WHAT’S IN THE BOX The following are the items being harvested this coming week. Items and quantities in your box may vary depending on your harvest day and the total harvest of each crop. The boxes are completely governed by what is ripe and ready for harvest and how much of it there is. We endeavour to divide the harvest fairly.

NOTES ON STORING THE HARVEST Please check out our Vegetable & Fruit page on the website to find tips on maximizing the life of your veggies.

NOTES ON THE SHARE Beetroot - Harvesting 'Detroit Red', 'Bulls Blood' and some 'Golden Detroit'. Broccoli – Another of our broccoli plantings became ready for harvest last week...hence the surplus in last weeks boxes. This week we will be checking for side shoots and waiting for the next planting to head up which may be in two weeks. We hope to get some side shoots in all the boxes. There may be green cabbage moth caterpillars...although we have only seen a few while harvesting. We have seen aphids, though and are trying to not harvest those heads. If you do spy them, you can submerse the head in a salty water (cover the heads with a plate to keep them under.) The aphids usually float up. If the aphids do take over the plantings, we will be tilling them in. Capsicum – We are continuing to find a few red capsicums. We have been putting these into boxes and will continue as they start to turn red. Just leave them out on the counter and they will turn completely red in a matter of days. Carrots – Big bunches of mixed baby carrots. You can roast or steam these whole. Varieties include 'Atomic Red', 'Deep Purple' and 'Solar Yellow'. Cauliflower - The plantings of 'Green Macerata' and 'Sicily Purple' cauliflower are beginning to produce heads ready for harvest. These plantings are not coming on uniformly so we are uncertain how many heads will be ready each week. We are keeping a list of who has received one and who has not. Expect a head over the next three to four weeks. Celery – 'Tall Utah' Chillies - We will include chillies in your box if you request them. Please email us if you would like them. Garlic – As we come to the end of this seasons shares, we are cleaning out the garlic we have. Three of four bulbs in every box. Kale - 'Nero di Toscana' and 'Dwarf Blue Curled' - Bunch in every box Parsnips - 'Hollow Crown'. Peas - We have started harvesting 'Oregon Giant' Snow Peas. We are uncertain of what the first harvest will be. If you do not receive some this week, expect some over the next three weeks. Pumpkin – 'Hercules Butternut' or 'Queensland Blue'. Red Onions - 'California Red'... again we do not want to store onions over the winter. So your share will include some extras. Baby Silver beet - 'Red Ruby'. This is a lovely alternative to lettuce as a green under roasted vegetable, a great addition to soups or just lightly steamed. Sweet Corn - There is a small amount of sweet corn ready for harvest. There is a final planting that Peter thinks will ripen. So if you do not receive some this week, we hope you will i the next few weeks. Watermelon - We have found a few watermelon hiding in the grass...enough for the full shares. Truly the end of the season now!!

NOTES ON WHAT'S GROWING Crops are greatly effected by daylight. Our daylight hours have reduced to 11.5 from 16 during the summer. We see this as growth slowing down...and then just stopping. It is not only the cold, that slows them. It is the daylight. As growers, we try and time the seeding of the crops, taking this into account. Sometimes we have a crop, ready to harvest, which will just slow down. Sometimes we have that crop ready, and then the days heat up and the crop pushes on. Sometimes, the crop is just lagging behind. We are currently waiting and watching all we have planted. As the day length approaches 10 hours, nothing will grow anymore. And so we wait and watch and hope that all that is planted will either hold on or finish ripening.

SEASONAL EATING - SHARING INSPIRATION Please keep sharing your inspirations. As we really shift away from the light hungry, heat loving plants, I feel grateful to have had a summer harvest which blessed us with pumpkins, beans, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn - Which made the soil warm enough to grow our root crops for harvesting through the winter - and compost still rotting with the warmth. True seasonal eating has lost its definition, due partly to the fact that the grocery stores and fruit and vegetable shops seem to have everything, all the time. It is great to be a part of the re-awakening of eating with the season and I am enjoying compiling what that looks like for so many different families. So, please, delight us with your fig delicacies, your kale chips, your silver beet stews and your pumpkin, spinach and ricotta lasagnas!

RECIPE SUGGESTIONS Pumpkin and Autumn Green Cannelloni Delicious Hearty Pumpkin Soup Kale Chips Lentils, Monastery style Green Bean Salad - Try substituting broccoli for green beans and from Martha Stewart this delicious Celery, Fig and Gorganzola Salad

You can find more recipes by searching key ingredients on our website recipe page.