CSA Spring Share 2014 - Week #1 (8 October/10-11 October)
/
FIRST WEEK OF THE SPRING SHARE AND OUR 2014-2015 CSA! Here we go...your first box of farm fresh vegetables! If you have any questions about the CSA or about What's in your box, please email us at petercarlyon@gmail.com or ring us on 5988-5287.
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. We envisage that many of the vegetables you are receiving this week will last for two weeks with careful attention to storing upon arrival. Although we do wash all the greens after harvest, we are washing to take the heat out of the plants and wash away some surface dirt, not to prepare them for consumption. We also spray a seaweed/herb brew about every ten days. While this will not harm you, it does have a taste. We do suggest washing your produce prior to eating.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX The following are the items harvested this 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 endeavor to divide the harvest fairly. 1/4 share: 5-7 items 1/2 share: 8-10 items Full Share: 10-12 items
Broad Bean Tops Broccoli Fennel Kale Bouquet Lettuce Parsley Pumpkin Radishes Rocket Baby Silver Beet
Extras Artichokes Broad Beans Cauliflower Lettuce Rhubarb
NOTES ON WHAT IS GROWING So much to share about what's growing...Spring! Even while many of the Summer and Autumn harvested crops are being planted this month, the food ready for harvest now are those crops that do not mind growing during cold nights and in cold soil...GREENS!. You will notice lots of greens in the boxes for the first three weeks.
We do have carrots and beet root up and growing. The last of our overwintered root crops were dug last week. The carrots go to seed at this time of year, making their root very woody. Our Spring sown carrots are still 3-4 weeks away from harvest. We just sowed our third planting though. Root crops that like cool soil and nights are radishes and turnips. We have Japanese Turnips coming on and a few plantings of radishes. The beet root are the size of a twenty cent piece so expect bunches of baby beetroot in the next few weeks.
We planted peas in mid July, hoping to have them by the first week in October. They are flowering now and forming pods but still maybe three weeks away from harvesting. Our late winter planted broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower are continuing to grow well with the first signs of broccoli heads visible. We hope to begin harvesting it in three-four weeks. Our Autumn kale planting is beginning to go to seed, signaling the end of its producing. We have planted another crop for Spring.
Two years in a row, we have over wintered cauliflower, harvesting heads the second week in October. This year, the majority of the heads were ready for harvest the third week in September. The crop has now finished with the last few heads making it into a few of the full share boxes. Until the Spring planted cauliflower is ready, there will be no more cauliflower.
We have been trying to build our asparagus patch and our rhubarb plantings so that we can include these items in the Spring boxes. The asparagus crop is three years old this season. I thought there would be heaps of asparagus, as we have planted 200 plants. While there is some, there is not enough to harvest for the boxes. We will have to wait until next year for this wonderful Spring crop.
Rhubarb is another long lived perennial which we planted two years ago. The plants are growing really well. There was enough this week for the full share boxes. We have more plants to add to the field in hopes to have enough for all the boxes in a few years time.
We have had an infestation this year of a mite called red legged earth mite. This mite has changed the way we manage our green manure crops and impacted our first pea crop. I would like to write a post about it and share photos. If you are not already on our mailing list, you can join on our website.
RECIPE SUGGESTIONS Fennel and Radish Salad Steamed Artichokes Simple Broad Beans Broad Bean Tops White Bean and Roasted Fennel Warm Dip Broad Bean and Quinoa Salad Kale Chips Rhubarb Cake
There are many more recipes on our recipe page. Search under the key ingredients listed in the side bar on the right.
Please note - Photo is of a full share box with the addition of a whole pumpkin instead of the 1/3 of a pumpkin which is in the box. The whole pumpkin looked pretty! It also includes two of the rotated items. The randomly selected box only included one.
