Eating outside and more watering
Hope you're all managing to stay cool - both physically and politically (we'll say no more on that one.....!!). One upside of the sticky weather is that we're eating all our meals outside, which always feels such a treat although becoming quite normal a the moment.
In the field
A lot of watering - no surprises there. My weekend watering companion did more playing than helping (as you can see in the pic) and also enjoyed eating the freshly harvested peas!
Final bit of floor drip irrigation has gone into polytunnel which has helped.
Cleared a bed of lettuces, pak choi and potatoes and have planted out chard, swede, turnips, more lettuces. Pricked out kohlrabi. Sown bulb fennel.
Harvested a lot.... 25kg new potatoes (these will be in the shop this week - they're tasty but Chris says he can't remember the variety!), 18kg kale, 1kg peas, 3.5kg courgettes, 5.5kg cucumbers, 42 lettuce, 13kg chard, 1kg french beans. Chris harvested super early in the morning before we packed the boxes - definitely the best time of the day at the moment.
In the boxes
Some of the kohlrabi this week pretty big - especially after last week's teeny tiny ones! Lettuces are ours and the timing is so tricky with these guys - we probably picked them a few days too late but as someone -ahem- said last week, them's the brakes.
Sorry if some of the potatoes last week were a bit dodgy, we definitely weren't that happy with them. We think the machinery used to harvest had damaged a lot of them.
We've got a bit on excess of (UK) tomatoes - if anyone wants to buy any to add to their box next week let us know. Also gooseberries if anyone feels like making jam!
Small - new potatoes, carrots, onions, lettuce, kohlrabi, cherry tomatoes, palermo peppers, green beans, chard
Regular - new potatoes, carrots, onions, kale, courgette, green beans, celery, sweet potato, butternut squash, cucumber, tomatoes
In the shop
Cauliflowers, dirty carrots and a few bunches with tops, brown / red onions, broccoli, chestnut / white mushrooms, palermo peppers, courgettes, cucumbers, green beans, tomatoes (lots including heirloom), sweet potatoes, butternut squash, new potatoes*, fresh garlic*, peas*, courgettes*, cucumbers*, spring greens/kale (limited)*, beetroot*, kohlrabi*
Fruit: Lemons, cherries, gooseberries*, bananas
*= freshy harvested from Prion
Also: eggs, Nant y Felin sourdough, Pentrefelin milk (we should have a few bottles this week, fingers crossed), organic beer and other pantry staples including oats, olive oil, olives, salt.
We've got some UK blueberries in the shop next week.
Recipe inspiration:
This week, just a piece of toasted sourdough (from Nant y Felin, of course), with some chopped heirloom tomatoes on top and drizzled with olive oil, and salt and pepper. So simpe, but such a hard lunch to beat (especially sitting outside with a view of the Clwydian hills). I noticed that Anna Jones had the same idea, but she used a warm dressing - she says to warm olive oil in a pan, then add fennel seeds and chilli flakes. Warm gently for two minutes, until the seeds infuse the oil, then whisk in some red wine vinegar.
Try this beetroot hummus from Claire Thomson - 5 satsuma sized fresh beetroot & boiled skin on in well salted water until tender - 30-40 mins. Peel when cool.
1 clove of garlic, use more if you like
200 - 250ml plain Greek style yoghurt
1 tsp ground cumin, to taste
1 tsp ground coriander, to taste
1 tsp salt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
BLEND
Sunflower, pumpkin, cumin seeds & a few pinenuts, all toasted until crackling & with a bit of colour
Chopped dill
Olive oil
Smoked to salt, to top, use regular if you like
Few chilli flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
Finally, this week was happy to come across the food education charity TasteEd - their focus is 'getting the next generation excited about eating fruit and vegetables and engaged in joy of taste and flavour.' They do this by going into primary schools, and they also provide lesson resources on their website for free. Two golden rules of TastEd are ‘no one has to like’ and ‘no one has to try’. The effect is to make children feel relaxed enough to try new things. If you know any kids - or big kids - who might enjoy some food-related activities here's a link to try at home. Surely teaching kids about good - and real, not processed - food is one of the most important lessons of all.
have a good week