Harvest Festivals and Autumn Veg

So this week is the turn of Ysgol Pantpastynog to have their harvest festival and I was quite excited to hear what they wanted for a display... because I think what they need is one of our regular boxes this week with Pears/apples substituted for the clementines! The boxes are amazingly colourful and seem to be bursting with 'goodness' ... I am so proud!!! If you hadn't guessed it's me - Chris writing again. Liz has taken an opportunity to head off to a conference for a few days leaving me to solo parent and run the business.. Yikes!

In the field

The big change in the field and poly tunnels has now happened, the sweetcorn, runnerbeans and squashes have all been flail mowed, leaving a lovely pile of smashed up organic matter on the beds. The roots are all still in place and will slowly rot down over the winter creating the pathways for next years roots to work their way down! Despite the shortening days we've still a lot of weeding to do - especially in the polytunnel - though most of the weeds seem to be tomatoes!! We've also lifted all the tomato plants and chilli plants harvesting some of the crop as green and we'll see if it ripens.

Harvested - a lot again!!

6.5kg beetroot, 5kg leeks, 5 kg salad, 9kg chard, 30kg heirloom tomatoes, 3kg cherry tomatoes, about 100 chillis, 14kg of cavalo nero.

In the boxes:

Small: Various squashes: little gem rolet squash (the bomb shaped one), hunter butternut squash (grown in Prion) january king cabbage, plus Prion tomatoes and salad

Regular: Celariac with tops, cavalo nero, chard, leeks, golden and cylindra beetroot

In the shop:

Red cabbage, broccoli, Celementine Cauliflower, January King Cabbages,potatoes, carrots, swede, sweet potato, salsify, leeks, squashes- mixed, salad, heirloom tomatoes, palermo peppers, chestnut/white mushrooms,fresh ginger/turmeric/garlic

V limited: Green cabbage, courgettes, cucumbers

Fruit: Loads of Bananas Conference Pears, Rajka apples and Clemenrubi clementines

+ sourdough, milk, eggs and all our other organic bits.

The card machine still working well last week in the shop so fingers crossed this continues and gives people another option other than cash.

Recipe inspiration:

Ideas for the small gem rolet squash, are to cut in half, scoop out the seeds and then roast, with olive oil.. or it seems these squash are popular in South Africa: Prick gem squash once or twice with a knife or fork and put into a pot. Boil for 7 minutes or until soft. When softish, remove from water and allow to cool slightly. Cut in half and scoop out pips with either a teaspoon or dessert spoon. Scoop out the flesh and season with nutmeg and a little butter, and serve. That seems like a quick easy one for me, (unfortunately we've none left for me totry that with so...

With time of the essence for me, I'm resorting to a few old favourites -

Red cabbage and cashew biryani from 'much more veg', an easy one pot tasty dish that takes about 45 minutes

Wednesday night I'm going for a tray bake of sausages and roasted veg.. potatoes, golden beetroot, sweet potato, palermo peppers, tomatoes, roscoff onions and garlic. with a side of either sauted chard or cavalo nero - (with some chilli) or both!!

have a great week

#enjoythattastyveg