CSA SPRING SHARE WEEK #9 The garlic is in the shed! More news below.

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 itemsRed Bok Choy – Nice size heads of red bok choy On the ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) chart, bok choy rates 865, over 300 points higher then broccoli! Broccoli Carrots – Bunches of mixed heirloom carrots. Garlic – Planted last April and nurtured through the Winter, our garlic has been harvested! Kale Lettuce – Two heads this week. Onions – They are spicy and pungent. Parsley Spinach – Lovely young English spinach. Zucchini– The plants produced a great number for Wednesday's boxes and we are hoping the same for Friday. The warmer weather speeds them along.Extras Romanesco Broccoli – These are best cooked more like a cauliflower then a broccoli. They do not have the size of the Autumn heads. Basil - Bunches of the first basil. Our first planting was killed in the frost Cucumber – YES, the season has begun. Squash

NOTES ON WHAT IS GROWING

Happy Summer!We harvested our garlic crop last week. The shed smells amazing! We will start putting the smaller bulbs in the boxes first as these do not store as well as the larger. The bulbs are still not completely dry and they can bruise. Enjoy this new season bio-dynamic garlic! The flavour intensifies as it dries.We also experimented with growing some warmer climate onions. This week you have ‘Red Creole’ and next week the sweet ‘Texas Early’. ‘Texas Early’ is a sweeter variety quite like the ‘Vidalia’ onions I ate as a child in the Southern United States. ‘Red Creole’ is spicy and pungent - great for stir fries and cajun cooking.

The hot night on Sunday caused two lettuce plantings to be ready at the same time. So extra lettuce this week. The heat also makes the weeds grow faster so we are busy trying to keep crops from getting overrun with weeds. The last melon crop and the watermelon crop are in the ground, happy with the heat. There are the beginnings of capsicums on the plants and also tomatoes on the field tomato plants.

The tomatoes in the poly-tunnel are growing well...no sign of colour yet but they are not far off. The first cucumbers were harvested today with the plants filled with lots of little ones. It takes a little time for the plants to start producing lots of fruit but they are well on their way.We hope to put some new photos on our internet site so that you can see how the farm is growing. Next week we should have another crop of fennel ready. The peas are finished now for awhile we wait for the planting we had to resow to start to flower. There will be more beetroot next week too.RECIPE SUGGESTIONS Grilled Zucchini - These are delicious on top the Ceasar Salad (recipe below) or mixed with the English Spinach, olives and semi dried tomatoes. Bok Choy and Tofu Stir Fry Ceasar Salad Bok Choy Salad

You can search our recipes by looking for the key ingredients on our website recipe page.

Please note - Photo is a randomly selected full share box.