Week 42: What's happening
So beautiful to see the leaves suddenly changing colour - it seems to happen in the course of a just a few days. Nature never fails to amaze. Our polytunnel is changing with the seasons too - already looks so different from a couple of weeks ago.
In the field, we've been weeding and generally tidying up (including greenhouse). Also dodging the rain - the field is starting to get muddy! Received 100 or so strawberry plants for next spring. About to plant out last of Winter crops which were sown about 3 weeks ago. Harvested - leeks, kale, lettuces, tomatoes.
Eat your Greens veg boxes:
On Monday we were told that a whole of produce due from the wholesaler that day was delayed (we're blaming Brexit - it's not happened before) till Wednesday which meant we had to scrabble around to find enough veg to go into Monday's boxes. Fortunately we did a good job so hopefully if we hadn't said anything you'd never have known - we just think it's important to share what's happening behind the scenes.
Note your box may vary due to issues mentioned above - Small boxes have celeriac with tops (can use the tops like celery, celeriac recipe below), savoy cabbage, palermo peppers, mushrooms. Regular boxes have beetroot, squash, sweet potato and our tomatoes, leeks, kale plus apples.
The Vale Grocer shop:
Plenty of: potatoes, carrots, red / brown / Roscoff onions, chioggia and golden beetroot, squash - Uchi Kiri, Green acorn and green kobucha, red palermo peppers, sweet potato from Spain and also some from UK (unusual, and more expensive), fresh ginger, fresh garlic
Limited: cauliflowers, Roscoff garlic, purple carrots, chestnut mushrooms, celeriac with tops, savoy cabbage, leeks
Fruit: bananas, Russett apples, oranges, clementines, lemons
+ hens eggs (eggs likely to be in short supply as we come into winter)
+ Bryn Cochyn apple juice
+ sourdough from Nant y Felin
Recipe inspiration:
Chris and I were at a sailing event on Saturday and imagine our joy when we were given the most amazing veg and lentil cottage pie for lunch by the volunteer cooks at the sailing club. Obviously I asked for the recipe and here it is - thanks (Dame) Mary Berry. I made it this week using the salsify and squash instead of the swede and it worked well.
It's super easy and no fancy ingredients, apart from perhaps the sundried tomato paste - you can buy this in a jar but I soaked some sundried tomatoes I had in the cupboard, and blitzed them with some garlic and olive oil to make a paste.
Celeriac - if you're not sure how to use this have a read here.
If you're running out of ideas for the beef tomatoes, they are literally good in anything! Sliced (with salt) and basil and mozzarella, sliced on pizza, chopped in curries, pasta sauces, dhals.
have a good week