Week 33: What's happening
Updated: Sep 2, 2021
The blackberries are ripening and August is definitely cracking on. And the weather has decided to give us a bit of a reminder that we can't wear shorts for ever (actually, if you're one of the lovely Prion Royal Mail staff then you can in all weathers apparently).
But, we're excited to be harvesting so much veg - it's fab. This pic below shows just Monday's harvest.
In total this week we've harvested: 4.5kg of beetroot, 8kg green beans, 9kg chard, 5.5kg of courgettes, 7.5kg cucumbers, 4kg kale, 28 lettuces, 600g peas, 11kg rhubarb, 4kg runner beans (this was the first week's harvest so bodes well!), 2.5kg tomatoes, 20kg Aaron Victory Potatoes at time of writing... likely to be considerably higher by the end of the week. Tomatoes are taking a long time to ripen and we've taken to closing the poly tunnels at night to try and keep the warmth in.
Big shout out to our special harvesting helper who picked most of the beans we needed for the week first thing Monday morning and prevented us panicking that we were going to run out of time to pick everything. You know who you are and we are very grateful (no it's not Saila the dog, she's a useless picker!)
As well as harvesting, which takes a lot of time, we've been working on keeping our seedlings away from caterpillars, slugs and snails... late night trips to the green-house to track down the little blighters! Caterpillars have smashed our cavalo nero seedling plants which replaced the ones that bolted!!! Arggghh **shakes fist**! Weeding is still a big part of our week but the pressure is starting to ease.
Eat Your Greens veg boxes:
We tried to get more cherries this week but the UK organic cherry season has already finished! So short. Some of the pink onions not looking quite so good as they were last week, but we tried to get rid of obviously soft ones as we packed. In the small boxes the plums are Opal plums, regular boxes have our rhubarb which is still going strong and looking great. If you're new to our boxes and you have either chard (looks bit like spinach) or kale - don't be alarmed! They are both really tasty, you just need to know how to cook them (this recipe combines both).
The Vale Grocer shop:
From Prion: cucumbers, rhubarb, runner beans, green beans, patty pan squash, courgettes, tomatoes (not many)
Also: palermo peppers, carrots, Marfona Potatoes (red skins), pink onions, cauliflower x 1, savoy cabbage x 3, lettuce x 1, chestnut mushrooms, mixed courgettes, ginger, garlic
Fruit: UK blueberries (2 week organic season!), 1 kg UK Opal plums, lemons
+ hens and quails eggs
+ Bryn Cochyn apple juice
+ sourdough from Nant y Felin (v limited, let me know if you want me to put to one side)
If you would like a lettuce or some beetroot from Prion please let us know and we can harvest in the morning. If you don't pre-order we won't pick any as don't want them to go to waste!
Recipe Inspiration:
If you've popped any broad beans in your freezer (we have a LOT!) or are growing your own outside so later than ours were, this salad is fab - thanks Yvetta ;)
There really are so many things you can do with the inevitable marrows that appear at this time of year - but this curry was really tasty (I recommend watching the video).
I've finally treated myself to Anna Jones cook-book, for budget reasons went for 'A Modern Way to Cook' which is a few years old, rather than her latest 'One; Pot, Pan, Planet'- looking forward to seeing what I can find in there.
Finally, we've come across the Japanese micro-seasons before, but really enjoyed this article on how it can help with reducing the pressure of needing to feel productive. Knowing how quickly just the flowers and plants in the hedgerows around us change, and the speed at which different vegetables ripen and then finish, I'm sure someone smarter than us could come up with a similar thing for Wales?!
have a good week