Enjoying a Lovely Late Fall Day

Linda 'e'd this cute picture of Rocky's little son and his two nest mates. It was a truly lovely afternoon, sunny with little wind. The chicks are checking out the dog dish on Linda's porch.

CSA on a Hot Summer Day!

Finally, a day that feels like real summer! First time we've really had to worry about things wilting, including us and the staff. Maybe the darn cucumbers will grow now (note to self: water cucumbers tomorrow). A good pick on raspberries for everyone; probably the last of the raspberries for CSA. As the crop wanes and the picking gets harder, it is less worth our time to pick. Probably some raspberries for the weekend Farmers' Markets and then that will be that. Linda came through again today: some gorgeous broccoli and snow peas for everyone, pac choi for the Full Shares. For us, onto some more interesting potato varieties, a wee share of our precious garlic (Farmer Boy has to talk pretty fast to get me to part with any of it!).



So, for the Full Shares: large bag snow peas, large broccoli, large dragon tongues bean, large Sangria red potato (currently our favourite potato), small bag fingerling potato (either banana or Linzer delicata), bunch of onions, two bunches of carrots, bunch of pac choi, 3 pints raspberries and garlic.



For the Part Shares: small bag snow peas, small broccoli, bag of dragon tongues beans, medium bag of Sangria red potatoes, small bag of fingerling (either banana or Linzer delicata), bunch of onions, bunch of carrots, garlic and two pints raspberries.

CSA Today!

It's a beautiful day after a rather disappointing long weekend. Saturday was alright but Sunday and Monday rather cold and blustery. I got up this morning to find Farmer Boy running around in shorts, a T-shirt, a heavy fleece and his Nordic toque with ear flaps! Wish I'd been together enough to get a picture, but I hadn't even had coffee yet. Put the family to work almost right away - niece Laura is weighing and packaging snow peas, sister Keltie is portioning fresh dill (awesome sprinkled on the new potatoes!)

Linda has come through big time again this week! Beautiful broccoli (how does she do it - and organically, too!), pak choi and snow peas. We're getting the first big pick on beans - we're taking Dragon Tongue, a heritage Dutch butter bean/Bortollo bean meaning big and flat. It's our favourite snap bean, big and meaty but stringless, with a mild bean taste. It can be left to grow on and dried for soup and stew beans, but we usually end of taking them all as fresh beans.

So, this week the Full Shares have: 2 lbs. Norland potatoes, 1 lb. Banana potatoes, 1 lb. snow peas, 1 lb. Dragon Tongue Beans, bunch of beets, broccoli, pak choi, 3 summer squash, 4 pints raspberries, fresh dill and fresh basil.

Part Shares have: 2 lbs Norland potatoes, 1/2 lb. snow peas, 1 lb. Dragon Tongue Beans, pak choi, broccoli, 2 summer squash, 2 pints raspberries, bag of spicy mesclun mix with nasturium blossoms, fresh dill and fresh basil.

CSA Day!

It's our first full-on CSA day today! Not the bounteous harvest we might hope for in the middle July, but good, fresh food for all our families. We'll be meeting some of the sponsored families from Samaritan House for the first time, we look forward to it! Special for today was the very first pick on our raspberries - only enough ready for the Full Shares, but next week there should be lots of everybody! Linda Boys made a great contribution for today - Linda has been growing organic veggies for Brandon's CSA for many years now, first with Menno and Evelyn Isaac, who brought CSA to Brandon. She brought the snow peas, gorgeous Deer's tongue lettuce and some of the nicest spinach we've seen in ages.

So, today's harvest for the FULL SHARES: 1 head of Deer's tongue lettuce, 1 large bag of Romaine, 1 small bag of spinach, 1 small bag of snow peas, 4 lbs of Norland baby potatoes, 1 bunch onions, 1 bunch baby beets, 1 pint raspberries.

Today's harvest for the PART SHARES: 1 head of Deer's tongue lettuce, 1 large bag of Romaine lettuce, 1 small bag of spinach, 2 lbs of Norland baby potatoes, 1 bunch of onions, 1 bunch of baby beets.

The baby beets will be delicious, as well as the greens. Many people don't realize that the greens, especially from young beets, are absolutely delicious steamed, boiled or sauteed. Farmers Boy likes his with a sprinkle of vinegar. They are good raw, torn up in salads, although not to every one's liking. The raspberries are absolutely divine! It's always so scrumptious to have that first pick of the season. Nothing like a fresh, sun-ripened berry; they are soooooo NOT like the hard, bland things often found at the supermarket. The baby potatoes are unwashed: they will keep better dirty, and should go in a cool, dark, dry place until they are used.

A new option for CSA this year: the Egg Club! The Girls are producing well enough that we can offer a dozen eggs weekly for CSA members with their pick-up. Members can choose to join The Club, or not; their choice. We can't say that the eggs are completely organic; certified organic feed is hard to find around here. We can definitely say The Girls are pastured, and are not fed any animal by-products, hormones or other medicines. And they seem pretty happy, although we can't say for sure that is reflected in the taste! We're working on making our own organic feed for both the chickens and the pigs; Farmer Boy is looking for sources for organic grains and is pursuing the purchase of his own grain masher or crusher.