recipie from Chef Michael Smith's new cookbook.
Apple stewed red cabbage
vegetable oil
1 onion, peeled and sliced
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 head of red cabbage, thinly sliced
2 or 3 apples, cored and chopped
2 tablespoons of honey
a few splashes of cider vinegar
a few splashes of cider, apple juice or water
a sprinkle of sea salt and pepper

Splash vegetable oil into a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until they're golden brown. Add the garlic and continue cooking for another minute or so. Add the cabbage, apples, honey, cider vinegar and the cider (or apple juice or water). Season with salt and pepper.
Bring everything to a simmer and then lower the heat just enough to maintain the simmer. Cover iwth a tight-fitting lid and continue cooking until the cabbage is tender, about 30 minutes.
Source: The Best of Chef at Home. Chef Michael Smith

I could not believe the amount of zucchini I harvested today, it was unreal.

I took a whole tray of extra yellow and green zucchini along with summer squash to the pick-up and everyone took a few extra but I still have 3 full bins in the cooler. Zucchini cake anyone??? I have a great recipie somewhere for chocolate chip zucchini cake but I can't put my fingers on it. I'm not sure if you can see in the picture but there are tonnes of zucchini laying in the row waiting to be picked up. Tis the season for zucchini!!!

Harvested veggies waiting to head to the wash station

Sweet white and red onions

This past week was a bit rough on poor little Jake. Between blackfly bites, causing black eyes, a nasty bang on the head, swollen ear due to possible mosquito bite and general brusing due to falling and bumping into Ben. Below is a picture showing off a swolen lip and bumped head. Poor little monkey

Below is a picture of the rock Derek dug out of the field this week with the tractor. He said there is another piece at least as big still there. Now that is a big rock!!!!

5th CSA Pick-Up

2010-07-27T17:36:00.001-07:00

Another Tuesday CSA pick-up has come and gone and what a lovely weather day it was. A few scattered showers, overcast and a swift breeze made for a great harvesting day. The veggies are all doing really well and everything is growing like crazy. The snap peas are almost done and I'll be picking them for the last time for Thursday's pick-up. The green beans are now ready and I just will not have time to pick both veggies.
This weeks pick-up includes:

Carrots - these sweet orange treats keep getting bigger every week. The variety this week is called Napoli and they are awesome. We have been steaming lots of carrots and they don't get much sweeter than Napoli's.

Beets - by far our best beet year ever. I've been quartering or halving them and sticking them in the steamer with potatoes and carrots. When the fork goes through them easily out them come and into my belly, yum

Snap Peas - Enjoy your last feed for this year of snap peas, oh how I will miss the sweet crisp crunch of the snap peas

Lettuce mix/Lettuce head - The large shares have lettuce mix while the small shares have a lettuce head. The current lettuce mix patch is almost done and I am waiting for the next patch to catch up. There might be a few weeks of no lettuce soon but hopefully not for too long.

Onions - We are now harvesting the onions grown from seed. The previous onions were from sets.

Spinach - The large shares have spinach this week and enjoy it as soon it will be gone until the fall weather arrives. These large leaves would be best steamed or sautéed in a stir-fry.

Zucchini/Summer Squash - You may have gotten green or yellow zucchini or papaya pear summer squash in this weeks share. They are nice and small so enjoy in a stir-fry or why not try a foil barbecue package with potatoes, onions, sliced zucchini, butter, salt and pepper.

Potatoes - 3lbs of newly dug superior potatoes, with the dirt still attached. They should be kept in a dark cool place until you are ready to use them and you should poke a few holes in the bags also.

Summer turnip - One of our members mentioned last week that she loves to roast almost all of her veggies including the summer turnip. We have been enjoying it steamed but we hope to try it roasted soon. She sure made it sound super yummy. A simple splash of olive oil, salt and pepper mixed with other farm fresh veggies and into the over to roast.

Rainbow Swiss Chard - Looks like a mix between beet greens and rhubarb. A very pretty addition to your dinner plate. Simply steam as you would spinach.

I snapped this picture last night after the showers. Now if only there was a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow. Happy veggie eating!!!

4th CSA Pick-up

2010-07-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

It was another very hot CSA harvest day today on the farm but everything got picked and delivered to Charlottetown on time. The large shares are very full this week, the bins were so full it was hard to close the lids. This weeks shares include the following farm fresh veggies: lettuce mix, lettuce heads, chinese cabbage, green cabbage, beets, baby carrots, onions, summer turnip, dill, cilantro, snap peas, spinach, garlic scapes and summer squash. (note, not all veggies included in both shares, large and small shares vary week to week)

Cilantro - Chop and add into sour cream for a light refreshing veggie or chip dip. Close the bag that the cilantro came in and store in the fridge.

Dill - Awesome with salmon or haddock, or chopped into sour cream and served with new potatoes, yum. If you store the dill in a glass of water it will keep very well that way.

Baby carrots - The greens should be snipped off and the carrots put into a plastic bag in the fridge

Marinated Lemon Carrots
11/4 lb. small whole carrots with tops
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp pepper
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
1 Tbsp. olive oil
¼ cup coarsely chopped shelled unsalted pistachios nuts

1. Trim tops of small carrots to 1 inch long.
2. Steam carrots to just tender crisp.
3. In small bowl, combine lemon juice, salt, pepper, and cardamom; whisk in oil.
4. Add cooled carrots, toss to coat. Cover and marinate in fridge for 4 to 24 hours, tossing once or twice.
5. To serve, transfer carrots to serving bowl. Sprinkle with pistachios (I was not overly found of the pistachios so I would just leave them out next time)

Beets - The greens are getting big so just chop them off and store the beets in a bag in the fridge

Chinese Cabbage - Try using the chinese cabbage as a main ingredient in your salad this week, I think you'll like it.

Green Cabbage - Our earliest cabbage yet to grow here on the farm. This variety is called Parel and its weeks ahead of the other varieties.

Cabbage Fruit Salad
Salad
4 cups shredded cabbage
2 medium oranges, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
2 medium red apples, chopped
1 cup seedless red grape halves
¼ cup dried currants or raisins
Dressing
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped pecans, toasted

In a large bowl, toss the cabbage, oranges, apples, grapes and currants.
In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, lemon juice, sugar and salt.
Cover and refrigerate. Just before serving, stir dressing and pecans into salad.
If you don’t want to make the dressing, just use purchased coleslaw dressing.

Onions, the greens are still good so chop them up and add into scrambled eggs, a salad or a spagetti sauce.

Red Salad Bowl Lettuce - One of the most beautiful leaf lettuce heads we grow. It always impresses me with its looks and taste. Yummy

Snap Peas - Many CSA's do not offer peas as a part of the share due to the time commitment of harvesting them but we really like them and want to share with our members. Just snap off the stem end and eat them, pod and all. This variety is called Super Sugar Snap and they are sweet and tasty.

Summer Squash - Our summer squash is just starting to ripen and the large shares got to enjoy the first of the season's harvest. Pictured above is green zucchini, papaya pear and flying saucer. They are great chopped into a salad or added into a stir-fry.

Summer turnip - One of our most asked for vegetables this season, so this week the large shares have 2 and the small shares each got 1. You will notice a few "track" marks on the outside of the turnip, just peel them away and enjoy. Great cooked or eaten raw.

The garden is looking very good this year, things are growing very well and we are quite pleased with everything so far. We still have a few problem areas that are in need of weeding including the rutabagas and the latest planting of carrots but overall we're very happy.

Making time for "life"

2010-07-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

I find it hard not to work all the time, it's a bit of a family trait that has been lovingly passed down. There are always a dozen projects on the go that need my attention but I have decided this summer to try and take time to enjoy the Island's weekend festivals and events and natural beauty like the beach. Yesterday afternoon after a few hours of work on the farm and the babies nap we attended the Kinkora Somerset Festival antique tractor pull and we had a great time. This afternoon after a few hours of tomato trellising and weeding we headed to Lower Bedeque to my grandparents cottage to introduce the boys to the big blue ocean. Jake headed right on in like a trooper and was loving it until a wave started pushing him around. Ben was much more timid but after a few minutes he also was enjoying the warm water. We had a great time. I can't wait to take them back.

Third CSA Pick-up

2010-07-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

It was a hot hot hot harvest day today here on the farm. The black flies were so bad that I had to wear bug pants and jacket and it felt like I was breathing through a plastic bag. I had been lucky the last two weeks that the harvest days ended up being cloudy and cooler so I didn't need to worry about the veggies wilting but today with the high heat and sun out in full strength it wasn't taking long for the freshly harvested vegetables to start wilting. So there was alot of running around from the field to the wash station to cool the veggies right away and then directly into the cooler to try and retain the fresh qualities that we require for veggie pick-up day. This weeks share includes: lettuce head, baby beets, baby carrots, arugula, tatsoi, onions, cilantro, kale, radish and spinach.

Sweet, summer onions

Baby beets

Farm fresh baby carrots

Kale

Boston Bib Lettuce

Zucchini are in full blossom

View of the growing garden

Recipe Ideas

Spinach Strawberry Salad
4 cups packed torn fresh spinach
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
½ cup finely diced red onion
¼ cup slivered almonds
½ cup grated mozzarella cheese
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Curry Salad Dressing
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon curry
In a large salad bowl, toss together the spinach, strawberries, mushrooms, onion and almonds.
In a jar with a tight fitting lid, combine the dressing ingredients: shake well. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top and serve immediately. Serves 4.
The dressing is tangy. If you prefer a milder one, raspberry vinaigrette or poppy seed would work well.

Fresh Beet and Cilantro Salad

One bunch of beets
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
Juice of one lemon
1 garlic clove or 2 scapes, chopped
¼ cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar shopping list

Directions
Wash beets and slice. Place sliced beets in pot, add enough water to cover. Add sugar and salt and allow to come to a boil. Reduce heat and cook on a medium simmer until they are just fork tender – between 5 -10 minutes depending upon how thickly sliced the beets are. Drain.
Place cooked beets into bowl and cool completely in the refrigerator. Once chilled, take out and add lemon juice, chopped garlic, chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, vinegar and stir till combined. Add additional salt if necessary and serve. Keeps well in fridge.

Pasta with Greens and Feta

olive oil
2 chopped onions
2-3 cups (packed) greens (kale, spinach, tatsoi or any combination thereof), coarsely chopped
penne, shells
feta cheese, crumbled
pepper, salt and parmesan cheese to taste

Heat olive oil and cook onions over med. heat for 10 minutes. Add greens, stir until greens begin to wilt. Cover and cook 10 to 15 minutes on medium heat. Cook pasta, drain, then add along with feta to the sautéed greens. Mix to combine, season with salt* and pepper to taste, then serve hot accompanied by parmesan cheese.

*the feta is salty already, so you may not need additional salt

The arugula can be a "i love it" or an "i hate it" green. It can be quite spicy and is best mixed with other greens like lettuce or spinach or one of our favourites, served on barbecue steak.

2nd CSA Pick-up

2010-07-06T16:25:00.000-07:00

I just got home from the second Charlottetown CSA pick-up. I really enjoy the pick-ups, getting to see everyone and chatting about their favourite and not so favourite vegetables. The grab box got a lot of use today, switching beet greens for chard, onions for chinese cabbage, radish for turnip and so on.

This weeks shares included lettuce mix, spinach, Chinese cabbage, Joi Choi, summer turnip, green onions, strawberries, red radish, beet greens, swiss chard and strawberries. The large and the small share do not always have the same items, we try to mix it up a bit every week to keep from getting the same things every week. The grab box works well that way as people can swap otherwise unwanted veggies for those which they know they would enjoy.

Most of the strawberries in the shares this week are from Hughes Hills Farms in Kelly's Cross. I picked them yesterday for the Charlottetown shares and will be picking on Thursday for the Summerside shares. I thought our strawberry patch would be fine for another year of picking but I'm afraid the dear old patch has come to an end. The berries that are there are very small and seedy, I picked for over an hour and only got 6 boxes and that was from 8 rows, so needless to say it was slow going. I had planted new plants last year but we had to get our septic system replaced and the construction machinery that was here basically drove over all our plants and killed them, what a bummer!!! So off I drove to Gary and Kelly's organic strawberry patch and picked away the remaining boxes that I needed for today's pick-up. Gary and Kelly Hughes grow certified organic strawberry's and they have a u-pick so if your looking for more berries they have a great patch with o-so tasty berries. Normally the philosophy of a CSA is to share with the members only the produce and fruits which you have ready at that time, but since Strawberries were on our original list and I know people love them, so I decided to bend the philosophy a bit to be able to have strawberries, even if it is only for 1 week.

Recipe Ideas

Mushroom, Mustard Swiss Chard
2-½ Tbsp olive oil
1 large bunch green onions, chopped
2 cloves, garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp plain or Dijon mustard
½ lb mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch Swiss chard, finely shredded, including stems

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Sauté the green onions and garlic for 2 minutes until softened and tender. Add mushrooms and cook 4 – 5 minutes more. Add the chard, cover and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, or until chard is tender but still crisp. Mix in mustard and heat 1 to 2 minutes more. Stir and serve immediately.

Lori's Joi Choi stir-fry
"put about 2 TB of olive oil in a skillet and heat. chop choi roughly and add to the hot pan. Stir fry for a few minutes, until just the choi is tender. Remove from heat. Add a good splash of soy sauce and a few drop of sesame oil and serve. So good!"

Summer turnip
Summer turnip is really nice eaten raw or you can also steam or boil until soft. It is very similar to the fall rutabaga's we eat just a little sweeter and much prettier.

Spinach
Add sliced strawberries, toasted almonds, sliced green onions, cubed feta or goat cheese to a plate of spinach and lettuce mix and voila, an instant supper masterpiece

Beet Greens
The beet greens are getting on the large size so you will want to cut away the stems from the greens. Some bunches had some tiny beets there so you might be lucky enough to have some baby beets for supper as well.

Farm News
Things are going very well here on the farm, we had our first CSA open farm day on Saturday and it was great to see everyone who came out. We are looking forward to hosting at least 1 open farm day per month. The weeds are pretty much in control except for the top section which is currently under attack by cornspurry and pig weed. I started the daunting task of hand weeding the beets today after harvesting for the CSA and the weeds are thick!!!! But with a little elbow grease and hopefully the babies nap well I should be able to get the worst of it cleaned up this week.

The peas are just starting to flower which is very exciting news for pea lovers, we have both snow and snap peas, yum. The potatoes are looking awesome this year and the superiors are flowering and are looking like in a few weeks we will be able to include them in the boxes. The early carrots (Nelson, Napoli and Morkum) are all looking really good and I enjoy snacking on the odd carrot that I find big enough to munch on.

Hope this finds you well and eating your greens!!