Week 22 and the Season is Through

The end of the season is always bittersweet. We love growing food and working with the Earth and we’re also ready for some rest when the nights get longer and the days are colder, or in the case of today’s weather colder and wetter. We also miss the routine and seeing familiar faces every week as we also look forward to spending more time with our families. Before we can rest we still have a lot of Garlic to plant for next season, and a lot of beds to put to sleep to be ready to plant next year as well. The season doesn’t end when the veggies do.

As this is the last week we thought it was time to make an announcement about changes for next year. Farmer Rashel is taking a leave from farming. As some of you know a small child came in to our care just before the growing season started. As a family we’ve all made sacrifices and worked very hard to keep the farm afloat while also raising a baby, we did what needed to be done. Some days and weeks it felt like all we were doing was treading water but we managed to keep the plants alive and delivered every week. It almost feels like a miracle. In no small part due to farmer Andrea, who we are happy to announce, has decided to continue running a CSA from the Tremblay Family Farm in 2017! Please keep an eye out on this blog and/or on Facebook for details about Andrea’s CSA plans for next season. Farmer Rashel will continue to grow food for and with their family, and continue to experiment with sustainable farming techniques and sharing that joy on this blog and on Facebook.

Now on to the final Vegetable list of the season:

We’ve had a bumper crop of Peppers this season and we’re offering Green Peppers for only $4 a pound and as a 2 for 1 deal – 2 lbs of organically-grown Peppers for only $4!

We still have a lot of Scallions ready to go so we’re offering those as a 2 for 1 deal as well!

If the frost holds off we’ll have Hot Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes,  and Heirloom Tomatoes.

There will also be Green Tomatoes (to use for fried green tomatoes or to let sit and ripen, other recipe ideas on Veggies!), Sunchokes, Salad, Kale, Chard, Broccoli, Garlic (for planting or for eating), Celery, a variety of fresh and dried Herbs, Shepard’s Purse tincture, and bee pollen.

A big THANK YOU to all of our loyal and appreciative members – you keep us going when things get difficult and we couldn’t make this happen without YOU!

Only these 4 Pears grew on 16yo Lennon’s baby Tree this year, each 1 the same relative size as each of the 4 farm children ❤

 

 

 

 

 

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Week 21 and We’re Almost Done

Produce anticipated to be available this week at ShopEco in Windsor: Sweet Bell Peppers, Green Peppers, Hot Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes, Green Tomatoes, Scallions + other Onions, Celery, Salad Mix, Kale, Chard (lots and lots of it!), Squash, Garlic, fresh herbs, dried Herbs + Teas, Sundried Tomatoes, Shepard’s Purse Tincture, and small amounts of Broccoli and Eggplant. New this week we’ll have available SUNCHOKES (link to a previous blog post).

These are a short seasonal delight and highly sought-after in France. They are indigenous to our Carolinian zone and can be found in wild areas. You can plant the root for your own supply of these edible tubers, or as perennial Sunflower. Eat them any way you would eat a potato – roasted, fried, in soups, or raw – experiment with them! Recipes can be found on our Veggies! page, our previous blog post on Sunchokes, a blog post where Chef Ben from the Iron Kettle used Sunchokes to make a soup and a bread, or on this link we came across this week.

Photo by Ben Leblanc-Beaudoin

2 new Herbs we have available in small quantities are Mugwort and Motherwort.

Mugwort can be burned as a smudge, sewn into a sleepy dream pillow, or drunk as a tea. More information (including warnings) –http://happyherbcompany.com/mugwort ; http://www.witchipedia.com/herb:mugwort ; http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/May09/wisdomkeepers.htm

Motherwort can be added in small amounts to tea when you feel like you need a hug from a mother. Information (including warnings) – http://www.susunweed.com/Article_Motherwort.htm ; http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-126-motherwort.aspx?activeingredientid=126&activeingredientname=motherwort

Celery

A shout out to Black Cherry Tomatoes – not only are they always the hands down favourite for flavour but every year they produce the largest amount of tomatoes and they keep on going until a hard frost kills them. These are the best tomatoes ever!

One more week left – weekly vegetables end on Saturday October 22nd for farm members and Wednesday October 26th for ShopEco Windsor members.

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Giving Thanks

We are approaching the time of year when we give thanks. Reflecting on all we have to be thankful for is a wonderful practice. A big THANK YOU to all the folks – big and small, human and non-human – who co-create and conspire to bring us a bounty of food to eat every day.

I am incredibly grateful, if not in awe, of my own little farming family. It’s amazing to watch small children be as competent + knowledgeable as any adult in almost every area of our little farming operation. It’s even more amazing to be working alongside my awesome children each and every day. We are blessed.

We’ve had a veritable ABUNDANCE of veggies in the last two weeks! From our Wednesday on-farm market the last week of September 2015.

This is also a time to reconnect with our roots and with the teachings of those who inhabited this land before colonization, the First Peoples.

The abundance of Fall produce is the perfect time to re-commit to another year of good health by securing yourself a spot in our CSA for the 2016 season. By signing up you commit to: feeding yourself and your family FRESH, ecologically-grown food you can trust; eating well by enjoying the fruits of our labour every week; a healthier community by buying local and by supporting our farming family.

You can also help build a strong local food system within our CSA program by being a part of our “core planning group” and providing input in to our planning for next season.

A reminder for those who might have missed it: We have a new pickup time at Take Back The Farm for the rest of the season – 4:30-6:30 on Thursdays.

I came across an interesting article this week about the plight of small-scale local farmers – from the farmer’s perspective – on growing for a local, ecological market … Manure and Markets.

Our harvest list is very similar this week as last week so if you need information on certain veggies or are looking for recipe ideas you can reference last week’s blog post, Looking Towards The Future.

What we are harvesting this week:

Rainbow Beets – red, chiogga (candy cane), golden

Wild Rainbow Salad Mix (the lettuce is just gorgeous and sooooo tasty right now!)

CSA member J shared this simple yet beautiful salad. Our mixes are perfect to just put in to a large bowl and add whatever dressing you prefer. Can’t get easier than that. A plethora of taste to please the palate!

Rainbow Kale + Leafy Green mixes

Snap Beans – dragon, purple, blu jay, fillet

Broccoli florets

And hopefully a few Cauliflower, too. This is ‘Cheddar’ – fresh in the field, complete with insect poo.

Green Tomatoes

Dried Basil + other dried herbs

Tomatillos

Calendula Seeds

Parsley

Rainbow Radishes – including some specialties like Ostergruss, Watermelon, Shunkyo, and Black Spanish.

In limited supply:

Cherry + Beefsteak tomatoes

Onions

Salsify + Scorzonera – yummy root alternatives to parsnips + carrots

Sage Smudge Sticks

Okra

Hot Peppers

Sweet Peppers

Squash

Summer Squash

Summer Squash in a raised bed; Carrots in the forefront.

Eggplant

Sun-dried Tomatoes – only a couple of bags available at each location

Hickory Nuts – only a couple of bags available at each location

Bee pollen + Pickles – until supplies run out

Horseradish root – you can also plant this root in your garden for a perennial supply

Turnips – almost done until the next batch are ready

We have super awesome dedicated farm friends.

Scallions

Fennel

And there will certainly be surprises, like perhaps Sunchokes…..

What is to come before the end of the season…..crops we are still hoping will produce before the end of the season – Cauliflower (orange, purple, green), Brussel Sprouts, Leeks, and Rutabagas – as well as more Beets, Turnips, Salad (Hakurei) Turnips, and Kohlrabi. How long the season goes will depend on the weather. If the weather holds and we still have veggies we will keep bringing them until we can’t anymore.

A great salad preserving share from Facebook – Mason jar salads to-go! Farm friend Marie W has tried these and said they worked wonderfully so we had to share!

A snapshot of the abundance we’ve had and shared and the abundance still to come….

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Week #18

A reminder that the final week of the CSA veggie pickup is currently undetermined and may be in up to a month (or more) from now, it depends on the weather but there will be 1 more final veggie pickup. We will send out emails and post on the blog when we know when the final pickup will be.

One thing we did on our “week off” was plant Garlic in several different places to see how well it does – in black plastic (after removing the previous crop), in a compost-rich raised bed, and in this raised bed made of spoiled hay.

 

 

Pick List Week #18:

Dried Black Beans: we grew out a pole bean called Cherokee ‘Trail of Tears’. It was supposed to be harvested as a fresh bean but we had so many Dragon beans that we decided to keep these heirloom beans as a seed and dried bean crop. The seeds we planted this year have been saved by Rashel every year for the last 7 years. When the Cherokee were forced from their homes and made to walk what is now called the Trail of Tears one of the only things they had left when the walk was over were these beans. They have an incredible tale to tell. Keep them to use as a dried black bean or save them to plant or to share with others.

Credit: http://www.garten-des-lebens.de/bunte-bohnenvielfalt/gal_bohnen-cherokeeernte/

Watermelon, Squash, or Pumpkin courtesy of Meme and Pepe’s garden in Pointe-Aux-Roches

Garlic

Rainbow Kale

Lettuce – this week’s lettuce mix is a spicier, more flavourful mix of mostly Asian greens. It has a mix of Tatsoi, Mizuna, Red Giant, Scarlet Frills, Arugula, and more, mixed with Pea Shoots, Parsley, and Nasturtiums. Most of the greens can also be used for braising or in a stir fry.

Sunchokes

Photo Courtesy of Benjamin Leblanc-Beaudoin

This past week we were fortunate to attend the launch of the Good Food Charter of Windsor-Essex, the culmination of years of work from dedicated community members currently operating as Food Matters Windsor-Essex. There were over a dozen local chefs featuring a wide variety of delicious dishes made of local ingredients. Chef Benjamin Leblanc-Beaudoin of the Iron Kettle B&B in Comber used our Sunchokes to make a delicious creamy soup as well as a cornbread.

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Leblanc-Beaudoin

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Leblanc-Beaudoin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember to watch out for grubs in the Sunchoke tubers (we are looking into this problem but as you’ll see in the following link everyone says there are no problems with pests in Sunchokes), Chef Ben suggests putting the tubers in hot water to flush out the grubs before scrubbing and prepping for a meal. You can also plant them! Find out more and get some great recipes from Mother Earth News.

 Week #18 Basket

Pictured: Watermelon, Salad Mix, Rainbow Kale, Sunchokes, Garlic, Dried Black Beans, Red Kuri Squash

 

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Week #17

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ALL LOCATIONS: There will be NOT be a veggie basket delivery next week. Due to conditions beyond our control, ie, the weather, crops are either not ready yet or succumbed to the frost we had on Sunday morning. We have a large amount of lovely Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cabbage that might not be ready until December at this point. We also have Kohlrabi, Onions, Bok Choy, Kale, Chard, and Lettuce that have not made the growth necessary as of yet. Many of our Squash was taken by the frost. We do not know when the next veggie basket delivery will be, there will be at least 1 more, perhaps 2, and we will keep in touch about when we know that will be. The last delivery may very well happen in December as the crops we have left can keep growing well into December and we have them covered with frost blankets to protect them.

Our raised beds make it easy to put up hoops and to cover them with frost blankets.

Beautiful, Bountiful Broccoli

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: Kohlrabi, Onions, and Bok Choy under frost blankets

 

Right: Turnips, Radishes (including Watermelon and Black Spanish), Beets

 

 

 

Harvest for this week:

Salad mix (with baby Rainbow Chard, Parsley, and Nasturtiums)

Squash

Garlic

Tomatillos or Hot Peppers (they are now quite HOT) – bags are marked

Pickles or Honey

SUNCHOKES! Check out my previous blog post about Sunchokes to find out what they are and how to eat them! The red ones are particularly delicious raw right now. One note – we have found some grubs inside the tubers so if that disturbs you just check them carefully before biting into them (I learned that the hard way). No need to peel them, just wash and enjoy!

Pictured: Hot Peppers or Tomatillos, Salad Mix, Garlic, Squash, Sunchokes, Pickles or Honey

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Notes on Sunchokes

Sunchokes, formerly known as Jerusalem Artichokes, are a native wildflower with an edible tuber similar to a potato (also known as Canada potato!).

In Bloom

Edible Tubers

A note on eating them for the first time from the book The Mini Farming Guide To Vegetable Farming: self-sufficiency from Asparagus to Zucchini by Brett L. Markham: “Sunchokes are an indigenous root vegetable that is high in an indigestible starch called inulin. You’ll find special pastas for diabetics made using inulin in some stores.

If you have never eaten them before, just eat a little bit the first few times because your large intestine likely lacks sufficient numbers of the bacteria needed to process inulin. This lack of bacteria will cause diarrhea. If you eat a little at a time and build up to it, you’ll soon find that you can pack away a whole plate of these delicious roots without any trouble at all.”

You can eat them any way you eat potatoes – roasted, fried, or in soups. They are also tasty raw. Experiment! If properly kept they will last until the Spring.

This website has a large variety of recipes to get you started – http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blv71.htm

You can also try planting a tuber a two for a very quick growing large flower that can withstand everything this climate has to throw at it.

Red variety of Sunchokes

We easily harvested 2 buckets of Sunchokes in 15 minutes from a small area. This red variety was taking over a new Pawpaw Tree.

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CSA Week 5 Through 20

The busyness of full-time farming and full-time parenting got the best of us this summer and we didn’t publish our weekly baskets on the blog. Winter is when we play catch-up with everything we had to put on hold to grow food for our CSA members and our local community.

Here’s what our members saw in their weekly baskets (we’re publishing this so that future, prospective members can see what the produce provided in previous years) :

Week 5 –

Large baskets contained 1 pound of Beans*, a bunch of Chard, 1 Armenian Cucumber, 1 head of Garlic, 1 head of Lettuce, 1 pound of Salad Mix, a bunch of Spring Onions, a bunch of Parsley, Okra, hot Peppers, a bunch of Rapini, a bunch of Turnips, and Summer Squash.

Small baskets contained 1 pound of Beans, a bunch of Chard, 1 Armenian Cucumber, 1 head of Garlic, a bunch of Spring Onions, Okra, hot Peppers, a bunch of Rapini, and a bunch of Turnips.

Week 6 –

Large baskets contained Basil, 1 pound Beans, 1 Broccoli, 1 Green Cabbage, 1 Armenian Cucumber, a bunch of Kale, 1 head of Lettuce, Okra, hot Peppers, 1 quart of Cherry Tomatoes, and a bunch of Turnips.

Small baskets contained 1 pound of Beans, 1 Armenian Cucumber, a bunch of Kale, 1 head of Lettuce, Okra, hot Peppers, 1 quart of Cherry Tomatoes, and a Summer Squash.

Week 7 – This is where the contents between the farm pickup baskets and the market baskets varied, not in price, but in produce. If one group didn’t get an item one week then they got it the next.

Large baskets contained a bunch of Basil, 1 pound of Beans, 1 pound of Salad mix, Okra, hot Peppers, Winter Squash, Summer Squash, 1 quart of Cherry Tomatoes, Summer Squash, and some combination of Napa Cabbage, a bunch of Carrots, an Armenian Cucumber, sweet green Peppers, or a quart of new Potatoes.

Small baskets contained a bunch of Basil, 1 pound of Beans, 1 Red Cabbage, Okra, 1 Winter Squash, a quart of Cherry Tomatoes, and some combination of Napa Cabbage, 1 Armenian Cucumbers, a bunch of Carrots, Salad mix, sweet green Peppers, 1 quart of new Potatoes, or a Summer Squash.

Week 8 –

Large baskets contained a bunch of Basil, 1 pound of Beans, a bunch of Beets, 1 head of Broccoli, 1 pound of Salad mix, 1 sweet green Pepper, a bunch of Radishes, 1 quart Cherry Tomatoes, and a combination of  a bunch of Chard, 1 Eggplant, a bunch of Kale, or a quart of new Potatoes.

Small baskets contained a bunch of Basil, 1 pound of Beans, a bunch of Beets, 1 sweet green Pepper, 1 quart of Cherry Tomatoes, and a combination of a bunch of Chard, a bunch of Kale, Salad mix, 1 quart of new Potatoes, or a bunch of Radishes.

Week 9 –

Large baskets contained 1 pound of Beans, 1 Savoy Cabbage, 1 large Eggplant, 1 pound of Salad mix, Okra, hot Peppers, 2 sweet green Peppers, a bunch of Radishes, 6 pounds of heirloom Tomatoes, 2 pounds of Cherry Tomatoes and a combination of a bunch of Kale, Summer Squash, or Armenian Cucumbers.

Small baskets contained 1 Savoy Cabbage, Okra, hot Peppers, 1 sweet green Pepper, 4 pounds of heirloom Tomatoes, 1 pound of Cherry Tomatoes and a combination of Beans, Armenian Cucumber, Eggplant, or a bunch of Kale.

Week 10 –

Large baskets contained 2 large Eggplant, 2 heads of Garlic, a bunch of Spring Onions, 4 sweet green Peppers, 2 pounds of heirloom Tomatoes and a combination of a bunch of Basil, Beans, a bunch of Kale, a bunch of Radishes, 1 “surprise variety” Watermelon, or Cherry Tomatoes.

Small baskets contained a bunch of Basil, 1 pound of Beans, a bunch of Carrots, Armenian Cucumber, 1 Eggplant, 1/2 pound of Salad mix, Okra, Summer Squash, 1 pound of Cherry Tomatoes.

Week 11 –

Large baskets contained a bunch of Basil, 1 head of Garlic, 1 pound of Onions, 2 sweet green Peppers, a bunch of Radishes, 1 pound of heirloom Tomatoes and a combination of Beans, a head of red Cabbage, a bunch of Carrots, a head of Cauliflower, a bunch of Chard, a bunch of Kale or Collards, Spring Onions, Okra, 1 pound of new Potatoes,1 pound of Cherry Tomatoes, a bunch of Turnips, or a 1 “surprise variety” Watermelon.

Small baskets contained 1 sweet green Pepper, a bunch of Radishes, 1 “surprise variety” Watermelon, and a combination of Beans, red Cabbage, a bunch of Carrots, a head of Cauliflower, a bunch of Chard, 1 Eggplant, 1 head of Garlic, a bunch of Kale or Collards, Spring Onion, heirloom Tomatoes, or a bunch of Turnips.

Week 12 –

Large baskets contained 2 Eggplant, 2 heads of Garlic, a bunch of Kale, 1/2 pound of Salad mix, 1 pack of Mushrooms**, 1 Melon (either Honeydew or Cantaloupe), 2 pounds of Onions, Okra, 1 sweet green Pepper, hot Peppers, 3 pounds of heirloom Tomatoes, and a combination of  a head of Broccoli, a bunch of Carrots, a head of Cauliflower, a bunch of Parsley, or a bunch of Turnips.

Small baskets contained 1 Eggplant, 1 pack of Mushrooms**, 1 Melon (either Honeydew or Cantaloupe), 1 pound of Onions, 1 sweet green Pepper, 2 pounds of  heirloom Tomatoes, a bunch of Turnips, and a combination of  a bunch Carrots, a head of Cauliflower, a head of Garlic, a bunch of Kale, or a bunch of Parsley.

Week 13 –

Large baskets contained a bunch of Basil, 1 head of Cauliflower, 2 large Eggplant, a head of Garlic, a bunch of Kale, 2 pounds of Onions, 2 sweet green Peppers, 1 large Winter Squash, 2 pounds of heirloom Tomatoes, and a combination of Beans, a bunch of Carrots, Okra, a bunch of Parsley, or a bunch of  Turnips.

Small baskets contained 1 Eggplant, 1 Garlic, 1 pack of Mushrooms, 1 Melon, 1/2 pound of Salad mix, 2 pounds of Onions, 1 sweet green Pepper, 1 Winter Squash, 1 pound of heirloom Tomatoes, and a combination of a bunch of Basil, a head of Cauliflower, a bunch of Kale, a bunch of Parsley, or a bunch of Turnips.

Week 14 – a glitch, there are no records for this week.

Week 15 –

Large baskets contained 1 pound of Beans, 1 large Eggplant, a head of Garlic, a bunch of Kale, a head of Lettuce, a pack of Mushrooms, 1 pound of Onions, several Summer Squashes, and 1 pound of Sweet Potatoes.

Small baskets contained 1 pound of Beans, a head of Lettuce, a bunch of Kale, a head of Garlic, a pack of Mushrooms, and several Summer Squash.

Week 16 –

Large baskets contained 1 pound of Salad mix, 1 sweet green Pepper, and a combination of a head of Cauliflower, 1 large Eggplant, a bunch of Kale, a pack of  Mushrooms, 1 pound of Onions, a bunch of Parsley, hot Peppers, Winter Squash, Summer Squash, 1 pound of heirloom Tomatoes, 1 pound of Cherry Tomatoes.

Small baskets contained 1/2 pound of Salad mix, 1 pound of Onions, 1 sweet green Pepper, 1 Winter Squash, and a combination of 1 pack of Mushrooms, 1 Eggplant, a bunch of Parsely, 1 pound of heirloom Tomatoes, or Summer Squash.

Week 17 – Thanksgiving

Large baskets contained 1 pound of Beans, 2 pounds of Brussel Sprouts, a head of Lettuce, a pack of Mushrooms, several Summer Squash, 1 sweet green Pepper, and 2 pounds of Potatoes.

Small baskets contained 1 pound of Beans, 1 pound of Brussel Sprouts, a pack of Mushrooms, several Summer Squash, 1 sweet green Pepper, and 1 pound of Potatoes.

Week 18 – (day and time changed for Windsor members)

Large baskets contained 1/2 pound of Beans, 3/4 pound of Brussel Sprouts, a bunch of Kale, a head of Lettuce, 2 sweet green Peppers, 1 pound of Potatoes, 1 pound of Sweet Potatoes, Summer Squash, and an extra-large bunch of Turnips.

Small baskets contained 1/4 pound of Beans, 1/2 pound of Brussel Sprouts, a bunch of Kale, a head of Lettuce, 1 sweet green Pepper, 1 pound of Sweet Potatoes, and a bunch of Turnips.

Week 19 –

Large baskets contained 1 pound of Salad mix, 1 Kohlrabi (green or purple), a bunch of Spring Onions, a bunch of Parsley, several Summer Squash, 1 pound of Pea Sprouts, 2 Daikon Radish, and 1 large Winter Squash.

Small baskets contained 1 Kohlrabi (green or purple), 1 pound of Salad mix, a bunch of Parsley, 1 pound of Pea Shoots, 1 Daikon Radish, and 1 small Winter Squash.

Week 20 –

Large baskets contained 1 stalk of Brussel Sprouts, a large bunch of Carrots, 2 heads of Garlic, a bunch of Kale, 1 pound of Salad mix, a bunch of Radishes, a bunch of Turnips, and a pound of Sunchokes.

Small baskets contained 1 stalk of Brussel Sprouts, a bunch of Carrots, 1 head of Garlic, a bunch of Kale, a bunch of Radishes, a small bunch of Turnips, and a pound of Sunchokes.

Leafy Greens baskets contained a weekly variety, valued between $10-$12 a week, of the following greens: Collards, Kale, Chard, Salad Mix, heads of Lettuce, Basil, Parsley, Cilantro, Rapini, Turnip Greens, and Radishes (yes, we know this is not a green, most of our Leafy Green member wanted to be part of our regular shares and we tried to give them special treats to show we appreciated them).

In addition we sold several Tomato Canning Shares, with 100 pounds, or 4 hampers, included in each, and Winter Storage Shares***, which included 3 pounds of Brussel Sprouts, 10 pounds of Onions, 20 pounds of Potatoes, 5 pounds of Sweet Potatoes, 4 large Butternut Squash, 2 bunches of Turnips, 10 heads of Garlic, 2 extra-large Hubbard Squash, 2 pounds of Sunchokes.

*Beans are a mix of Yellow, Green, Purple, Dragon, Tongue of Fire, and Blujay, all fresh eating Beans

**Mushrooms are certified organic and grown locally by Highline Mushrooms

***Due to devastating crop losses we had to buy most of the produce in the Winter shares

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