What’s in the box?

Sweet peppers, carrots, green onions, edamame, lettuce, tomatoes (big & small), blackberries, zucchini, cucumbers.

• Sweet peppers are ready. We are picking mostly green bells, along with a few red and yellow shepherds. The recent rains have been hard on the peppers, rotting most of them as they ripened. With more sunshine expected, the quality & quantity should improve.
• Carrots are back in the box! Great tasting and a nice size – not too big & not too small. There should have been carrots almost every week lately but we lost a large bed of them due to all the rain earlier in the month. They sat under water for a day and again another day a week later. After the water soaked in the carrots appeared to be ok. When we began to dig them, they still looked fine. But when we grabbed them, instead of a nice firm carrot, most were mushy and oozed slime. Yikes! The bed I dug today was located on higher, drier ground and the carrots are much better.

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Around the farm this week …

With more sunshine and less rain recently our vegetables are growing well.

Our fall vegetables – including cabbage, Chinese cabbage, sprouting cauliflower, mini broccoli – are doing well under the protection of the white tunnels.

Picking some nice tomatoes – though the plants are failing fast!

What’s in the box?

Edamame, blackberries, tomatoes – large & small, cucumbers, zucchini, beans, garlic, salad green?

Fruit – Peaches **This is the final week for fruit in the CSA box.

• Edamame are fresh green soybeans. They have been grown in China for several thousand years ago and more recently in Japan. There, it is a traditional bar snack eaten lightly steamed and sprinkled with salt. Edamame are full of protein, fibre and loaded with vitamins & minerals – a very healthy vegetable. And they are easy to prepare! Simply boil the pods in salted water for 3-5 minutes. Drain. Then squeeze the pods to pop out the beans and enjoy as a healthy snack. We like them sprinkled with lime juice and salt. Or they can be added to soups, stews, salads, and noodle dishes.
• We are picking a plethora of blackberries. With all the moisture in the soil the berries are large & plump and sooo delicious!
• Our beefsteak tomatoes are also coming on strong now. Enjoy several in your box this week along with some cherry tomatoes as well.
• The next plantings of cucumbers & zucchini are producing quality fruit.
• Beans – green or yellow or both ??
• The garlic is now dry. Store it at room temperature in a dry area and it will last many months.
• We hope to find a salad green for the box. With plenty of beds of greens scattered around the farm and many covered with insect netting, we have to do some exploring & discovering tomorrow …

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Some of our CSA members have been unsure how to use the eggplant that has been in the box the last few weeks. Here’s our new favourite way to prepare eggplant. Give it a try!

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Around the farm this week …

The fields of cover crops are a blooming delight! We are behind in keeping them mowed and they are in full flower – white buckwheat, red clovers, bright purple vetch and more. The fields are swarming with birds, butterflies and every sort of insect.

And rows of sunflowers – too far open to harvest, but perfect for us to enjoy as we go about our work.

A colourful display at Georgetown Farmers’ Market on Saturday.

What’s in the box?

Blackberries, Swiss chard, patty pan summer squash, jalapeno peppers, shishito peppers, green beans, tomatoes, eggplant, garlic, fresh herbs.

Extras – beets, kohlrabi

Fruit – Peaches

It’s blackberry season!

• Blackberries are big, black, beautiful berries! They are a bit sweet & a bit tart. If they aren’t quite ripe they can be sour. Too ripe and they are soft & mushy – but incredibly sweet. We try to pick them as ripe as possible but still firm. To achieve this we pick the patch every Monday, Wednesday & Friday – unless the weather disrupts our schedule.
• Unlike raspberries, blackberries are not hollow but have a soft edible centre core. The only way to eat a blackberry is to pop the whole thing in your mouth. Try to take a small bite and you will be covered in dark, staining juice. While best eaten fresh, blackberries also make great jam, juice, sauce & ice cream.
• Hanging throughout our blackberry rows are these yellow sticky traps – the bright colour attracts bugs and then they get stuck on the extremely sticky paper. It is a simple & easy way for us to see what insects are in our blackberry patch.

• What we are especially interested in is the spotted wing drosophila. This invasive vinegar fly causes extensive damage to many fruit crops, especially soft and dark coloured fruit – like blackberries. It is found throughout much of southern Ontario and most of the fruit-growing areas of North America, and has become a chronic pest in berry and tender fruit crops. There are cultural practices that we use to help reduce the insect populations, but the most effective control is chemical. So we spray regularly to protect our blackberries & keep them free of worms.
• Swiss chard – now here’s a vegetable that seldom appears in our CSA box. We have learned that most of our CSA members prefer other greens such as lettuce, spinach, arugula … over Swiss chard. But there are no salad greens this week, due to the recent rains so Swiss chard it is! (We also know there are members who really enjoy chard and will be excited to see it.)
• Patty pan summer squash is similar in taste & texture to a zucchini but with a different shape. Use it as you would a zucchini, or go wild and cut the top off, hollow it out and stuff it with mushrooms & vegetables or rice or …

• There are 2 kinds of peppers in the box this week and they look somewhat similar. But don’t get them mixed up! Shishitos are (usually) sweet while jalapenos are very hot!
• The rains have not been kind to our green beans. Several patches were under water briefly and are looking rather yellow and stressed. The bed we are picking now faired better and these beans are just fine.
• We are picking all our tomato varieties now including Big Beef, the large, red field tomatoes that you have been asking about. Unfortunately our tomato patch is already showing disease & stress from the recent heavy rains. It may be a short season. So enjoy your tomatoes while they last!
• Eggplant, garlic & fresh herbs complete the box.
• Beets & kohlrabi are available for those who still want these vegetables. 🙂

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Around the farm this week …

We are anticipating a drier week finally – and that has us really excited!

Most of the vegetables that went into the field in the last couple weeks are growing well …

2 trailers of vegetable seedlings needing to be transplanted into the field – yesterday!!

What’s in the box?

Shishito peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, carrots, fresh garlic, beets, green beans (Tuesday only).

Fruit – Nectarines, Vampire plums & Early Golden plums.

• These are the vegetables we are sure will be in the box this week – shishitos, tomatoes, eggplant, carrots, fresh garlic, beets.
• We are less confident in the following because they are under water in the fields today – romaine lettuce, fennel, kohlrabi… Perhaps by tomorrow they will be on drier ground and we can harvest?

• Our green beans surprised us last week. They were ready to harvest and we managed to pick them and include them in the box for Thursday & Saturday pick up. This week Tuesday members get their green beans. (The next planting may be ready by next week.)

• Cucumbers have only been around for 2 weeks and already the plants are dying back and producing only a few fruit – not enough for everyone. Fortunately the next planting is growing well and showing blossoms, so we will have more cucumbers in a few weeks.
• Similarly, our zucchini row is declining rapidly (picture on the left) but the next planting is not far away (picture to the right).

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Around the farm this week …

Another week, another severe storm with lightening, thunder & a lot of rain! Actually make that 2 storms this past week – 90mm last Monday night and more than 110mm yesterday & overnight. A lot of rain!

Fortunately most of the vegetables that we have planted in the last while have been on higher ground and were not much affected by the heavy rain. However our pepper plants and sunflowers did get damaged by the storms

This is a bald-faced hornet nest that we found in our blackberries. These hornets are particularly dangerous as they are aggressive and very protective of their nest. They can sting several times and also spray venom at their victims. Not something we want in our blackberries! We had them removed by a professional.

CSA pick up last week .

Our farmers’ market stall on Saturday was colourful with the first sunflowers of the season.

What’s in the box?

Tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, fresh garlic, beets, green onions.

Extras – kohlrabi

Fruit – Peaches

• Tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, and zucchini! We are surely approaching the height of the summer harvest. We know you have been waiting for tomatoes especially. This week we begin with cherry tomatoes – of many colours. Medium size fruit will follow soon with the large beefsteak in a couple of weeks.
• Our next planting of carrots is ready.
• A reminder that the garlic is freshly harvested and not yet dry. Keep it at room temperature, and in a place with good air circulation. You can leave it there and it will slowly cure & dry. Or enjoy it right away in your cooking – but once the bulb is broken open, it should be used within a few days.
• Beets and green onions complete the box.
• Kohlrabi is available as an extra for those who want it.

*What is not in the box this week? Lettuce. The hot temperatures of these last few weeks have caught up with us (we lost several plantings from the heat) and there is not enough lettuce for our CSA boxes. But we continue to plant lettuce (both head lettuce & lettuce mix) and should have some again in a week or two – weather permitting.

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Around the farm this week …

Last week’s big story was the intense rain & thunderstorm that occured during Tuesday’s CSA pick up. We received about 70mm or 2 3/4″, most of it falling within 2 hours. A lot of rain!

This is the bridge that leads to Amy’s house – over the ditch that is normally dry this time of year.

But the next day there were not any puddles on the farm. The rain had totally soaked into our sandy soil. I was even able to plant out some vegetables – on a small knoll (pink circle) where the ground was perfectly dry enough. But most of the field (blue circle) that had recently been cultivated and prepared for planting remained too wet for several days as the water ran off the knoll and pooled in the lowest spots before soaking in.

However, the fields with cover crop growing absorbed the rain immediately – a good reminder that looking after our soil and keeping it covered with a growing crop is beneficial and certainly the way to go.

I recently mowed the buckwheat cover crop leaving the residue to add organic matter to the soil. One strip of blooming buckwheat was left for all the various insects & birds to enjoy.

The garlic is all harvested. There are a lot of big, beautiful garlic bulbs drying all over the barn. The smell is amazing!

Blackberries are almost ready!

A great day at Georgetown market on Saturday.

What’s in the box?

Cucumbers, green beans, shishito peppers, fresh garlic, beets, zucchini, kohlrabi, green onions, lettuce (romaine or summer crisp).

Fruit – Apricots & Early Golden Plums

• Cucumbers are one of my favourite vegetables. Our 1st planting is producing an abundance of crisp & crunchy cucumbers now. Enjoy!
• The first green beans are also ready. We have planted green beans every week since late May – 7 times so far. The goal is to have green beans in the box often as we know they are a favourite for many CSA members.

• Shishito peppers are another of our favourite vegetables. They are a small, bright green pepper, with a sweet, fruity flavour and thin, tender, wrinkled skin. What makes a shishito exciting is that 1 in 10 peppers could be slightly hot! They are simple to prepare and delicious to eat! While you can use them as you would any other sweet pepper, the best way to prepare shishitos is to char them in olive oil in a cast-iron skillet or other heavy pan over medium-high heat. Cook the peppers whole, turning occasionally, until they begin to blister on all sides. This only takes a few minutes! Sprinkle with salt & pepper, a splash of lime juice and some parmesan cheese, and serve immediately. Eat the whole pepper – except the stem. Charring shishitos on the BBQ works well or in the air fryer too.

• Fresh garlic has a wonderful strong, pungent garlic flavour – much stronger than the garlic scapes you received in your box earlier. Because it has just been pulled and is not dry, it should be kept at room temperature, and in a place with good air circulation. You can leave it there and it will slowly cure & dry. Or enjoy it right away in your cooking – but know that once the bulb is broken open, it should be used within a few days.
• Beets, zucchini, kohlrabi, green onions & lettuce complete this week’s box.

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Around the farm this week …

Last week was challenging to say the least – heat & humidity early in the week followed by wildfire smoke & haze.

The heat & poor air quality was hard on these guys too.

We finished the week at Georgetown Farmers’ Market. What began as a relatively nice day ended with a deluge! We packed up early and headed home absolutely drenched. No complaints though – some markets had damaging storms with thunder, lightening and strong winds. We only received rain. But no rain at the farm. I returned home and had to go out & water!

Our dahlias have begun to bloom. Unfortunately the Japanese beetles are feasting on them.

New arrivals at the farm.

Just a reminder to please return any containers from vegetables or fruit so we can reuse them.

What’s in the box?

Romaine lettuce, zucchini, salad turnips, fennel, kohlrabi, beets, green onions, radishes (maybe).

Extras – garlic scapes.

No fruit this week. Look for it next week.

This week’s CSA box is similar to the last. There is a lot of variety as we continue into July with the start of the summer vegetables like zucchini & fennel, while finishing up the spring crops like radishes & salad turnips (though we have another planting of the turnips coming on yet). Kohlrabi, beets & green onions span the seasons and we keep on seeding these weekly.

Salad greens are rather unpredictable these days. While we continue seeding & planting different lettuces, and spinach, arugula & bok choy every week, the quality & quantity of the harvest of these cool-weather-loving crops is very much affected by temperature and rainfall. Some loss can be expected.

This week we have romaine lettuce. The recent heat has stressed it, causing some varieties to twist & curl. Others stretched and grew tall, and some got brown tips or rust coloured veins on the leaves. We considered leaving it, but it still tastes good. Certainly it will get bitter in the heat this week so we opted to pick first thing this morning. I sampled as I picked so we could be confident in the flavour. The outer leaves, rusty leaves and brown tips were peeled away leaving small, wonky romaine hearts. They might look funny but there’s some good eating there!

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Around the farm this week …

Today’s plantings all covered with insect netting – the bugs are out in full force these days! And maybe for a little protection from the sun as well.

Transplanting the next bed of cucumbers.

Cucumbers covered with insect netting and mulched with straw.

The garlic is almost ready for harvest.

The first tomatoes! Expect to wait another week or two before there will be enough for our CSA boxes.

A welcome spot of shade on a hot day!

What’s in the box?

Zucchini, salad turnips, fennel, iceberg lettuce, kohlrabi, beets, green onions, broccoli (maybe).

extras – garlic scapes.

Fruit share – sweet cherries.

• It’s zucchini time! We picked the first ones last week and our customers were very excited to see them at market on Saturday. We picked again this morning – after the hot weekend, the zucchini grew large. You can expect plenty of good eating in each one!
• Salad turnips are considered an early spring vegetable but they surely took their time growing this season. Salad turnips are small, round, white turnips that resemble radishes, but without the bite! Mild in flavour, crisp, and quite tender, they are best eaten raw – simply wash, cut off the tops and enjoy! They can also be stir fried, sautéed, or steamed – both the turnips & the green tops.
• Nothing smells better than fennel bulbs when we are harvesting! They have a beautiful licorice scent – and flavour. The bulbs are delicious grated into a salad or slaw. The taste is light and refreshing. Roasting or sautéing fennel results in a milder and very delicious flavor.

• The lettuce this week is iceberg. Crisp & crunchy, delicious leaves in a small round shape – it could be my new favourite lettuce!
• Kohlrabi, beets & green onions are back again.
• We are picking broccoli this week – and hoping there will be enough to put in the box.

• Those CSA members who purchased a fruit share will enjoy sweet cherries this week. The cherries come from Amy’s cousins at Wall Farms located just a few roads east of us towards St.Catharines. Their cherry crop is very light this year (like most farmers in our area) due to cold weather during blossom time which resulted in poor pollination. This will be the only week for cherries – the next fruit is a few weeks away.

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Around the farm this week …

It was hot last week! Too hot for humans, animals and vegetables.

But what did enjoy the heat & humidity and also the frequent rains we experienced last week were the weeds. They absolutely thrived, so we have no shortage of work this week!

Most of the vegetables that were already established & growing, handled the scorching temperatures ok. We covered a few beds of lettuce with shade cloth to try and save it – which was successful. I did transplant some lettuce that was getting too big and needed to be in the ground – but it did not survive. Overall we were fortunate to not get the damaging storms that parts of the province experienced. And the rain (more than we wanted) did help our vegetables stay alive.

The cooler temperatures this week are quite welcome – today we were very comfortable weeding & working.

We have made 6 plantings of sunflowers so far. Here are the newest, the oldest and some in between. Our first harvest should happen towards the end of July.

A beautiful sunrise on our way to market on Saturday. This was followed by an intense thunderstorm while we were setting up. Fortunately the skies cleared and sales were ok.

Sage’s new favourite snack – serviceberries.

What’s in the box?

Beets, kohlrabi, green onions, romaine lettuce, another salad green, fresh herbs, garlic scapes.

• The first beets are ready! Freshly pulled, early season beets are tender, juicy and sweet. We often forgo the cooking and eat them fresh, usually shredded into salads. But whether you eat them cooked or raw, don’t bother to peel them! The skin is tender and full of nutrients that you don’t want to miss out on.
• Kohlrabi is a strange-looking vegetable – sort of like a cross between a little cabbage and a turnip. It is considered a root vegetable, though the edible round globe grows above ground. Kohlrabi is most often eaten raw – just peeled & sliced. The taste & texture resembles fresh, crunchy broccoli stems, with a bit of radish thrown in, and perhaps cabbage. Use on raw vegetable platters and serve with a creamy dip. Grated kohlrabi can be added to slaws. We like to spiralize our kohlrabi and use it instead of pasta. Kohlrabi can also be steamed or boiled – cook until the bulbs are tender, then peel the skin, season with butter, salt, and pepper, a cheese sauce, or just enjoy plain. They are good for mashing with other vegetables – parsnips, carrots or potatoes. Kohlrabi absorbs the flavour of other ingredients making it ideal to add to soup, stew and stir-fries. The bulbs should be stored, unwashed, in a plastic bag in the fridge. Our favourite way to cook kohlrabi is to sautée it in butter with garlic scapes for just a few minutes. Then add just a dash of nutmeg. Delicious!
• Green onions, also called bunching onions, spring onions or scallions are tender & delicious. Eat everything – the green leaves & the small, bottom white bulb.
• Your box will also include another salad green, a bunch of fresh herbs and garlic scapes.

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Around the farm this week …

Installing insect netting on today’s plantings of broccoli, cabbage & salad greens.

Coming soon …

Fennel,

Zucchini,

Tomatoes.

Georgetown Farmers’ Market on Saturday

What’s in the box?

Radishes, mini romaine lettuce, kale, garlic scapes, carrots, another salad green, fresh herbs.

• Radishes are finally ready – crisp, refreshing, sharp & spicy! Today’s rain is causing a lot of them to crack but there should still be plenty.
• Mini romaine lettuce looks like regular romaine – just smaller. It has the same crunch and the same great flavour.
• Remember the great kale craze? It began around 2011 thanks to some brilliant marketing & celebrity endorsements and lasted until 2019 or so when “kale fatigue” set in. However kale is still around, still as nutritious as ever, and still a well loved vegetable by many. (Just not me!) We don’t include it in the box often but here it is this week. We have mostly black kale (also called dinosaur kale) and some curly kale too. Massage it with some olive oil & lemon juice to tenderize it for a salad or cook it – sautee, steam, roast …
• First it was green garlic. Now there are garlic scapes. Scapes grow out of the top of the garlic plant and curl around in a loose coil. If we left them they would eventually flower and go to seed. But we prefer that the plant uses its energy to form large garlic bulbs underground instead, so we remove the scapes. They are delicious! Use them wherever garlic bulbs are used – raw or cooked. Their flavour is a bit milder. They are also great on the BBQ. Coat the whole garlic scape with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Grill for a few minutes on each side until well charred & tender.  Garlic scape pesto is also a good way to use the scapes.

• This week we will finish harvesting our 1st carrot bed. The next carrots will be ready sometime in July.
• There will be a bag of another salad green in your box this week.
• Choose a bunch of fresh herbs – there will be several kinds to choose from.

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Around the farm this week …

We were anticipating a lovely crop of Chinese cabbage. Unfortunately our fluctuating temperatures caused it to go to seed rather than form nice heads.

The blackberry blossoms are dropping, revealing tiny little blackberries. Harvest should begin in early August.

Our booth at the farmers’ market in downtown Georgetown this past Saturday …