Spring CSA #7

Good evening everyone

Looks like the nice weather has finally arrived! Lots to do and now! We are off to plant more potatoes in a bit and if all works out we will have alot! This week the laying hens were moved back out to the moveable hen house.

In your baskets this week:

1 bag of Chez Nous Salad Mix
1 Stir Fry bag- Kale, Napa Cabbage,Hakurei Turnip and Green Onions
1 bag of Beet Greens
1 Bag of Escarole/Endive
1 Oregano

Juicing bag (for those who have purchased this) pea shoots, Kale and Swiss Chard

Again, I am trying out some new Kales this year along with the old favorites.  I don't remember what the one in the front is called but it sure looks pretty

A deconstructed  stir-fry bag which a just ate for supper with a yummy, runny, dark yolk in the middle.

These are the two items in your Escarole bag.  They are fairly bitter on their own but do well mixed with other greens in a salad but my favorite is to cook them I was planning for some sort of pasta-escarole-oregano bake or ricotta-oregano and escarole filled crepes.  However, as I looked for inspiration online...I think it will be soup they look so good!

my collection of Escarole Recipes

Beet greens need nothing but light cooking and butter...

 Till next week!

Shirley and Rick

Spring CSA 6

Good evening all!

It was nice to be back in my regular routine this week.  We are mid-point in our Spring baskets and welcoming our Seasonal members.  I was happy to meet some of you at our plant sale last weekend and wish you luck in your gardens this year! It has been a long and hard 2 weeks and i am hoping the weather cooperates soon.
  This week I made two separate batches of lettuce; one a cold weather blend and the other a lighter summer mix.  We have slowly been clearing the hoop-house to  give our already growing summer crops more room and light and to replace any cold crops with heat loving crops.  We got more planted in the gardens outside but not much as we are extremely limited.

In your baskets this week:

1 Chez Nous Mix Winter Blend (the one with the Chez Nous Farms Label on it)with Napa, Kales, Mustards, Herba Stella, Asian Greens, Sorrel

1 Chez Nous Mix Summer blend which has mostly lettuces, lots of arugula, sunflowers greens, some napa and Asian greens and beet greens

1 bag of Kale Mix

1 lrg bag of Stir Fry Mix with Swiss Chard, Hakurei Turnips ( leaves are edible) and other greens

1 bunch of Chive Buds...I'm thinking pizza or quiche or just a plain cheese and onion omelette à la fancy!

Napa Cabbage I can't praise this wonderful green enough! It explodes week after week, these have been taken down to small cores so that the cucumbers have room but give them a week and they will be back up to size and in your salad!  I am curious to see how long they will last.

Lettuce was also exploding everywhere!

These lettuce heads needed to be cut into 3 pieces for the salad mix.

Arugula was also very large and needed to be cut.

Hakurei Turnips we had some really big ones ,I took this one in the house to see if it was tough or stringy but no it was perfect even at that size!

Chive Buds 

This is what most of the yard looks like

But there are some great things happening... we have our onions planted (  at the far back sit all our leeks unplanted for now)

There are 300 feet of Snap Peas planted and they are doing well- when it comes to peas picking them is the big job!

Some lettuces, endive, amaranth, spinach and a 150 foot colored carrot bed. My fingers are crossed for these.  We have had to lay our organic bagged products on the bed since it is untillable.

Broccoli, Kohlrabi and Kales 

And then there is the greenhouse which is bursting with life...many, many cold crops which ideally should be harvested and removed to allow for the hot crops. It's hard to remove such healthy plants though since not much is going on outside!

We've started trellising the cucumbers and tomatoes.

I am truly amazed at just how much we have been able to produce in 1 greenhouse.  

And here maybe just to make me smile or cry lol! is one of many trays of  flowers that never made it out yet and have bloomed right were they are. This is Zulu Prince

Spring CSA #5

May 9th 2014

Good morning everybody!

After starring at a blank screen for too long last night, I realized that i'd better wait till I could make a sentence before i attempted to write a newsletter! This time of year is always over abundant in work and this year is no different but we shall get through it and I will keep my sanity and I vow to make some changes for next spring.  Anyway, next week we will be kicking off our plant sale and their will be no basket #6 it will be postponed to the following week on may 23rd.  As always there will be some greens available in the store to purchase.

We continue to struggle with the lack of ability to work the fields. We have hundreds of plants sitting in pots and are thinking that this week they will need to go in either way.  It's not the best of circumstances but it seems to be what needs to be done this year.  Luckily we have lots of organic bagged soil that we can use to top dress the beds and give the plants a better chance that going right into soggy clay.  This week, we were able to get all our onions in and leeks will be next.  Peas have come up also.


In your baskets this week:

1 awesome bag of Chez Nous Mix with lots of yummy Arugula
1 Bag of mixed greens Dandelion, spinach and gorgeous spring Kale
1 mixed bag of Radish and Hakurei turnips
1 bag of Asian Greens
1 bag of Swiss Chard
1 small chive

Juicing upgrade: 1 bag of Pea Shoots and a bag of mixed greens

Radishes and some gorgeous napa the crunchy base of my salad mix

Rick harvesting Kale. This one bed has been so productive! Inter-cropping at it's best! From let to right in contained Arugula, Kale/Lettuce, Cucumber, Radishes and Spinach.  All love water and fit together perfectly.  Spinach is almost done, radishes have been harvested, lettuce and arugula will be next to go followed by the Klae to let the cucumbers thrive for summer!

This herba Stella green i grew is the weirdest thing but i love it! Lots in your salad mix this week.

Chive so tender right now, yummy in salad, eggs, potatoes etc....

Dandelion greens

This is one of the extra projects we are working on- building a chicken moat around the perimeter of the farm. Clearing this area here is the biggest challenge because it was were extra everything was stored but seeing it all cleaned up it looking great!  

Don't forget to pass on the message that we are having a plant sale next weekend.  So if you know anyone planting a garden or want a few plants yourself please come by and see us! 

Spring CSA #4

Spring CSA #4

May 2nd 2014

Hello everybody!

Glad to see most baskets picked up tonight! Yoohoo! This week was different as I spent most of the week potting up and my husband took on many of the CSA tasks.  It's so hard t believe that the last 2 days i've spent with a tuque on! On one occasion my husband said "You know what i do to make myself feel better? I look at the weather in Quebec....ironically the last 2 days have been nearly double ours...geez!"  The rain and cold weather has us getting quite a bit behind.  Luckily we have planted some crops outside such as lettuce, peas, broccoli and Swiss Chard- still though it will take time. Luckily this year we were able to invest in a BCS ( a European built rototiller)and a couple attachments to really bring our farm up to speed, unfortunately the biggest difference will be seen next spring when all our raised beds and drainage ditches have been built.  After a few seasons, we are able to judge that this will give us an edge to getting things in earlier as raised beds will dry up a little quicker.   As for this season, we roll with the punches and  wait on Mother Nature.   With this said we would like to advise you that there will be a basket next week but please check your emails as the following week there is a possibility of  holding off for a week to let things grow and more planted. 


We are glad to have our bags labelled this week! Sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused...

In your baskets this week:

1 bag of Chez Nous Salad Mix
1 Bag of Mild Mustard Greens ( can be lightly cooked without being to strong)
1 small bunch of French Breakfast radishes
1 bag of Asian Greens
1 bag of Vivid Choi Pac Choi (used as nay green..very mild)

Juicing upgrade:

1 bag- dandelion greens, spinach, Swiss Chard and Kale

New raised beds being built all over the farm. Here's a shot of our almost finished movable greenhouse.  It slides along 3 gardens. 

These radishes are the best we have ever grown!  I am so please with this 30 inch bed in has arugula folled by Klae/letuuce with cucumbers in the middle and radishes and spinach on other side. 

Two really cool items in your salad mix on tops with purple midrib is Dragon Tongue Arugula and long and spikey is Herba Stella

A Niagara Falls delivery bag with extra juicing greens...so full it's hard to zip!


So see you next week and stay tuned for after that!