Carrot and Radish Salad with a Glorious Moroccan Inspired Dressing

Here is a lovely salad recipe donated from a CSA member Ingredients 1 garlic clove, crushed 1/4 tsp each ground cinnamon, cumin and paprika 60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil 1 tsp white wine vinegar 1 tsp honey 1/2 lemon, juiced 4 largish carrots, peeled, thinly sliced however you like (I halve carrots and then slice lengthwise for appearance) 10 radishes, thinly sliced 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley 1 tsp orange flower water*

Method 1. Place garlic, spices, oil, vinegar, honey and lemon juice in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside. 2. Blanch carrots in boiling salted water for 1-2 minutes, drain and refresh. While still warm, toss in the dressing, then set aside at room temperature. 3. To serve, toss in the radish and parsley and drizzle with orange flower water

Notes I didn’t have any orange water flower so just omitted it. I also varied the quantity of radishes to my preferences – as long as there is an even balance of the vegetables in the salad I think it works.

Served with Nikki Fisher’s Beetroot, Rocket, Walnut and Persian Feta Salad and Spinach and Feta Triangles.  The combination of flavours was gorgeous!

CSA Summer Share 2012-2013 - Week #6 (5 - 11 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 of a 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 – A bunch of assorted beetroot in every box. Bush Beans – We have finished the first planting of bush beans and moved into the second, which includes yellow beans 'Cherokee Wax'. The purple climbing beans 'Purple King' should be ready for their first harvest this week as well. Carrots – Big bunch mixture of ‘Scarlett Nantes’, ‘Cosmic Purple’ and ‘Red Core Chatenay’.  And a small bunch of baby carrots 'Deep Purple'. Cauliflower/ Broccoli – We have moved into another planting of broccoli.  We are finishing a cauliflower planting which has yielded beautiful and small heads.  The next cauliflower harvest will be in the Autumn.  The harvest will be divided up between the boxes. Celery – We have begun to harvest the celery 'Tall Utah'. It's flavour is intense and it is a bit stringy. Chilli - The harvest of 'Padron' chillies will continue to appear in some boxes. 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. "Lazy Lettuce" –  We have thickly seeded a mixture of lettuces so that we can harvest mixed lettuce leaves when they are still young.  Although it has been washed and spun dry, it should be washed before eating. Onions - The onions this week are 'Red Burgundy'. Slightly sweet and very beautiful. The tops can be used too like you would a green onion. Parsley –  'Italian Plain Leaf' or 'Curly Leaf' Potatoes – Harvesting red skinned 'Desiree' or 'Sapphire', a spectacular purple potato with rich purple flesh that maintains its colour when cooked.  Makes the most striking mashed potato. Radishes – Every box will receive a bunch of radishes this week.  We had not intended for some boxes to have them two weeks in a row but the next planting is ready for harvest now.  If left for a week, they all split. The variety is 'Champion'. Rocket/ Silverbeet/ Spinach – We have trialed growing some baby rocket, silverbeet and beetroot greens.  We will be harvesting whatever is ready. These can be mixed into a salad or used separately.  They are all suitable to be eaten raw or cooked. Peas – The heat of Friday has finished the last of the peas for the summer share.  Heat changes the flavour of the peas and makes the powdery mildew spread rapidly.  Bye Bye peas.  Hello beans! 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'.

NOTES ON WHAT'S GROWING Although we are very lucky to have a secure water source, the lack of a good rain is evident.  With some crops, there is a reduction in size and with others we are noticing damaged leaves.  Our irrigation runs nearly non-stop but sprinklers are just not the same as an even soaking from rain.  We will keep you informed of how the crops fair in the heat.  While so many growing descriptions of crops indicated that they like "full sun", I think that the sun here in Australia, especially on these intense days is scorching and many leaves burn.  Permaculture's placing of shade trees is a wonderful idea in Australia!  We have lost one lettuce planting to mildew...the combination of a variety with many folds and lots of overhead watering to try and combat the heat.  But luckily there is a baby lettuce planting that has grown wonderfully to fill in the spot.  We keep talking about the cherry tomatoes.  There was a very small harvest today but we are still not seeing any of the larger size tomatoes turning colour and not that many cherries. Next year we will start the first planting of tomatoes in a movable greenhouse to try and have tomatoes just a bit earlier.  If you are on our mailing list, you will receive a post about corn this week.  The first planting is ready for pollination!

U-PICK FLOWERS We have cosmos, zinneas, scabiosa, fever few, snap dragons, calendula, nasturtiums, statice, helichrysums and many other flowers growing.  Every member is welcome to come and U-pick some edible flowers and a bouquet each week on Saturdays from 8am-11am.  If you have not been to the farm yet, this is a great chance to walk around, see your food growing and leave with a wonderful posy.

SEASONAL EATING - SHARING INSPIRATION We have received many meal photos and recipe suggestions from CSA members in the past two weeks.  It is great to see and hear about the yummy food that is being enjoyed!  Seasonal eating looks wonderful, sounds delicious and is very different from what we are seeing in the grocery store.  Please keep sharing your inspirations.  True seasonal eating has lost a 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 post meal photos on our facebook page so that others can be inspired as well.  We are also happy to include tried recipe suggestions.  Maybe an easier way to share these is to set up another facebook page for CSA members where you can post photos and recipes directly?  Any other ideas or thoughts?

DELIVERY With the heat really setting in, we encourage those who get their boxes delivered to leave an esky with ice blocks in a sheltered location.  We are happy to unpack the box into an esky so that the produce has a better chance to stay in good condition until you return home.

With the holidays finished, Tuesday deliveries are back on Tuesday.

CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture) Kirsten Bradley of Milkwood Permaculture wrote a great post on CSA's. http://milkwood.net/2013/01/01/new-models-for-awesome-community-supported-agricultures-csas/ Transition Farm is listed as one of 5 CSA's in Australia. As members, we think you are all very special for supporting an idea new to this country.  We love hearing what you think about being part of a CSA and how the service could be better catered to you.

RECIPE SUGGESTIONS Ottolenghi's Perfect Lettuce Salad with Radishes, Semi-dried Tomatoes and Capers Szechwan Green Beans Potato and Green Bean Salad Crunchy Salad

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

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.

Vegetable Pakoras - 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. This recipe is a great example of that.  Use it as a starting point to create something from what you have in your box.

Paul makes his pakoras on the fly so there really isn’t a recipe just a list of ingredients and a methodology of sorts.

Here are the quantities he used yesterday but that made at least 180. Par cooked pakora’s freeze beautifully so you can always have them on hand for last minute dinner ideas or unexpected guests.

Ingredients 1kg chick pea flour All the vegetables you want to use— Root vegetables – grate Peas – just podded Cabbage – shredded Peppers – julienned 5 brown onions sliced The roots of the coriander bunch blended with 10 whole green chillies 12 eggs, beaten

Method 1. Mix all the vegetables, beaten eggs and blended herbs together. 2. Depending on how much liquid comes out of the vegetables, one may have to add more chick pea flour to the mix to make the batter more viscous. 3. Gently heat canola/sunflower oil in large sauce pan or wok – medium to deep – oil should get to around 165degrees Celsius.  Using a large serving spoon, spoon big dollop of mixture one by one into the oil – make sure the stay separate and then as they brown gently roll each pakora around in the oil to cook and brown on all sides. (if you want to freeze a few, just let them get to golden brown) With a slatted spoon remove each one from the oil letting excess oil drip back into the pot and then lay to rest on some kitchen paper. 4. Serve warm with a grated yogurt and cucumber mix. 5.  If freezing some, allow to cool and then pack in zip lock bags and put in freezer.

Zucchini Ribbon Salad with Greens, Feta and Semidried Tomatoes

Here is one of the salads from our family holiday celebrations.  The flavour was light and fresh with the small zucchini melting in your mouth! Although not necessary, lemon basil really adds a lovely touch.  This recipe was enough for 10, as one of several salads.  It would go wonderfully with a barbeque or serve alone as a light lunch. Ingredients 4 small zucchini 400g English spinach, washed and spun (Other greens would work well too - lettuce, rocket, mesclun) 1-2 lemons 1/2 cup pine nuts 200 g feta cheese, firm - cut into 1cm blocks 1 well packed cup of semi-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped fresh basil, lemon basil and/or purple basil fresh garlic 1 or 2 cloves extra virgin olive oil salt and ground pepper

Method 1. Take about ten basil leaves and slice them width wise into small ribbons.  Put the feta, sundried tomatoes, basil, one minced garlic clove and enough olive oil to cover into a small bowl.  Allow to marinade while you prepare the rest of the salad. 2. Over high heat in a cast iron frying pan, gently toast the pine nuts, stirring constantly so they do not burn.  Remove from heat.  transfer to a cool bowl. 3.  Gently tear spinach leaves into bite size pieces and place around the outside of a large, open salad bowl, leaving a well in the centre. 4. Remove the stem and base of the zucchinis. Using a sharp vegetable peeler, peel large ribbons of zucchini into the well, turning the zucchini once you reach the seed section to remove all of the flesh from the other sides.  Discard the small seed section. 5.  Zest the peel of the lemon over the top of the whole salad.  Then cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice of the entire lemon over the zucchini. 6.  Add a few glugs of olive oil (not too much but more then a sprinkle) to the zucchini and some salt.  Then with your hands, mix the zucchini in the well so that it all coats with the dressing.  Try to leave the spinach on the sides.  Add more salt, lemon juice, garlic, cracked black pepper to taste. 7. Gently spoon the feta mixture over the top of the spinach leaves.  Sprinkle the toasted pine nuts over the whole salad. 8.  Chop more basil or use lemon basil and purple basil and sprinkle this over the top of the zucchini.

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.

Cleansing Green Drink

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! For an achievable cleanse when you don't want to commit to days of 'deprivation', or simply have too many christmas parties that would interfere with your programme...

Green drink: 1 garlic clove or ginger (opt) 2 cups lettuce (or silver beet or spinach) 2 cups parsley leaves 1 celery rib 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed 4 cups spring water 1 fresh orange or grapefruit, peeled 1 tablespoon olive oil

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.

Coleslaw - Bahamian Style!

Growing up in America, I have eaten many coleslaws.  It has never really been my first choice for vegetable sides as it is usually so gloopy...for lack of a better word. Bahamian style coleslaw is fresh and light, and although it still has some sugar, the crunch of the raw vegetables is complemented by the sour spice of the hot sauce and lime juice.

This is my mum's recipe. She lives happily on Long Island, part of the Out Islands in the Bahamas.

Ingredients 1/2 head of cabbage 2 medium carrots

Bahamian Style Coleslaw Dressing 2 tbsps Mayonnaise 2 tbsps Basic Dressing (below) Juice from 1/2 a lime Few shakes of Hot Pepper Sauce (or more to taste) Sea Salt and Pepper

Method 1. Make Basic Dressing (below) and allow to cool. 2. Combine all ingredients for the coleslaw dressing and blend with a wire whisk or in a food processor. 3. Core cabbage and finely shred with sharp knife (don't chop). 4. Grate carrots, if they are large, or finely slice if they are small. 5. Mix to taste with dressing.

Basic Dressing Boil until sugar has dissolved: 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup white vinegar 1/2 cup water Cool, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Mum's Note: I always keep this in my fridge in a glass jar with a lid.  This is an excellent dressing alone for cucumbers and onions, or beets and onions.  A bit of it is wonderful with sauteed red cabbage, sauteed greens, or in potato salad.

Tatsoi and Cabbage Stir Fry

This is a versatile stir fry that you can make with any vegetables.  I add in broccoli, zucchini and red peppers when we have them.  The carrots replace the red peppers in the winter and spring adding the sweet counterpart to the whole flavour of the stir fry.  Tatsoi is a delicate green.  I chop the stems into pieces and add them with the cabbage. But the tops, I leave whole and add right before serving so that they are only slightly braised.  I have included chicken in the recipe. This can be omitted. Ingredients olive oil 750 g chicken thigh fillets, cut into strips 2 egg whites, lightly beaten ½ cup cornflour 3 cloves garlic, chopped or put through a press 2 onions, thinly sliced or 1 large leek or a bunch of green onions 4 medium sized carrots and/or 1 red sweet capsicum, cut into match sticks 2 heads of Tatsoi, remove tops and set aside, dice stems into 1 cm pieces 1/2 head of cabbage, cored and thinly sliced 2 tbsp soy sauce 2 tbsp sherry 1 tbsp oyster sauce 2 tbsp sesame seeds

Method 1. Heat the wok until very hot, add 1 tbsp of the oil and swirl to coat the side. Dip a quarter of the chicken strips into the egg white and then into the cornflour. Add to the wok and stir-fry for 3-5 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown and just cooked. Drain on paper towels and repeat with the remaining chicken, reheating the wok and adding a little more oil each time. 2. Reheat the wok, add 1 tbsp of the oil and stir-fry the onion, carrot and/or capsicum and garlic over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened slightly. If using green onions, wait and add with the cabbage.  Add cabbage and tatsoi stems, continuing to stir. Increase the heat to high and add the soy sauce, sherry and oyster sauce. Toss the vegetables well. If you like more sauce, just add soy, sherry and oyster sauce (double the amount of soy and sherry to the amount of oyster sauce). 3. Return the chicken to the wok and toss over high heat for 1-2 minutes to heat the chicken and make sure it is entirely cooked through. Add sesame seeds. Toss the Tatsoi leaves through the chicken mixture, and serve immediately over rice or udon noodles.

Mango Salsa

This is a great seasonal salsa, perfect on its own with chips but also wonderful with fish and chicken!  Even though mangoes are not a local fruit, they are so delicious and so abundant in December when the spring coriander is just ready to bolt, we enjoy their season. With chicken, we make chicken cutlets, bread them and lightly fry them in olive oil.  I then put them into a baking dish, cover about 1/4 inch with white wine, and layer the mango salsa over the top.  bake in a 180 for about 25 minutes (until the chicken is cooked through) and then turn up the heat to 230 for about five minutes to caramelize the salsa.

Ingredients 2 mangoes bunch of coriander juice of one lime 1 or 2 cloves of garlic 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 or 2 chillies salt Optional Green onions Chives

Method 1. Dice the chillies leaving the seeds if you like your salsa hot.  Mash the garlic with a press.  Put chillies and garlic into the salsa bowl with the lime juice, olive oil and salt. 2.  Cut the cheeks off the mangoes.  Remove skin and cut into 2 cm chunks.  Cut the remainder of the mango flesh from the pit.  Combine with the chillies. 3. Roughly chop coriander.  Combine with other ingredients and taste to correct seasoning.  You can add chives and or green onions depending on your personal preference.

Roasted Radishes

Still have radishes left from last weeks box and unsure how to use them?  Roasting sweetens the radish, tames some of the bite, and gives them a softer, fuller flavor. You can combine potatoes, carrots, fennel, onions, or just roast the radishes alone, leaving them whole as an interesting and delicious side.  Would work well with Spinach, Herb and Goat's Cheese Tartlets or as a side with a steak. Ingredients 1 bunch fresh radishes, washed, dried, stems removed Olive oil Salt Pepper Fresh Thyme

Method 1.  Preheat oven to 220C. Place a sheet tray in the oven to get it smoking hot. 2.  In a bowl, toss radishes in oil (just a little bit), salt, pepper, and thyme. When tray is hot, toss the radishes on the tray (they will sizzle) and put the tray back in the oven. 3.  Every 3-4 minutes or so, stir the tray so the radishes in the corners move to the middle, and vice-versa. Total cooking time should be about 15 minutes, depending on the size of the radishes. 4.  When ready, they’ll be blistered and pink with just a little bite left to the texture.

Poached Vegetables with Caper Mayonnaise

This recipe is from the cookbook Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. Just-poached vegetables show off their natural attributes, and taste fresh and light in a way you never get with roasting or frying. Baby turnip or corn will work, too, as will broad beans, peas and green beans. Don't chop them up much and don't cook them very long. Serve warm with the broth and mayonnaise as a starter, or cold with the mayonnaise only.

I have reprinted the recipe exactly even though all of the vegetables are not in season right now.  We made this the other night though with carrots, zucchini, green beans and leeks and it was lovely.

Ingredients Mayonnaise ½ garlic clove, crushed 1 egg yolk 1½ tsp white-wine vinegar ½ tsp Dijon mustard ½ tsp salt Juice and zest of ½ lemon 75ml vegetable oil 2 tbsp capers, drained and chopped

Poaching liquor 600ml white wine 200ml olive oil 150ml lemon juice 2 bay leaves ½ onion 2 celery sticks, cut into batons 1 tsp salt

The vegetables 100g baby fennel 200g baby carrot 150g fine asparagus 100g baby courgette 150g baby leek 2 tbsp chopped dill

Method 1. First make the mayo. Put the garlic, egg, vinegar, mustard, salt and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor. Start blending, and then, with the motor going, very slowly dribble in the oil until you get a thick mayonnaise. Fold in the capers and lemon zest and set aside. 2. Wash the vegetables but don't trim them too much, so you're left with some stalks or leaves. Depending on their size, cut the vegetables lengthways in halves or quarters, trying to get them a similar size. 3. Put the wine in a wide pan and boil for two to three minutes. Add all the other poaching liquor ingredients and bring to a simmer. Add the fennel and carrot, then, after three minutes, the asparagus, courgette and leek, and cook for another three minutes. The vegetables should be cooked but still crunchy. Lift them from the broth and divide between four wide bowls. 4. Place a ladle of liquid around the vegetables, top with a dollop of mayonnaise and sprinkle with dill. Chill any leftover broth for later use.

Green Bean Salad

From Plenty by  Ottolenghi, here is a wonderful combination of several flavours.  Makes a lovely salad. Ingredients 1-1/4 cups green beans, trimmed 2-1/4 cups snow peas, trimmed 1-3/4 cups green peas, fresh or frozen 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped 1 mild red chile, seeded and finely diced 2 tsp coriander seeds, roughly crushed with a mortar and pestle 1 tsp mustard seeds 3 tbsps olive oil 1 tsp nigella seeds 1 garlic clove, crushed grated zest of 1 lemon 2 tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped coarse sea salt 1 cup baby chard leaves (optional)

Method 1. Blanch the green beans in boiling water for 4 minutes. 2. Remove with a strainer and immediately refresh in ice water. 3. Drain and dry. 4. Repeat with snow pea pods or snap peas but boil for only 1 minute. 5. Refresh in ice water. 6. Drain and dry. 7. If using frozen peas, allow to defrost. If using fresh ones, blanch for 20 seconds and then refresh. 8. Combine the beans, snow peas, and peas in a large mixing bowl. 9. Put the coriander seeds, mustard seeds and oil in a small saucepan and heat up. When the seeds begin to pop, pour over the beans and peas. 10. Toss together. 11. Add the nigella seeds, red onion, chile, garlic, lemon zest, and tarragon. 12. Mix well and season with salt to taste. 13. Just before serving, gently fold in the chard leaves, if using.

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.

CSA Summer Share 2012-2013 - Week #1 (1-6 December, 2012)

WHAT’S IN THE BOXThe following are the items in your box this 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 Basil – This is the beginning of the basil harvest with just the "tops" being picked this week. Beetroot – Perfect for raw eating, sliced on a mandoline or grated, and steaming whole or in quarters.  Each bunch has a mixture of ‘Ruby Queen’ and 'Cylindra'. The youg tops can also be mixed into a salad! Broccoli – We are hoping that there will be a bunch of small broccoli heads in every box.  If you do not have it this week, you should next. Tatsoi or English Spinach or Cabbage –  We are unsure of the quantities of each harvest. Your harvest day will determine which you receive. Baby Carrots – This week there is a mix of ‘Scarlett Nantes’, ‘Cosmic Purple’ and ‘Red Core Chatenay’. These are beautiful and young and just need a light scrub. Edible Flowers – Perfect for summer salads. Fennel – The variety is 'Zefo-Fino'...lovely as a raw salad or braised! Garlic – All boxes will have a clove of freshly harvested 'Italian Purple' garlic. Some boxes will also have a bunch of garlic scapes. Lettuce – All boxes have a head of 'Rougette Montpellier'.

Radish - Tuesday deliveries will have radishes this week 'French Breakfast'. Rocket – Eat raw in a salad or sandwich, sprinkle over a pizza. Parsley –  'Italian Flat Leaf' Sugar Snap Peas – We will dividing the harvest of 'Sugar Anns' this week. Next week the shelling peas 'Greenfeast' should be ready. Baby Potatoes – Beautiful white skinned ‘Coliban’, small and medium size chats. Steam them with butter or quickly boil for a beautiful potato salad. Thyme– A bunch in every box.

NOTES ON WHAT'S GROWING Our entire crop of brassicas for the first few weeks of the share has fallen prey to the heavy winds of late October/early November (entire plants snapped off), the hot, dry spring and the white cabbage moths and their damaging caterpillars come early due to the hot spring .  From tatsoi and bok choy to purple cauliflower and late season broccoli - There is a crop to harvest but it is filled with damage.  We will harvest what we are comfortable with from those crops and divide it into the boxes.  There is a summer broccoli planting on the old land that has been unaffected from both the heavy winds in early November and the cabbage moths.  We hope to have bunches of brocollini for the next few weeks from that.  The heat has also caused many items planted for the first week to bolt, or go to seed.  Coriander, a protected bok choy planting and english spinach.  We do have subsequent plantings of these but they may not ready for this weeks harvest.  The warm season crops such as zucchini and green beans are loving the heat and should be ready in the next few weeks to fill in the gaps.  There are also lots of baby tomatoes so we are hopeful for Christmas tomatoes.

RECIPE SUGGESTIONS This season, we are featuring recipes from wonderful chefs, mothers, food lovers and friends. In week #1, Nikki Fisher from The Wholefood Mama offers Beetroot, Rocket and Persian Fetta Salad.

Other recipe suggestions for the week are: Steamed Baby Potatoes with Parsley Roasted Baby Carrots with Garlic Scapes Fennel Salad with Lime Vinaigrette

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

Photo is the Half Share(2 people)  Week #1

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…

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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.

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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