CSA #6 Fall and Winter

November 19 2016

Such a beautiful day yesterday... and you better believe we were out there from sunrise to sunset.  While daylight isn't really that long this time of year, we're feeling it but we're nearly there and I can't wait!  Above all, I can't wait to visit my daughter who recently moved to Toronto for school. Until now she had been commuting nearly 6 hours a day and so, we were really happy for her! Unfortunately, the timing was really bad for us and she's had to do so much on her own for which we are extremely proud but i just can't wait to get up there and spend the day eat some food and see what we could help her with!

In your baskets this week:

Chez salad Mix
Broccoli Shoots
Red Onion
Kale
Carrots
Mint (for tea, just let dry in bag)

Extra Greens: Salad Mix and Asian Greens Mix (looks like salad but not chopped, no lettuce and no Napa)

 Some beautiful red onions in the baskets today.

Brocoli Shoots 

A strutting carrot! 

Finishing the last of the structural pieces, for which i do not know the names, but here he is adding in the highest  piece along the peak.  

The sun is setting, the rain is coming, this needs to get finished because once it rains the scaffold will sink too deep in the mud.

I'm harvesting Kale for the market while Rick gets those last pieces.

Textures...

This girl is done.  Rick still needs to get the scaffold out.  Time for dinner...market mornings come real fast!

See you tomorrow Duck Duck!

Shirley

CSA #5

November 12

I appreciate my husbands interest in and understanding of, the world around him.  His mother would often laugh and tell me about how when Rick was a kid, he would take e-v-e-r-y-thing apart ...to see how it worked.   Not sure what my response would have been if my child would have torn open all the toys i bought him but thankfully his mom was good with it because it's been a blessing in his life. Last week, we bought my nephew a toy and later on in the evening my husband says I figured it out, I know how it works!   And then, he needed to explain it to me, as he always does and I try to understand but I usually don't.  Sometimes I'll ask him about something, some piece of machinery, just for the heck of it and he always seems to know what it's for.  His understanding of things has transferred onto our natural environment and now he spends time figuring out the soil and the weather etc...  He sure is handy to have around!

On the other hand, I walk around oblivious to how anything works but it doesn't mean I'm not watching or thinking, actually i'm often very distracted by what I see.  My eyes see photos and my mind tells stories and I just love the beauty of it all. My husband often makes the comment that i have seen a butterfly again! And when you're working with so many beautiful vegetables it can be a challenge.  Sometimes, I just have to stop and run for my phone or camera because I just can't let that one get away, not that i am a professional photographer in any way but i do really enjoy it.  This weeks celery was insanely gorgeous and I was happy to get a few shots of it.

Two very different people, working side by side, making it happen.  It's so important to love and appreciate our differences.

In your baskets this week:

Chez Nous Salad Mix
Kale
Sweet Peppers
Red Celery
Arugula

Extra Greens: Salad Mix and Swiss Chard

Who decided that we should focus on breeding only green celery? This stuff is gorgeous.

I love this picture because...Rick is explaining to me how this greenhouse works...I am taking a picture and the look on his face probably wondering why i am taking a picture when he is explaining something to me makes me laugh! Plus, look at all the awesome greens growing in the greenhouse.

The celery will be a challenge to fit in your fridge! It's huge!

Homegrown celery is different than what you may be used to...it definitely has a stronger celery flavour and there are some stringier pieces.  

Super happy to have received a small grant to help build our market greenhouse. Thank you Carrot Cache!!!

Have a great week!
Shirley

CSA #4 Fall and Winter

November 5

Bless this weather.  It's been a really comfortable working environment and great for the gardens also, with nothing but minimal light frost.   We presently have some help on the farm and what a difference it makes, things have moved along nicely this week.

This week, the rest of the garlic was planted, all greenhouse peppers were removed for the last of the greenhouse spinach, lots of greenhouse work was completed, our small winter lettuce house was planted and a good amount of winter clean up was done.

In your baskets this week:

Chez Nous Salad Mix
Mustard Greens
Jalapeno Peppers
Garlic Slivers ( big cloves get planted and small cloves are great for cooking)
Kohlrabi
Carrots

Extra Greens: Chez Nous Mix and Kale


We also dug into the carrots this week.  We are still waiting for a few more sweetening treatments from frost but a little thinning didn't hurt. What beautiful carrots!



So more hot peppers in the baskets.  It's a blend of Green Jalapeño and Green Serrano.  They are of varied size as they were the final harvest of the outdoor Hot Pepper House.  Many recipes only call for small amounts of Jalapeños and depending on your heat level you may want to freeze a bit.You can freeze them whole and then chop them partly frozen when your ready or just chop them all now and freeze on a flat surface then pop into a freezer bag.
However, they do keep for quite a while in the fridge and they do taste so nice and fresh chopped and added to dish raw.

Here are a few, not so common recipes, on my list to try. I am especially excited about the deep dish pizza as it also gives recipes for some vegan cheese, sounds like quite a long recipe but it can easily be adapted to use dairy! And the corn Dip with a side of salsa sounds relish!

corn and Jalapeno Dip

Garlic Jalapeno Pasta

Deep Dish Jalapeño Pie

Basil Jalapeno Corn fritters

And last here's a very non vegan recipe! Jalapeño Cheeseburger Pasta

Strange creatures...Kohlrabi

2 Beds so far and one more to build.  This is our seedling sale house during spring, Our scorching hot pepper house in summer and our lettuce beds in winter.  It also houses any potted plants to overwinter (pepper plants in background). To date only our Piri Piri peppers have survived the winters but we are trying again this year.

I have loads of Piri peppers drying from our pepper "trees" that grew from our overwintered peppers. 

The cool weather is bringing out all the lovely colours in Kale.

Some crazy big spinach in the greenhouse and chopped up in your salad mix.

Making progress.

Have a great week

Shirley and Rick 

Chez Nous Farms