CSA #4

June 25 th  2016

Good morning!

I hope you're all enjoying the sunshine! I am looking forward to a nice day of seeding and tydying up...so many things need some TLC at this time of the year, it's really hard to keep up.  Yesterday, was our sons grade 8 graduation, it was a wonderful day... one of those days that continue to spill over into the next...I'm still living it today, proud mama I am!

I hope you're all making out ok with with your items, which most of you have been receiving for many seasons now but there are some fresher faces in the program and so, with the help of our newsletter and google i gage your able to enjoy some of the unique items you receive.

In your baskets this week:

Chez Nous Salad Mix
Brocoli Leaf and shoots
Beets
Peas
Garlic Scapes

X-Greens: Kale and Salad Mix

I wanted to share a potato Salad recipe i made this week for our graduation party.  It included Garlic Scapes and Peas.  I used shelling peas instead of Snap so they needed to be cooked on their own and i substituted Dill for the herb because i love dill!

I am also including a recipe for a Pea and Cauliflower bowl which was also delicious!

You may notice lots of herbs in the salad mix this week.  While i usually like to stick to one or two flavours all the herb plants are still little and so it's an herb medley.

Broccoli sending up more florets.

 A recipe from Deliciously Ella

 Pea and Cauliflower Bowl

Potato Salad

My two... 

 Have a great weekend!

CSA #3

CSA #3

June 18th

Some crops, like peas... have no mercy.  Doesn't matter if it's friday evening and you've just finished CSA baskets and market prep, or that you've been picking peas for 2 days and your walking like maybe you should grab a cane....if they don't get picked they will be wasted.  That was my situation yesterday hence the late newsletter.  Peas go from not ready to ready in a day or two...and like many crops they are planted with the intention that we'd have help to harvest them which usually doesn't work out that way.

Anyway, I am happy to be able to offer shelling peas this year. They are my favourite but it takes quite a bit to amount to anything once they are shelled compared to Snap Peas which are eaten whole.     I hope you enjoy them too and eat them right away when they have the most flavour.

In your baskets today:

Chez Nous Salad Mix
Kale
1 pound of Peas
Garlic Scapes
Lemon Balm ( this is new to me...plan on making tea or just adding to my water)
cucumber

Greens upgrade: Kale and 2 extra cucumbers

Today my job is watering, watering, watering and seeding.  Here's a few pictures.

First batch of Chez Nous Mix...some spicy mustards, arugula and herbs with a blend of lettuces.

If you don't know my husband obsessed over Doe Hill peppers last year and wanted to grow only Doe Hill this year! We did plant a full row in the greenhouse and more outside.  

Doe Hill waiting to turn orange.

Greenhouse cherries are nearly up to the roof and while we didn't have enough to include in basket there are some for sale in store.

Seeding area organized for the season. I love spending time in this nice cool area when it gets to hot in the fields...

While i do find our organic helpers like this mulch fabric take away from the beauty of a crop they sure do help!

Hot Peppes looking fantastic! 

While most are Jalapeños I couldn't resist adding other. Fireball here.

Again, my beautiful zucchini!  Fabric mulch for weeds and net for bugs...doesn't look the prettiest.  Nets are about to come off as the plants are ready for pollination.

Ahhhhh! That time of year where tomato plants are growing like crazy and so nice and green!  Making my way across to remove bottom leaves and some minor pruning.  

This is our land of the misfits.  Unsold plants ...getting planted but not staked, nor pruned etc...  we'll see what happens!

This girls always up for someone taking a break!

Csa #2

CSA #2

June 10

I'm so glad you all found your way to your first baskets last week...it was a crazy week with way too much going on...plant sale, our first CSA, Farmer's Market, Veg Fest, a whole lot of planting to do and i was off to a basketball tournament with my son for the weekend.  It happens to all of us, too many things scheduled... and we really paid for it this week, where neither of us could really shake off the tired.  Gladly, our weekend looks quiet and some rain is on the way.  Our plant sale ends this week and back to the farm i get!

Some very, very green baskets this week, especially for the extra greens members.  I apologize for the lack of labels but i am sure with the help of the newsletter you should be able to make sense of it all!

In your baskets this week:

Kale
Mustard Greens
Broccoli ( all is edible...stalk and greens too)
Greens Mix ( cooking but can also be used as a salad base)
Cucumber
Herb Bag with a few Garlic Scapes some thyme and oregano)

X-Greens: an extra cucumber, cilantro, Swiss Chard and extra Kale

Indigo tomatoes are absolutely beautiful tomatoes.  These here are Chestnut Chocolate.  Pruned and tied the outside cherry tomatoes this week.

We also had our first ripe tomatoes this week.  We devote our greenhouse to cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers (this year sweet).

Oregano and Thyme with Yellow Wonder Alpine Strawberries.  These strawberries... ordered a pack last year, seeded them all since they are supposed to be hard to germinate.  All sprouted...sat in trays forever....end of season i finally planted them and they took off and we had berries at the end of the season.  We have quite a large and beautiful patch of these.  The only downfall is the harvest time...which is ridiculously long.

Mustard Greens and their delicious flower buds.  Unlike Kale Mustards are pretty short lived in warm weather, it's already the end until fall.

We had a few chilly days this week and feeling tired...i made up a pretty quick satisfying soup using many items in your basket.

I sautéed chopped garlic scape with thyme and mustard stalks.  Then i added  a box and 2 cubes of vegetable broth with the mustard greens and a can of white navy beans and some small noodles.   When nearly ready i added lots of fresh oregano, salt, pepper and ground red pepper flakes (cayenne).

You can add bacon or prosciutto ... cheese etc.  A sprinkle of cinnamon is also tasty! I had mine with some amazing dairy free cheese we got from veg fest.

Last year we had a row of flowers here but this year this extra garden got planted to more cherry tomatoes and a front row of Dwarf Tomatoes.

 Some of the spinach in your cooking greens.

 Every so often, herbs need to be replaced. All the sage was ripped this spring and a fresh crop will go in.  I did leave 1 plant to flower because it's just so beautiful against my old weathered picket fence.

Looks like we'll have some shelling peas ready.

Have a great week everybody!

Shirley

CSA 2016 Basket #1

Thursday June 2


Hello everyone and thank you for joining our 2016 CSA Season!   We look forward to supplying you with a season of homestyle organic produce.    We will run for 18 weeks which will lead us right into fall allowing you to enjoy some spring, summer and fall garden produce . We have a big summer ahead of us growing for 2 markets and our CSA while slowly building another greenhouse which we plan to have in full production this fall.

Our newsletter will be available to view online Friday evenings or Saturday mornings, we will continue to send out a reminder email with a link to our site www.cheznousfarms.com it is also posted on Chez Nous Farms facebook page.

In your basket this week

1 bag of Kale
1 bag of Mustard Greens
1 bag of Spring Cooking Mix ( spinach, kale buds, bok choy, mustards etc...)
Barese Swiss Chard
Cucumbers

Extra Greens; 1 bag of Kale and extra Cucumbers

We love trying new crops/varieties some work out and others are just ok but this year we found another keeper.... Barese Swiss Chard.  It's a small when mature Swiss Chard, fitting in the palm of your hand just like baby Bok Choy. As a spring crop, in this years extra heat,  it has outperformed the Bok Choy which ended up bolting as cold weather crops tend to do.  We plan to succession plant Barese all summer long so we hope you like it too!

As organic farmers, weeds and pests keep us challenged.  With nets we've been able to manage the pest pretty well, as long as we get them set on time (not always the case).  However, weeds they're tough and up to now hand weeding is the only solution we had.  With only the two of you, that's a lot of weeding and a lot of situations getting out of hand.

This year we've invested in tarps and woven ground cover to get control of the situation.    We set tarps over gardens for at least 2 weeks and kill the weeds (which we've already learned still doesn't guarantee a weed free bed!).

 We are also using this mulch which is said to last well over 10 years to plant  crops.

 After a compost top dress, we lay it down and plant right through the hole we have pre-made.

A bulb planter lets me carve out a nice deep hole for my tomatoes.

 Planting mayhem ...hot peppers.

Tomatoes, more sweet peppers and eggplant.

 I did manage to get in all my tomatoes, peppers and eggplant this week.  Last year we grew a plant sale left over area also not sure if we'll get to that this year.


 Look at this cutie!

 A perfect example of our mulch at work.  The kale was planted weeks ago and covered right away.  It was uncovered for the first time yesterday and without the mulch it would have been a mess had we not been weeding it.

 Before harvest...

 After harvest....

The greenhouse is also doing great...lots to come! 

 See you next week!

Shirley and Rick