CSA Summer Share 2012-2013 - Week #5 (29 December- 3 January)

WHAT’S IN THE BOXThe following are the items in your box this coming week.  Some items and quantities may vary depending on your harvest day.  The photo is the full share on Saturday.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! We send you our best wishes for a enjoyable and peaceful 2013 and thank you for your support of our farm.

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 Basil - Small bunch in every box. Bok Choy – Medium size bok choy 'White Stem' and 'Red'. Capsicum - 'Purple Beauty', 'Emerald Giant' and 'Corno di Toro'. Carrots – Mixture of ‘Scarlett Nantes’, ‘Cosmic Purple’ and ‘Red Core Chatenay’. The carrots are growing into longer medium size carrots. Cauliflower/ Broccoli / Cabbage – Some boxes are receiving cauliflower, some broccoli and some cabbage depending on the harvest. Chilli - 'Hungarian Hot Wax', 'Pimiento de Padron' and 'Cayenne Long Thin'. We leave the chillies loose but the 'Padrons' we put into a bag and you get enough to make a tapas dish.  These delightful  "sometimes hot, sometimes not peppers" are a great starter. Coriander - Small bunch in every box. Cucumbers – We are growing long cucumbers and short cucumbers.  The shorter are sweeter and apparently "burpless".  This week each box should receive two/three  cucumbers. Dill - Small bunch in every box. Garlic – One clove in every box. We have begun to clean the garlic and sort out our seed garlic for next year.  The remainder of the harvest will be divided into the summer and autumn share boxes. Bush Beans – The harvest has started with the varieties this week include 'Cherokee Wax' a yellow bush bean, 'Simba' and 'Strike' which are both green. Lettuce – 'Buttercrunch' and 'Parris Island Cos' (in the full share). Onions - The onions this week are 'Red Burgundy'. Slightly sweet and very beautiful. Parsley –  'Italian Plain Leaf' Potatoes – The past week we have been moving through the 'Cranberry Red' variety and into the 'Desiree'.  Both are red skin.  The cranberry red remains red even when cooked. Shelling Peas – 'Green Feast' is the variety.  The natural sugar in peas begins turning to starch immediately after picking.  So try and eat your peas in the first days of receiving your box. We love the shelling process - sitting with a friend, your children and a cup of tea and sharing the day while you prepare the meal. These are so sweet they barely need cooking (steam for three minutes) or just put them raw into your salad...if they even make it past the table.  The peas have started to succumb to powdery mildew which is very normal.  They do not like the hot, humid conditions that summer brings. We will attempt to continue picking the peas that remain until the mildew damages the actual peas. It is just come onto the foliage of the last pea planting for this season. Spinach – English spinach 'Long Standing Bloomsdale' or a bunching variety 'Sharaku'. Squash – The variety is 'Jaune Et Verte' but in Vermont we just called them Patty Pans.  These are delightful summer squash if picked when young.  We have added a recipe for them and will get them into everyone's boxes throughout the season. They are small, round with scallop edges and a light green colour.  Really lovely baked! Zucchini– Zucchini this week includes 'Nero di Milano' and 'Romanesco' - two/three in every box.

NOTES ON THE SHARES We are moving between crops and between plantings of the same crops. We think there will be a variation between the Saturday, Tuesday and Thursdays boxes.  As we assemble the boxes from the harvest, we try to ensure that within each box there are at least 10 items (not including herbs) in half share or full share quantities.  This means that someone may receive peas while someone else might receive beans.  We do record what everyone receives to try and ensure everyone gets everything.  Items such as 'Pimiento de Padrons' or the 'Jaune Et Verte' squash we rotate through the boxes so that everyone will get to try them.

NOTES ON WHAT'S GROWING The cherry tomatoes have started to change colour and will be making it into the boxes soon.  The corn is beginning to flower with ears just forming.  We expected to have the celery by now but it is a really long season crop, loving water and compost.  We noticed last year that the longer it stays in the ground, the taller it becomes and also the juicier.  It is still very stringy right now but we will keep trying it every week. We will begin harvesting yellow beans this week and have moved into another planting of green one.  The purple climbing beans are about 2cm long and growing.  We are entering into what we hope will be a nice long season of beans!

RECIPE SUGGESTIONS As this is the season for entertaining, we tried to find a variety of finger food recipes.

Vegetable Pakoras is a recipe donation from Paul Dempsey.  Paul and Lisa Dempsey are the faces behind Big Blue Backyard, a local, secluded, award winning, ocean beach hideaway for couples. Designed to blend into the natural environment, this unique retreat sits perfectly between the dunes abutting the National Park at wild and often deserted St Andrews Beach. Paul is a wonderfully diverse chef who draws his inspiration from the ingredients presented to him each week.  The meals served to guests are unique, exquisite and seasonal with ingredients sourced locally.

Other recipe suggestions for the week are: Spinach and Feta Triangles Spinach, Herb and Goats Cheese Tartlets Southeast Asian Fish Rolls served with an Asian Cucumber Condiment Blue Cheese, Proscuitto and Rocket Bruschetta and Zucchini Ribbon Salad with Greens, Sundried Tomatoes and Feta Cheese

You can also search by key ingredient on our website recipe page for many more ideas.

CSA Summer Share 2012-2013 - Week #4 (22-28 December)

WHAT’S IN THE BOX The following are the items in your box this coming week.  Some items and quantities may vary depending on your harvest day.  The photo is of the full share.

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 – An assorted bunch. Bok Choy – Medium size bok choy 'White Stem'. Carrots – Mixture of ‘Scarlett Nantes’, ‘Cosmic Purple’ and ‘Red Core Chatenay’. The carrots are growing into longer medium size carrots. Cauliflower – Some boxes are receiving cauliflower, some broccoli and some cabbage depending on the harvest. We have both white and purple cauliflower. The purple does change  when it is cooked, so enjoy it raw to really enjoy its delicate purple/green colour. Cucumbers – The first cucumbers are from the main vine of the plant.  Cucumbers are very proficient viners, though, and soon every side vine is producing a profusion of cucumbers.  At this stage, only the main vine is fruiting so we are not quite at the glut of cucumber stage. We are growing long cucumbers and short cucumbers.  The shorter are sweeter and apparently "burpless".  This week each box will receive one or two cucumbers but we hope as the harvest increases you will receive more. Garlic – One clove in every box. We have begun to clean the garlic and sort out our seed garlic for next year.  The remainder of the harvest will be divided into the summer and autumn share boxes. Green Beans – The harvest has started with the variety this week being 'Strike'. Lettuce – 'Green Mignonette' and 'Parris Island Cos'. Each share is receiving an extra lettuce this week as we have extra.  Thursday deliveries received their extra last Thursday. Parsley –  'Italian Plain Leaf' Potatoes – The past week we have been moving through the last of the first planting of 'Nicola' and into the 'Royal Blue'.  These have blue skins and yellow insides. We have had these roasted, mashed and steamed. Rosemary – Small bunch in every box. Use for your Christmas roast or with roasted veggies. Shelling Peas – The peas are ready! 'Green Feast' is the variety.  The natural sugar in peas begins turning to starch immediately after picking.  So try and eat your peas in the first days of receiving your box. We love the shelling process - sitting with a friend, your children and a cup of tea and sharing the day while you prepare the meal. These are so sweet they barely need cooking (steam for three minutes) or just put them raw into your salad...if they even make it past the table. Sugar Snap Peas – The 'Sugar Anns' are coming to an end. We will continue to harvest what is there and divide it between the boxes.  You may receive green beans or sugar snaps. Spinach – This was seed sold as summer spinach.  I was surprised when I opened the seed packet as the seed looked like silverbeet.  I planted it though to see what it was like and how it worked in our climate.  'Perpetual Gator' is a silverbeet. We are harvesting the whole plant when it is flavourful and delicate...good enough to eat raw and definitely worth mixing into a salad.  The leaves are tangy. It works well in cooked dishes as well.  We have had it in tarts with spring onions and feta cheese and also mixed it into a stir fry at the very end. We are harvesting the last of 'Perpetual Gator' and moving into English spinach 'Long Standing Bloomsdale'. Spring Onions – We are thinning direct seeded red onions and bunching these.  Once the plantings are thinned, we will have green onions 'White Lisbon'. Squash – The variety is 'Jaune Et Verte' but in Vermont we just called them Patty Pans.  These are delightful summer squash if picked when young.  We have added a recipe for them and will get them into everyone's boxes throughout the season. They are small, round with scallop edges and a light green colour.  Really lovely baked! Thyme – Bunch in every box. Zucchini – Medium zucchini this week. The plants are still just beginning to produce so there is not an abundance of zucchini...yet!

NOTES ON THE SHARES We photographed the full share this week. There are 12 different items in the full share this week not including three different herbs and garlic. We estimate that the full share contains about 60% more produce then the half share and will feed a family of four.  We appreciate all who have responded to the survey. Although it may seem a bit early for a survey, the vegetables that we are growing take anywhere from 25 to 180 days to ripen from seed. We are planting new seed every week. We felt it was better to be able to alter or vary things based on feedback so that the crops you receive in mid to late January more accurately reflect what you would like to be receiving. Please email through any feedback or other crop suggestions. NOTES ON WHAT'S GROWING Crops that are starting to ripen which will begin to appear in your boxes in the coming weeks are cherry and roma tomatoes, capsicum, sweet corn, celery, climbing purple beans, yellow beans, leeks and onions and red cabbage.  We will keep putting photos of the developing crops on the website.

RECIPE SUGGESTIONS This week we have a recipe donation from Baxter at Palate Earth.  Yoga in the Park has begun all over the Mornington Peninsula…and has spread to Silver Sands, SA as well!  Baxter will be leading yoga classes in the Sorrento park, behind the Hotham Police station each morning from 8-9 and then starting 27 December 7.30-8.30 + 9-10am.  Yoga in the Park is also happening in Mt Martha, Somers, Flinders, and Mornington.  Free range, organic yoga for all ages and stages! Cleansing Green Drink

Other recipe suggestions for the week are: Spinach and Chicken Curry Bok Choy Salad Roasted Potatoes, Beetroot and Carrots

You can also search by key ingredient on our website recipe page for many more ideas.

Blossoms and Bees

Day length and bees...as we approach the summer solstice and spring farming is slowly moving into summer farming, my thoughts drift back to day light and bees. Many of the typical summer crops begin as flowers - tomatoes, capsicums, beans, peas, eggplant, cucumbers, pumpkins, and zucchini, to name a few.  Fruit as well with apple, pear, cherry, plum, peach, nectarine, apricots, strawberries, raspberries, and many more blossoms that through pollination start to become fruit.  Each year I marvel as to how those flowers move from buds to blossoms to itty bitty fruits and then grow into the crops we harvest and eat.

Some flowers are self fertile - they contain both the male and female part and can be pollinated just with wind.  Tomatoes, capsicum, eggplant, peas, beans fall into this class.

For the zucchini, pumpkins, cucumbers and melons, though, each plant has a profusion of male and female flowers.  Without bees to visit the male flower and then the female flower and distribute to pollinating pollen, the fruit that clings to the female flower turns yellow and falls off.  Humans could hand pollinate every fruit and seed savers do this to ensure a seed true to the variety.  But as a farmer I think why spend my time doing a job when bees are far more efficient.  Isn't it amazing though to think that each zucchini, cucumber and pumpkin we eat has been made through the efforts of a bee!!

There has been a profusion of growth in the past weeks.

The daylight always amazes me at this time of year...16 hours of it.  The birds are so busy everywhere.  And the onions have received the earth's message to bulb up!  Onions are very sensitive to light and each variety responds to a different number of daylight hours.  Once that magic number is reached, they turn their energy towards making a big bulb as opposed to growing more leaves.  Another amazing plant fact!  The onions that bulb in Queensland need fewer daylight hours then the ones here in Victoria because our early summer days are longer.

We have settled into a nice rhythm of harvesting, weeding, seeding and planting while still fitting in weekly seaweed applications and biodynamic sprays.  We may apply 500 in the summer but the one last week may be our last until autumn.  I am never sure and we are eager to really kick start the new land.  We will continue to apply 501, with another application to boost plant health happening Saturday morning.  501 is ground quartz crystal.  It helps the plant's ability to use light, helps plants with the uptake of minerals and also helps plants to repel fungal infections.  With the humid moisture in the past weeks, we have been making herb brews to help coat the plants leaves with silica so that the increase in moisture does not bring an increase in diseases like powdery mildew and blights.

We wrote a post about our new packing shed.  The shed was completed the day before our open day and it has been invaluable to ensuring all the produce grown arrives to members in the freshest condition.

Happy Summer Solstice!  May light and peace fill you and your families in the New Year.

The happenings in the shed

We are busy planting and harvesting food on the land we recently bought at the back of our farm. We are really happy with how everything has been coming along - and especially happy to have a place out of the sun, the rain and the wind to wash and pack all the produce that we are harvesting each week for the CSA boxes. Here is a picture walk through the building and then filling of our new farm shed...

It is wonderful to have a space to bring the harvest, shade to wash, bunch and store it and cool space to pack the boxes so that everything arrives to our members as fresh as can be.

We are really enjoying the Saturday morning pick ups, gathering in the shed and chatting while children have fun in the crate cubby houses, swing and play in the sprinklers.  With the garlic everywhere drying, the shed smells fantastic.

Thank you to all the people who lent a hand: Colin, Alan, Lionel, Woodsie and the crew from Shepparton, Chris, Greg, and Justin.

CSA Summer Share 2012-2013 - Week #3 (15-21December)

WHAT’S IN THE BOX The following are the items in your box this coming week.  Some items and quantities may vary depending on your harvest day. Photo is a half share box.

NOTES ON STORING THE HARVEST Unlike produce in markets, our vegetables are harvested as close to delivery time as we think is possible to ensure that they arrive to you fresh and full of vibrancy.  That being said, in order to keep that quality, proper storage is required.  We have experimented storing all of the items we put into your box  to try and work out the best way to store them in a home environment to preserve the freshness.  If you have had any problems with storing your vegetables, or encounter a new vegetable and are unsure how to best store it, please check out our Vegetable & Fruit page on the website to find tips on maximizing the life of your veggies.

NOTES ON THE SHARE Basil – Bunch in every box.  Still not enough for a "proper" pesto but I have added a recipe for a quick, unblended pesto pasta salad that children and adults love. Perfect for beach dinners. Coriander - A bunch in every box Baby Carrots – Extra big bunch. Mixture of ‘Scarlett Nantes’, ‘Cosmic Purple’ and ‘Red Core Chatenay’. The carrots are growing into longer medium size carrots. Cucumbers – Yes...a late addition which surprised us...and missed the picture.  The cucumbers are here!  Several different varieties which will have their own post. Fennel – Lovely as a raw salad or braised. This is the last week of fennel for awhile so pick your favourite way to eat it and enjoy! Garlic – One clove in every box. We have begun to clean the garlic and sort out our seed garlic for next year.  The remainder of the harvest will be divided into the summer and autumn share boxes. Green Beans – The harvest has started with the variety this week being 'Strike'. Lettuce – 'Brown Mignonette' for the half shares and 'Brown Mignonette' and 'Parris is Cos' for the whole shares. Parsley –  'Curly Leaf' Shelling Peas – The peas are ready! 'Green Harvest' is the variety.  The natural sugar in peas begins turning to starch immediately after picking.  So try and eat your peas in the first days of receiving your box. Sugar Snap Peas – The first planting of 'Sugar Anns' is almost finished and the second planting is just starting.  there may not be as many sugar snaps this week because of being in between plantings. Spinach – English Spinach this week either bunched or cut.  We bunch the spinach when it looks like the planting will go to seed.  We cut it when we think we might get another harvest. Spring Onions – We are thinning direct seeded red onions and bunching these.  Once the plantings are thinned, we will green onions for the spring onions. Squash – The variety is 'Jaune Et Verte' but in Vermont we just called them Patty Pans.  These are delightful summer squash if picked when young.  We have added a recipe for them and will get them into everyone's boxes throughout the season. They are small, round with scallop edges and a light green colour.  Really lovely baked! Potatoes – We are finishing the first planting of 'Nicola' and moving into the 'Royal Blue'.  These have blue skins and yellow insides. Zucchini – Although the plants have slowed down a bit with the cooler weather, we hope all boxes will receive more small to medium zucchini this week.

NOTES ON WHAT'S GROWING I have taken photos of most things growing on the farm and will be posting them on our website on Saturday.  Some of the climbing beans are as tall as we are now and the corn is up to my chest.  We have other cauliflower plantings which are looking like they might head up...so there may be surprise heads of cauliflower in boxes throughout the next few weeks.  We did alot of seeding in the past ten days and everything has germinated really well!  More mesclun, rocket, spinach and radishes and extra plantings of basil, beetroot, and carrots.  We have also begun the seeding for the Autumn Share...already! We can not say when the green tomatoes will begin to colour but the plants look good and healthy and there are lots of tomatoes.  There are also already baby capsicums and loads of flowers on the eggplant.  Our fruit trees are loaded with fruit this year!  We have been enjoying peaches,  loquots, raspberries and strawberries.

RECIPE SUGGESTIONS Recipe suggestions for the week are: Mango Salsa Zucchini Salad with Mint, Garlic, Chilli, Lemon and Extra Virgin Olive Oil Quick Pesto Pasta Spinach and Feta Pie Baked Patty Pan Squash

You can also search by key ingredient on our website recipe page for many more ideas.

CSA Summer Share 2012-2013 - Week #2 (8-14 December)

WHAT’S IN THE BOX The following are the items in your box this coming week.  Some items and quantities may vary depending on your harvest day. Check out our Vegetable & Fruit page on the website to find tips on maximizing the life of your veggies.

NOTES ON THE SHARE Beetroot – Perfect for raw eating, sliced on a mandoline or grated, steaming whole or in quarters and/or roasted.  Each bunch has a mixture of ‘Ruby Queen’ and 'Cylindra'. The young tops can also be mixed into a salad! Cabbage - 1/2 head of cabbage Corriander - A bunch in every box Baby Carrots – Extra big bunch. Mixture of ‘Scarlett Nantes’, ‘Cosmic Purple’ and ‘Red Core Chatenay’. These are beautiful and young and just need a light scrub. Fennel – The variety is '4 Seasons'...lovely as a raw salad or braised! Garlic – All boxes will have two cloves of freshly harvested garlic. Golden Beetroot – We have included one of these lovely beetroots. They are wonderful raw, cut into matchsticks and tossed with the salad or dipped into the beetroot dip below. Mesclun – We immerse the greens in very cold water and then spin them dry. You should still wash and spin before consuming.  More on that below... Parsley –  'Flat Leaf Italian' Spring Onions – One bunch per box. Sugar Snap Peas – We will dividing the harvest of 'Sugar Anns' this week. The shelling peas are still very skinny.  Hopefully next week. Potatoes – Red Skin 'Pontiac' or white skin 'Dutch Cream'. Steam them with butter or quickly boil for a beautiful potato salad. Radish - 'Plum Purple'  These will be in Saturday 1/2 share boxes and Thursday boxes.  Saturday full share boxes will have a large bunch of spinach. Rosemary – A bunch in every box. Tatsoi – A tender Asian green lovely in a stir-fry or raw in an Asian salad. Zucchini - We have begun harvesting zucchini!!...I am sure the excitement might end, but I really do love zucchini and they are only here for four-five months out of the year.  These are small to medium size, delicate zucchini - some still with their flowers attached.  If you have never tried a raw zucchini, this is the week to try one! The flowers are edible and very tasty as well.

NOTES ON WHAT'S GROWING We apply weekly seaweed applications.  The plants love the seaweed and we really coat them with it.  We do not wash everything that is in the box.  The seaweed will not hurt you if you eat it, but it will change the flavour of whatever you are eating.  We recommend rinsing everything.

We have certainly appreciated the rain in the past week and were very happy to have harvested all the garlic before it began.  The climbing beans are climbing.  There are tiny green beans, cucumbers and capsicums growing.  The red cabbage has thrived in the cool weather.  We have planted successive plantings of rocket, spinach, bok choy and mesclun to try and catch the gap felt by the heat wave.

BEING PART OF A CSA All of you  are members of a CSA.  I know that does not mean much to most Australians, but it should.  You are supporting sustainable farming, you are supporting the farmers growing your food, and you have say in that whole process!  Please let us know what you think about what is in your box -  How could it be better? - What is great? - What could be improved?  We are growing this food for you and your families.  If there is another vegetable you would like,  a bunch you think should be bigger, please let us know.  This is the difference between community supported agriculture and buying from a market or a supplier.  We, as your farmers, would like to work with you to make a food system that is localised.  We will be sending out a survey this week which we hope will take 5 minutes to complete.  Please do the survey - after you have received your box for the second week.  We also hope that you call or email us with any feedback so that we can communicate with you about produce and what is in your box.

As part of a seasonal CSA, you have invested in this Summer season.  Even though we have divided the invoice into monthly payments (to help with family budgets), we are growing food ALL summer for you, 65 families.  If this service is not suiting you, please let us know now. RECIPE SUGGESTIONS Recipe suggestions for the week are: Thai Curry Paste and Thai Baked Tofu Braised Fennel with White Wine Fennel and Radish Salad Simple Potato Salad with New Potatoes and Spring Onions Beetroot and Cream Cheese Dip

You can also search by key ingredient on our website recipe page for many more ideas.

Garlic

It's garlic harvest time!  We eat alot of it and have been eyeing off the bulking up bulbs for awhile now...ever since our stash from last year ran out in early spring. Australia imports thousands of tonnes of garlic, at least 90% of which comes from China. Chemicals that are banned in Australia are still being used to grow garlic overseas. Chinese imported garlic is gamma irradiated to prevent sprouting and is also sprayed with Maleic Hydrazide to extend shelf life. All imported garlic is fumigated with Methyl Bromide by quarantine at the docks because this kills everything and quarantine have an obligation to do that. Is local, biodynamically grown garlic sounding appetizing?

Garlic is in the ground a long time -  we planted this crop last March.

With regular weeding and watering, as soon as the days start growing longer, the bulbs start getting fatter.  We grew mostly "Australian White", which is a soft neck garlic and does not send up a scape.  But we did plant about 300 hard neck garlic and are very excited to be putting garlic scapes in the box this week.

We use the garlic scapes in everything from dips to stir fries to calzones!  Their flavour is just like garlic...only sweeter.  Lovely raw and cooked!

Our garlic is also biodynamic.  It was planted on a root day in soil amended with biodynamic compost, received monthly applications of 500 throughout the Autumn and Spring, monthly applications of 501 (which helps the plant access minerals in the soil), weekly seaweed sprays and harvested on a root day.  What does all that mean to taste?  Hopefully, the flavour will be that beautiful subtly sweet and pungent flavour fresh garlic has - But more importantly, we hope that the garlic contains all the health giving nutritional benefits it should!

Spreading the word about Community Supported Agriculture

On Saturday I went to the Balnarring Sustainability Fair to spread the word about sustainable farming, the organic “industry” and Community Supported Agriculture.  From the historical inspirations for sustainable farmers, to the industrialisation of agriculture and how it has changed the food we eat, to the CSA movement and the community support necessary to have a local, ecologically, socially and economically sustainable food source, my head was swirling with data and I found it hard to sleep the night before. Peter saved the day in the morning when he said, “Robin, just tell stories.”  So I shoved the speech in my back pocket for luck, and started talking about our beginnings as potato, carrot and raspberry farmers up in the high country during the drought (2001-2003) (photo of our first farm above).  We were very lucky to have the support of some beautiful farmers who spent time “teaching” us how to grow and market our produce.  The farm was a commercial farm and although we tried to not conform to the spray schedule recommended to us, in the end, we could actually see why commercial farmers do spray pesticides and herbicides.  In monoculture farming, the ecological system in place to assist nature in restoring balance is severely hindered.  We simply could not work hard enough to keep up with weeds and the pest infestations ruining the crops. And so we went through the season, spraying and questioning and researching the sprays and being generally horrified by what WE were putting on the food we were growing and going to eat.  When we were told that the market price was high for potatoes and we should spray our plants with ‘Round-Up’ to kill the tops making the potatoes ready to sell, we thought…commercial farmers are the ones who should be regulated and jump through stringent hoops so that their food is certified safe to consume! We choose to wait until the plant died back on its own.

We were really lucky that it was a drought year and we had a ready supply of water.  We did not have to go through the disappointment and financial down fall of growing a crop through its season only to find that the market price did not warrant harvesting the food!  Many farmers face that dilemma and they choose to cut their losses early and till the whole crop in.

I told many more stories but, as I was the one talking, I really do not remember how they all wove together.  By the time I finished, though, there were many people gathered and great conversation ensued about the different ways the community could engage more farmers and the regulations which currently restrict buying local food.  Here is the rest of my research though…and if you get bored, just jump down to the last three paragraphs where I give thanks…and not just for reading my speech…

*********

The industrialization of agriculture followed the industrial revolution.  From highly automated machinery, pesticides and chemically derived fertilizers, hybrid seeds and more recently genetically engineered organisms, food production has the characteristics of other industrial systems.  These changes raise a diverse range of social, environmental and ethical concerns about the future of food systems.

To name a few: farmers have been struggling to produce their food for a profit because in order to produce more food they require more off farm inputs, their soil productivity is decreasing, they require more machinery to plant, maintain and harvest the “more” food, which requires growing even more food to pay their rising debt.  It is a treadmill of industrialization.

In order to use this big machinery, farmers have had to limit their crops to machine friendly monocultures and to homogenise their farmlands by cutting down trees, ripping up hedgerows, laser leveling the soil …essentially ignoring the specific characteristics of each field and completely limiting the food diversity available to the whole ecosystem.

We have gone from being community members to consumers, a group subjected to brand marketing, price wars and the control of our food by global corporations.  The varieties of vegetables that can withstand the mechanization of planting and harvesting, have the “right” genes (to be hardy to grow in a monoculture) and have a long storage life (as it takes awhile to get the food from the field to the “consumer”). They  not only contain only the hint of the taste of what that vegetable used to taste like, it also has been subjected to a barrage of chemicals and possibly genetic engineering which we ingest.  Health concerns such as cancer, attention deficit disorders, food allergies, and Parkinson’s disease, to name a few, have been linked to the chemicals found on “fresh” produce.

Nutrition is a complex science, moving beyond just what nutrients food contains to the process our bodies do to absorb these nutrients.  Some schools of thought within natural medicine hold that the well-being of a plant directly influences the health-giving effects of its fruit.  One thing that can be shown clearly through scientific testing is that the levels of vitamins and minerals in fruit and vegetables can vary dramatically depending on the environmental conditions under which they are grown.  A famous study from the United States found that tomatoes grown in an area with soil rich in organic matter consistently had levels of some nutrients up to ten times higher than those grown in another area with poorer soil and higher fertilizer use.

I optimistically think most of us would like to be able to choose to eat fresh organic produce, grown by farmers who are doing their best to look after the soil, the air and the water resources available to them and farming with ecologically sound practices.  And we think we are supporting those farmers when we BUY ORGANIC.  Unfortunately though, with the rapid rise of the organic food market, the historical roots of the organic agricultural movement have transformed into the organic industry.  Local farmers have been joined by “new” players – supermarkets, governmental departments and food processors to name a few.  The supermarkets are a great example of the social and ecological imbalance of the organic market.  Supermarkets are very good at creating price wars which cheat farmers out of a fair wage for their efforts.  And when the product is sold, it can be trucked thousands of kilometers to its final destination only to be packaged in plastic and styrofoam, labeled and shelved.  It may say organic but the food miles have not only taken away any freshness and created a false sense of “seasonality” it has also left a product which is far from environmentally friendly.

In response to an increasingly globalised food system, and the corresponding social, environmental and health problems which it poses, communities around the world have been developing a different vision for food production and distribution.  Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a concept which encourages local, environmentally sustainable food production, and which supports both farmers and the people eating their food alike.  The CSA concept originated in Switzerland and Japan where people interested in safe food and farmers seeking stable markets for their crops joined together in economic partnerships.  Called “teikei” in Japan, it translates to “food with the farmers face on it”.

CSA is a partnership of mutual commitment between a farm (producer) and a community of supporters which provides a direct social and economic link between the production and consumption of food.  CSA members make a commitment to support the farm throughout the season, and assume the costs, risks and bounty of growing food along with the farmer.  Members help pay for the seed, equipment, labour and other costs.  In return, the farm provides, to the best of its ability, a healthy supply of seasonal produce throughout the growing season.

We are very lucky because here on the Peninsula there are many sustainable farmers selling their products in various ways: farm gate sales, farmer’s markets, on-line delivery services and CSA’s.  We also have an amazing diversity within small distances which offer us a huge range of produce available, a great growing climate and good soil.  We, as a broad community, have the chance to support these local growers by buying local.

***********

And with the speech well received, I returned to our farm to get ready for our first Open Day, a chance for CSA members to see their food growing and meet the people growing it for them.  And a chance for us to meet the people who will be eating the food.  With our packing shed clad just three days before, I sat in the shade, looking out over the new land, waiting for people to arrive and watched as a whistling kite was chased off by a magpie lark.  Even though we have much work to do on the new land, it is already a thriving ecosystem…and it was nice to look out and see all the food growing.

The open day was great.  CSA members, friends and family toured the farm.   They enjoyed seeing the new land and packing shed and the old land and hearing the story about creating and re-awakening agricultural land, trying to jump start an ecologically balanced system and the triumphs and learning experiences of farming.  We talked about biodynamics, pigs and couch grass.  And I slowed down from a mad spring frenzy of working to see all of the food growing and feel so very thankful to the earth and the sun and the rain, for all of their help in making that food grow, and to the wonderful 65 families that we will be feeding this summer, for supporting us as farmers and supporting the concept of community supported agriculture!  Thank you!! We feel truly blessed.

There were many ideas generated from the speech about how other farms could start on the Peninsula.  We would love to see many more small farms growing and feeding our community as well as home gardeners.  We are working to share the knowledge that we are learning about market gardening, home gardening and designing sustainable systems.  A few people talked about donating their land to farmers who wanted to grow food.  We are participating in a great group called Land Share Australia. In their words,Landshare is for people who:

• Want to grow vegetables but don’t have anywhere to do it
• Have a spare bit of land they’re prepared to share
• Can help in some way – from sharing knowledge and lending tools to helping out on the plot itself
• Support the idea of freeing up more land for growing
• Are already growing and want to join in the community

  

Two Weeks Until The Summer Share...What's Growing

It is two weeks until the start of the Summer Share.  Here is a picture walk through the farm of the food as it is growing...

It has been a dry spring...while we need to irrigate more, the fungal threat has been minimal.  It has also been warm and the melons, capsicum and eggplant are loving the extra heat, growing new leaves and recovering well from being moved from the warm greenhouse and planted into the ground.  This year we row covered the eggplant and capsicum, to give them extra heat, especially at night which we hope will help them to have more flowers which means more "fruit".

And bee man Pat O'Neil came and checked on the bee hives.  They are all very healthy with the bees making lots of brood (baby bees) and starting to seal off their honey comb (the bees signal that the honey is ready).

We look forward to telling you more about Pat, the extra hives he is bringing to the farm, his bees and the CSA Honey in another post. We are very excited to have the bees here for all the fruit and vegetables, and the promise of honey produced on the farm for CSA members.

Salad Greens

One of the things we were keen to learn more about on our winter "Farm, friends and family" tour to the United States was salad greens and in particular, mesclun mixes.  Lettuce alone is a wonderful vegetable,  nutrient rich because leaves contain the light-catching, energy-converting machinery of plants. Lettuce contains Vitamin A, Vitamin C, beta-carotene, calcium, folate, fiber, and phytonutrients.  And the different colours of lettuce contain different phytonutrients, unique compounds that are becoming recognized as part of a nutritious diet which promotes long-term health.

Special names for mixed greens are a part of everyday language in France and Italy. For the French, mixed greens are often described under the heading of 'mesclumo'.  This has translated into the 'mesclun' mixtures available in Australia.  The idea is to combine four basic flavour types through a careful mixing of greens: mild, bitter/tart, piquant, and pepper/spicy.  Lettuce provides the mild flavour.  Spinach, tatsoi, rocket, mustards, endives, orach, dandelion, mizuna - These are some of the rich assortment of other "greens" added to the mix to contribute to the other flavours.  These greens also bring a variety of phytonutrients, making the mixture a rich assortment of life sustaining goodies!  And then there is the feast to the eyes as different textures and colours mingle together.

We have been experimenting with combinations and growing techniques.  Our current collection of seeds includes 28 different varieties of greens.  Some are seeded in the field and some in the green house.  Here are the newly germinated babies.

With careful weeding and watering, they grow into a dense stand like this.

And while they are still young and tender, we cut and mix them all together.They are immersed in very cold water to take the heat of the sun and soil away, then spun dry.  Add flowers and a light vinaigrette and you have a very flavourful, nutritiously dense salad.We are hoping to fine tune the growing process so that we can harvest enough to include mesclun in the Summer, Autumn and Spring shares.

French Market Gardens and Heirloom Melon Varieties

"Always tend the smallest amount of land possible, but tend it exceptionally well." - The first principle of success as given by a leading Parisian grower in the 1870's. I have been reading Eliot Coleman's The Winter Harvest Handbook.  Mr Coleman is an organic market gardener in Northern Maine, USA, producing very high quality produce year round.  He is also a champion for new growers like ourselves.  His book are manuals on small scale, organic vegetable growing techniques, tools, rotations and historical inspiration.

Here is a summary of what he has to say about the "French garden system". Practiced by Parisian maraîchers (market gardeners), it reached it's height in the mid to late 1800's with around 1800 growers producing food on one to two acre blocks.  Covering about one-sixteenth of all land within the city limits of Paris, the gardens fed Paris year round with a huge variety of produce, both in season and "out" of season vegetables and fruits.  This system not only incorporated incredible intensive planting techniques, it was sustainable.  The Parisian maraîchers were referred to as "goldsmiths of the soil".  Both the heat for winter production of vegetables in hotbeds and the amendments to maintain the fertility of the soil were by-products of composting another by-product - the horse manure mixed with straw that came from the city stables.  After delivering crates of produce to the market,  wagons would collect the manure on their return to the garden.

Paris was home to 2.5million people in 1891 and these small, intensive, "organic" market gardens provided all the produce, and produced enough to export to other neighboring countries.  And not just any sort of produce...last week the latest Diggers magazine arrived with a wonderful article on seeds before genetic engineering and the re-printing of the French seed company Vilmorin's album of exquisite drawings.  The diversity of varieties known and grown by the French in the late 1800's was extraordinary.  As Clive Blazey writes, "Vilmorin listed over 1400 vegetable varieties in 1885...when compared to the 236 varieties offered by The Diggers Club today."

I love learning these sorts of facts.  I love knowing that we, as farmers, are not re-inventing the wheel.  We are trying to learn practices that once thrived on a large scale.  We are trying to grow produce for the local community while continuing to build soil fertility.  And we are also trying to keep alive varieties of many vegetables which are not being offered to the consumer, varieties that make eating vegetables and fruits a real experience.

As Blazey writes, "The rock melons offered in today's Australian supermarkets are a travesty of the delights that 'could cause drooling' to quote melon expert Amy Goldman.  The latest melon from Seminis (Monsanto [the makers of Round-up and one of the leading corporations involved in genetically modified seeds] ) is actually called Hard Rock so completely and humourlessly has this multinational bred the latest hybrids."

And that brings us to our 2013 melon varieties...Most are heirlooms and we hope they will all be that small slice of juicy, perfumed summer sun...We transplanted them last week and they are loving this heat.  Depending on the season, they should ripen by the beginning of February and continue into the Autumn share. Honey Dew    "Eden's Gem"   Heirloom. Small, round, netted fruit the size of a softball.  Spicy, sweet flesh. Honey Dew    "Early Hanover"  Heirloom.  Sweet, sugary flesh that can be eaten right to the rind. Cantaloupe    "Hearts of Gold"  Heirloom. Highly aromatic, sweet, firm, juicy, salmon coloured flesh. Cantaloupe    "Schoon's Hardshell"   Sweet, flavoursome, apricot coloured flesh. Cantaloupe    "Hale's Best"  Sweet orange flesh. Cantaloupe    "Delice De Table"    Heirloom. Very sweet orange flesh. Cantaloupe    "French Charentais"   Heirloom. Sweet, thick, deep-orange, flesh.  Flesh has deep, aromatic, flowery aroma. Watermelon    "Criss Cross"    Heirloom. Attractive, pale green skin & jagged, dark green markings.  Flesh is deep, rich red with excellent flavour & crispness. Watermelon    "Crimson Sweet"   Large, round, light green melon with dark green stripes and firm, deep red flesh with high sugar content. Watermelon    "Sugar Baby"   Round - oval melon with dark green rind, juicy, sweet, bright scarlet flesh & firm texture. Watermelon    "Moon and Stars"  Heirloom. Very sweet, rich, red flesh. The rind is patterned with yellow markings and the foliage can be speckled yellow as well. Watermelon    "Klondike"   Heirloom.  Large, striped, oval melon with sweet, scarlet coloured flesh & thin, tough rind.

Summer Share Tomato Planting

We thought we would introduce you to the 2012-2013 Summer Share Tomato Plants....from their beginnings as tiny seeds, to the strong plants transplanted into the new land.  Here are old Italian favourites, heirloom varieties, and some of the most "exquisite" tasting tomatoes we found to grow... It all started back in August when Rye and I seeded the tomatoes.

Once they germinated and had their first true leaves, I pricked them out and planted them into 4 inch pots.  And through the hail and frost and rain and cold, they grew bigger and stronger in the greenhouse.

We planted some early cherry tomatoes under row covers in September in the hopes of Christmas tomatoes.

But the big tomato planting happened this week.

Peter used the tractor as a ladder to hammer in all of the stakes.

Our favoured technique of trellising the plants is called the San Diego Weave.  The weave uses twine to gently cradle each plant as it grows.  We move up and down the rows of plants weaving in and around plants and the wooden stakes through the field. Our hope is to support the plant and keep it away from soil borne diseases and fungi...and also make it easier to pick the delicious fruits. Here are the varieties we are growing this year: Marglobe - Old American heirloom variety popular in Italy. Large, deep red, juicy fruit. Excellent taste. Marglobe is the ancestor of many of today's hybrid tomatoes. Saint Pierre - French salad tomato. Round, good sized, renowned for it's super flavour. Principe Borghese - Small plum shaped fruit. Eat fresh in salad or dry for sun dried tomatoes. They also make outstanding oven roasted tomatoes. Roma - Plum tomato used primarily for sauce, but also good fresh. Scipio - Plum tomato ideal for sauces and cooking. Tommy Toe - Attractive medium sized red fruit. Tommy toe is a renowned great taster. Those that judge these things use words such as “complex”, “tight” and “oh! just so sweet!” to describe its flavour. Sun Gold - Exceptionally sweet, bright tangerine-orange cherry tomatoes. Yellow Pear - Petite, distinctive salad tomato. Black Cherry - The flavor is dynamic...much like an heirloom. Red Cherry - Small, round tomatoes with very good flavour Lemon Drop - Lemon shaped small fruits with a zesty sweet flavour. Wild Sweetie- Stephanie Alexander and other top chefs preferred this to Tommy Toe.  The world's smallest tomato is also the world's sweetest with a Brix level twice that of others.

Hoping for another bumper crop!

Spring Farming

Spring...a photo tour of the farm and Spring farming!

The new land is proving to be a great case in point for why communities should protect farm land. The previous farmer did nurture the soil, as evidence by the many worms and great soil condition. But when that farmer left, nature took over trying to protect the soil by covering it in couch grass. The couch did its job, sent out vigorous runners which hold the soil and keep it from blowing away. But the vigorous runners are hard to eradicate.  Instead of decomposing and adding condition to the soil, when tilled, they just break into small pieces which all sprout again.

To get rid of the pieces, we need to hand weed...hoeing does not help.  And so we crawl along the planted rows...and we know that this will be the case for the summer. This is organic farming!!  But we also know that each year, this land will only get better. Not only will it be more weed free, we will also build the nutrients in the soil, build its microbial activity, boost its capacity to store water.  And we are grateful for the fresh, nutrient rich food we are harvesting along the way for our family and many more.  Thank you to all of our CSA members for supporting this type of land stewardship and local food production!!

Feeding the soil

One discussion that comes around in farming is whether you feed the plant or feed the soil.  Here on Transition Farm, we feed the soil believing that healthy soil is the beginning of a healthy plant.  Much of our energy as growers is spent nurturing the life in the soil, balancing the minerals, bacteria and microbes that create a living and dynamic soil.  We make compost, apply Biodynamic preparations which seed soil bacteria, grow and till in cover crops, make special herb and seaweed brews to mineralize the soil. Cover crops are amazing.  Peas, for instance, love growing in cooler weather.  We seed them in the autumn on land that has grown food throughout the summer.  They sprout and make some growth before the real cold of winter sets in, suppressing other weeds.  Then they just sit there, covering the soil, protecting it from strong winter storms that might erode the top soil away with wind and heavy rains.  They also harness atmospheric nitrogen...it is just what they do.  So while they are sitting there, they are making nitrogen, pulling it from the air and storing it in these little root nodules in the soil.  Come spring, they shoot off growing, even before we humans might feel the spring coming.  We till them in just as they are flowering.  You can see the leaf matter in the soil in the above photo.  The worms will come and digest that more, as will the various other soil life.  The added hummus helps the soil retain water and provides a base of nutrients accessible to plant roots.

We have been planting cover crops on the mandala soil for four years now.  When we arrived, the soil was a sandy loam, grey in color, dry, hydro-phobic (water literally pooled on top of the soil instead of sinking into it).  Now it is rich and dark and full of worms,  smells alive, holds together in your hand when you clasp a fist full, and is ready to grow food, full of all the nutrients we want fresh food to have.

Healthy soil not only fills food with goodness, but, more importantly, it also supports the health of the plant growing that food.  Healthy plants can fend off fungus attacks, insect attacks, weather stresses.  So by feeding the soil, we are feeding the plant, at the onset of its life cycle.

We continue to under sow crops with cover crops throughout the growing season. Last year we sowed clover under the cabbage, corn and pumpkins.

Cover cropping can be done in any size space, from small raised garden beds to large acreage.  While cover cropping is a biodynamic farming practice, it is also an organic and sustainable agriculture farming practice.  Healthy Soil - Wholesome Food!

Welcome Spring

With these days of lovely warm sun, it feels like Spring has come!  We are very excited about our new arrivals...

The fruit trees are starting to take shape.  This will be their third or fourth season.  It is wonderful to look across and see the variety of blossoms.  The plums, nectarines, peaches and apricots are all at various stages of blooming.

We have been busy this week weeding the garlic for the summer share.  The crop started back in March with the planting of the biggest cloves we could get from each whole bulb.  Not much to see as the cloves are planted three inches deep.  They start growing before winter and then they sit and wait for the change in daylight hours when they shoot up and produce many more leaves. We are expecting the bulbs to be ready for harvest in December.  A nine month season!

Other sights...the new land tilled, the old irrigation system found and fixed (Pete had to dig at least a meter deep to find each old sprinkler), and the soil covered with the full moon frost-

We have been told that the new land was once a flower farm.  Pete has found the irrigation on about 1/3 of it so far. If anyone likes digging holes, Pete is holding a digging workshop to find the rest.

And some of the spring crops we are harvesting

We are still harvesting autumn sown carrots too, although some have already starting sending up their seed heads which turn the center of the carrot "woody'.  Just about the time when the first seed is sown.  The cycle is so beautiful. It does mean that there are a few months with no carrots as we wait for the new seeds to grow.

We have also just planted 200 1-year old asparagus crowns.  The photo is a bit boring...a big area of dirt.  But hopefully with water and weeding this patch will produce asparagus for the next 15-20 years! Depending on the size of the plant by next spring, we may have some asparagus to include in the 2013 Spring Share.  For more information on the crops harvested in Spring, please visit our Harvest Schedule

We will be offering a Summer, Autumn and Spring share in 2013.  We have put the summer share information on the website.  We will be adding the autumn share in the next month.

You might like this documentary http://vimeo.com/2100402.  "Feeling disconnected from their food, a filmmaker and his family decide to join a local community supported organic farm.  As he photographs the growing process, the filmmaker moves from passive observer to active participant in the planting and harvesting of vegetables.  Compiled entirely from nearly 20,000 still images, this personal essay is a father’s meditation on his blossoming family and community." It does last for 19 minutes. I enjoyed some of the photography as it is shot over time and the images are then put together to make an "almost" moving image.

Enjoy the warmth!  Happy Spring!!

The Heralds of Spring

We are only three weeks from the days being longer than the nights.  Even though it is cold and inhospitable at times, there are many signs here that Spring is coming.  Jonquils and daffodils are bursting as are the almond and nectarine blooms.  Broad beans have started surging taller.  Perennial herbs are awakening with new growth. The birds are up earlier and chattering away. In Celtic times, the time before Equinox, when the life giving forces of spring pulsed through the earth again, was called the Imbolc, literally translated as "in the belly"-  When birth is imminent and yet stilled held within the womb...conditions are being readied.  That is where we are now.

While visiting family and friends this winter, we were able to visit three CSA farms, two of which have been running for over twenty-five years.  We went with lots of questions, which were answered...and then some.  We started at Pumpkin Ridge Gardens with farmers James and Polly.  Their CSA feeds 180 families weekly.  We were very curious about the sizes of their greenhouses, packing house and coolroom and also how they were irrigating and managing their water resources.   Pete saw a wonderful manure spreader which is used to spread the tonnes of compost James makes each season.  Pumpkin Ridge provides seasonal produce year round.  So we also learned about extending our harvest season into the cooler months and how to protect the early spring crops from damaging weather.

They took us to La Finquita del Buho, with farmers Lyn and Juvencio Jacobs, which feeds 70 families weekly.  The conversations ranged from greenhouses bent under the weight of snow, to varieties of beans, to their goats and pigs, a new cool room and  the owls living in their beautiful old barn.

We also went to Crossroad Farm where I worked for five seasons.  Tim and Janet Taylor have been providing a full variety of seasonal vegetables to their local community for thirty years.  While Polly and James are farming 5-7 acres and Lyn and Juvencio 2 acres, Tim and Janet have 60 acres under cultivation.  The scale is different from what we will ever be but it was wonderful to see that even on that large scale, simple hand tools and seeders are still used extensively for many of the crops.  I was very keen to learn more about growing mesclun mixes and "lazy" lettuces (baby lettuce leaves) in hopes of being able to include that in the shares this year.

We have come home with many ideas and launched right in.  The shire has approved our application to purchase the two acres behind us.  Pete has pulled out fences, slashed the paddock, pegged out the irrigation and is busy incorporating organic compost into the earth in preparation for the vegetable starts to be planted in a few weeks.  Last fall, we were able to begin applying the biodynamic sprays to the new earth.  We resume our monthly applications this month.

Our seeding has begun for the Summer Share.  Germinated seed in the greenhouse includes capsicum, eggplant, chillies, cherry tomatoes, purple and green cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, leek and onions, fennel and celery.   We are continuing to trial new varieties in search of the tastiest fruits and vegetables that grow the best here- in this soil and climate and for our seasons.

The Summer Share will run for 3 months starting 1st December. We will be growing enough food for 65 families - so to get involved or to find out more please click this link for the Summer Share.

Winter...posting again as video link was missing...sorry...

With the weather getting colder, I went looking for something to warm me up.... you may have already seen this great clip about the need for more responsible food production - but if you enjoy Willie Nelson as much as we do - enjoy it again!

Our submission to acquire additional land is still with the Council - we hope it will be finalized in another month. Whilst the land looks a little neglected at present, it once was a thriving flower farm. We are excited about turning it back into productive land and continuing Transition Farm's CSA goal of feeding local families - a goal that Anne Cure (pictured below) sums up beautifully.

“THERE’S NOTHING BETTER THAN KNOWING WHO YOU’RE GROWING YOUR FOOD FOR. That Alicia and Quentin love the fava beans. Mark and Anne who can’t wait for the San Marzanos. Or Oliver and Eli, who will eat these carrots before they leave the farm. We want to share the farm’s stories and create a place people feel a part of. We commit to feeding as many families as our land can healthily provide for. This includes over a hundred varieties of vegetables and flowers grown during the year.”

"Information Art" from the Lexicon of Sustainability

We grabbed this awesome picture from the Lexicon of Sustainability - "The Lexicon of Sustainability is based on a simple premise: people can’t be expected to live more sustainable lives if they don’t even know the most basic terms and principles that define sustainability.  By illuminating the vocabulary of sustainable agriculture, and with it the conversation about America’s rapidly evolving food culture, the Lexicon of Sustainability educates, engages and activates people to pay closer attention to how they eat, what they buy, and where their responsibility begins for creating a healthier, safer food system in America."

We believe the CSA concept can create a viable opportunity to utilise the many small parcels of productive land we have on the Mornington Peninsula and move in this direction of a healthier, safer food system. We hope that you will join us and through our combined efforts the concept will spread across the Peninsula. CSA's everywhere!

Extra land for Transition Farm CSA to expand.

The Summer CSA will be starting again on 1st December and whilst that still feels a while away -  the first seeds will be in the greenhouse in a month! So we have plenty to keep us busy in the coming months -  putting in green manures, spreading compost (lots of compost), building our new CSA farm shed with coolroom, washing, packing and pick up areas and of course getting an irrigation system in place. Then vegetables, herbs and flowers for CSA subscribers!

New "second-hand" seeder equals happy CSA farmer!

We recently took a trip to Port Albert in south-east Victoria to pick up an old Connor-Shea 14 disc seeder (with a fresh coat of yellow paint!). With the extra land we are taking on, the areas of green manure crops to help build the health of the soil have increased. The disc seeder will allow us to run over whatever vegetation is in place at the time, without cultivating, and drop seed into the soil for germination. We hope the seeder will enable us to keep all the land under our care covered - all the time.

Whilst we were in the area we took the time to visit Bullfrog Gully farm in Gormandale that produces Biodynamic-free-range eggs. The main reason for the visit was to take a look at their movable chicken accommodation. We left with plenty of ideas and a couple of dozen eggs!

Relocatable Chook Accommodation.

Biodynamic Eggs

Winter...

With the weather getting colder, I went looking for something to warm me up.... you may have already seen this great clip about the need for more responsible food production - but if you enjoy Willie Nelson as much as we do - enjoy it again!

Our submission to acquire additional land is still with the Council - we hope it will be finalized in another month. Whilst the land looks a little neglected at present, it once was a thriving flower farm. We are excited about turning it back into productive land and continuing Transition Farm's CSA goal of feeding local families - a goal that Anne Cure (pictured below) sums up beautifully.

“THERE’S NOTHING BETTER THAN KNOWING WHO YOU’RE GROWING YOUR FOOD FOR. That Alicia and Quentin love the fava beans. Mark and Anne who can’t wait for the San Marzanos. Or Oliver and Eli, who will eat these carrots before they leave the farm. We want to share the farm’s stories and create a place people feel a part of. We commit to feeding as many families as our land can healthily provide for. This includes over a hundred varieties of vegetables and flowers grown during the year.”

We grabbed this awesome picture from the Lexicon of Sustainability - "The Lexicon of Sustainability is based on a simple premise: people can’t be expected to live more sustainable lives if they don’t even know the most basic terms and principles that define sustainability.  By illuminating the vocabulary of sustainable agriculture, and with it the conversation about America’s rapidly evolving food culture, the Lexicon of Sustainability educates, engages and activates people to pay closer attention to how they eat, what they buy, and where their responsibility begins for creating a healthier, safer food system in America."

We believe the CSA concept can create a viable opportunity to utilise the many small parcels of productive land we have on the Mornington Peninsula and move in this direction of a healthier, safer food system. We hope that you will join us and through our combined efforts the concept will spread across the Peninsula. CSA's everywhere!

The Summer CSA will be starting again on 1st December and whilst that still feels a while away -  the first seeds will be in the greenhouse in a month! So we have plenty to keep us busy in the coming months -  putting in green manures, spreading compost (lots of compost), building our new CSA farm shed with coolroom, washing, packing and pick up areas and of course getting an irrigation system in place. Then vegetables, herbs and flowers for CSA subscribers!

We recently took a trip to Port Albert in south-east Victoria to pick up an old Connor-Shea 14 disc seeder (with a fresh coat of yellow paint!). With the extra land we are taking on, the areas of green manure crops to help build the health of the soil have increased. The disc seeder will allow us to run over whatever vegetation is in place at the time, without cultivating, and drop seed into the soil for germination. We hope the seeder will enable us to keep all the land under our care covered - all the time.

Whilst we were in the area we took the time to visit Bullfrog Gully farm in Gormandale that produces Biodynamic-free-range eggs. The main reason for the visit was to take a look at their movable chicken accommodation. We left with plenty of ideas and a couple of dozen eggs!

Autumn

We are enjoying the lovely sunrises and sunsets of autumn and the gorgeous days we have been having as we ready the farm for winter.  As the crops from the summer harvest finished producing, they were tilled in and green manure cover crops were planted for winter.  Cover crops increase soil fertility, protect the soil from erosion, build the organic content in the soil and in the case of legumes, fix atmospheric nitrogen.  This provides a natural fertilizer for next season's plants.

Green Manure - Dunn Peas April 2012

We have put in the first half of the Garlic planting for Transition Farm's Summer Share which starts 1st December 2012. We are growing a few different varieties this year to see which ones will grow and taste best.

Garlic Planting March 2012

The tops of all of the potatoes died back, hardening the skin, which makes them ready for winter storage.  After weighing the harvest, we have quite an excess over what our family needs for winter. We have bagged this excess up and are selling them to anyone wanting some chemical free spuds - 10kg bag for $20. We have three varieties: Coliban - A floury white fleshed potato that is good for mashing, baking and roasting and is used to make French fries. Desiree - A very popular all-rounder with pink skin and pale yellow, firm flesh that holds its shape well so is excellent boiled, baked, mashed and in salads but not recommended for frying. Pontiac - A very reliable all-rounder with pink skin and white flesh. Great to boil, bake, roast, microwave and mash but not so suitable for frying.

Please contact us if you would like a bag.

We also have plenty of Leeks and Chillies - so anyone keen to make some spicy Vichyssoise - we are happy to throw some leeks and chillies in with your bag of spuds! There is a recipe for Potato and Leek soup in the recipe section - just add chilli!

Thai Hot Chillies - April 2012

The Summer Trial Transition Farm conducted in January and February 2012 was very well received (photos from the Trial).   We learned so much, both from a farming point of view and from all the wonderful feedback from those who participated.   As a result, we are extremely excited at the thought of the CSA starting up full-time in December 2012.  Transition Farm will be offering a great variety and quantity of fresh local food for those who want to join the CSA program. These three month CSA programs will run with the seasons - Summer (1 Dec 2012 - 28 Feb 2013), Autumn (1 March 2013 - 31 May 2013), Winter (1 June 2013 - 31 August 2013) and Spring (1 September 2013 - 30 November 2013).  Have a look at the boxes from the Summer Share Trial.

We have agreed with one of our neighbours to purchase more land.  Having the extra space will enable us to expand the CSA programs, have a better crop rotation and extra soil to fallow.  While we await Council approval, we are working out the site design, which will include a new shed and cool room to enable us to handle the produce.  We are looking forward to building up this new soil and getting the infrastructure in place for the 1st December 2012 start date.

The Fruit Trees - The citrus trees are in bloom and lemons, figs and apples fill the fruit bowl. We will be giving all of the fruit trees a generous dose of compost and await the weather turning a bit cooler to start pruning  - a little daunting as we have over 100 to work through.

Our autumn plantings of more indigenous coastal natives starts next week and we have been busy these past weeks clearing around and under the existing native plantings and cutting back where needed. The native plantings serve a number of functions - habitat, wind shelter, nitrogen fixing and creating pockets for the plantings of fruit and nut trees!!

Indigenous Natives - ready for planting April 2012

Autumn is the strong digestive time of the earth - The soil is still warm and there is more moisture then summer.  This is perfect for making and spreading compost.  In preparation for the new soil, we are building windrows of compost and applying biodynamic preparations.  Even as leaves are turning colour, the pastures are green, the cover crops lush and the brassicas glowing.  Happy Autumn!