NEWSLETTER FOR W/C 19/05/2008

I’ve been getting a bit of a hard time from my friends this week, after Vicky Allan’s article about TWS appeared in the Sunday Herald last weekend. She made an excellent job of it and spelled out very clearly our reasons for working the way we do and the history behind it. If you’ve seen the piece then you’ll understand my mates’ reaction. If you haven’t and would like to read it, you’ll find it on the Sunday Herald's web site here: Thinking outside the organic box
It’s been another busy week and we’ve managed to get most of the sowing done now. There are more tatties onions and carrots in the ground than ever before, and a wide variety of salads and herbs. We’ve also sown the beetroot, parsnip, turnips and swedes and a late-ish sowing of peas and beans, although may be time for another sowing of peas yet, if there is the room for them.
This week we’re starting to second sow brassicas and herbs in pots for the farmers markets when they start up again hopefully in July or August. We should be able to start the transplanting of brassicas and leeks this week as they’re just about big enough now.
We’ve been running short of net bags again, so I thought I better put out another appeal to please make sure and give us the net bags back to re-fill. If you’ve got a big stack of them in a cupboard or garage, pleasde try and remember to leave them out when it’s time for your next delivery.
We’re still going to be having stored potatoes for the next couple of weeks at least. I’m trying to source British new potatoes, organic ones are available already from Jersey, however, the price is astronomical. I’m hoping we’ll be close to having new pots by the beginning of June. I’ll keep you infromed. In the meantime, please use up your potatoes as quickly as you can as they just want to grow at the moment.
Here’s a list of what should be in your standard bag this week. Substitutions may occur due to availability problems.
Potatoes Solanum tuberosum The varieties this week are Record (white skins, round) and Valor (white skins, oval) which are reasonably general purpose. Please use your potatoes up quickly as they’ll want to sprout as soon as they hi the heat. Potatoes are the only commonly available source of B3 and Iodine. Excellent source of Vitamin C and also Vitamin B6, Potassium and fibre.
Onion Allium cepa. Used in stews, pasta dishes, soups – in almost any type of cooking. Source of Vitamins A and C as well as Iron, Calcium and Potassium .
Carrot Daucus carota Stored carrots now so use them quickly please They are various sizes. Some of them are more than ½ Kg in weight so you may have a bonus. Carrots are eaten fresh in salads or cooked in just about any way you like. They are an excellent source of Vitamin A and also contain significant amounts of Vitamins B, C, D, E and K. and Potassium.
Red Cabbage Brassica oleracea Capitata Group (1 Head) These cabbages are far bigger than I would like to include in the bag. All I can suggest is that you use what you can and give the remainder to friends and family. Source of Vitamin C, phytochemicals, Vitamin B6, calcium, potassium and fibre. Red Cabbage cooks differently compared to the green version. You rinse it and shred it much as the green counterpart, but to cook it, it is far better casserolled with fruit juice of some type to sweeten it and a bit of red wine and cloves. You may still need a little sugar to get the flavour right, but once you’ve mastered it, red cabbage is such a perfect accompaniment to roast dishes, you’ll be eagerly awaiting your next one.
Courgette Cucurbita pepo (1 head) Source of Vitamins A and C , calcium, iron and fibre. Prepare by wshing and trimming both ends. Courgettes can be coked whole or in slices, or they can be cut in half lengthways filled with stuffing and baked. Boil courgettes in lightly salted water for 15-20 minutes. Sliced courgettes may be steamed in butter for 10 minutes. Halved courgettes may be parboiled for 5 minutes the finished in the oven, in a well-buttered dish for 25 minutes at 190oC (375oF) Gas Mark 5.
Chard Beta vulgaris var.cicla A mixture of Swiss Chard (white stem) and ruby Chard (red stem). Treat like spinach, as far as cooking the leaf, ie. Strip it off the stem and steam lightly. However, with chard, the stem is really nice too, just cook it for a little longer then the leaf. Drain thoroughly and serve. Can be eaten raw in salads too.
Fennel (1 head) This stem base can be chopped raw into salads or simmered in a stock. Here’s a recipe for Buttered Fennel: Trim the root base and cut in half lengthways and rinse in cold water. Put the fennel in a pan with a minmal amount of boiling, lightly salted water and simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes or until just tender. Overcooking reduces the sweet aniseed flavour. Drain thoroughly in a colander and keep warm on a serving dish. Now, melt the butter. Season the fennel with pepper, then pour the melted butter over the top and serve. Goes particularly well with grilled fish or roast chicken.

NEWSLETTER FOR W/C 05/05/2008

Hopefully, most of Brian’s Wednesday deliveries read the note last week regarding the change of delivery days this week. Brian is away on Wednesday so will deliver his veg bags on Friday instead. Sorry for the inconvenience and please note that its for one week only.
The weather forecast for last week wasn’t very promising, but on the whole we had a reasonably dry week. The field is now cultivated and ready to get ridged and planted. We’ll be starting bright and early on Monday morning. I’ll get Andy started planting jerusalem artichokes, and I’ll get on with the tattie planting. It’ll be great to be started at last. The jerusalem artichokes are always the first vegetables that we plant each year, then they need virtually no maintenance for the next 7 months, except for maybe a bit of weed control while they are young. To do that, we obviously don’t use chemicals. We take a ridging plough, carefully, along each row, throwing soil up from the bottom of the furrow up onto the top and sides of the ridge, the tubers are planted in. The weeds get completely covered with soil, killing off all the annual ones and slowing down the perennials, and earths-up the young artichoke stem too. The artichokes have to be planted by hand, however, I have a machine to plant the potatoes. Let’s hope it’s on it’s best behaviour, as a breakdown now would be a bit of a disaster.
The experiment with spring greens, last week, wasn’t a complete success. The quality was fine on most of them but some seem to have gone yellow a bit too quickly. Let me know if you’ve had a problem with them and I’ll sort out something else for you.
There are problems this week with deliveries. It’s being blamed on the bank holiday but I’m not so sure. There may be substiutions this week
Please use up your carrots as quickly as you can as I suspect that they won’t keep all that long at this time of year. If you receive a large bag you’ll be getting spinach and parsley this week. If your bag has been sitting in the sun, they may be wilting by the time you get to them. Refresh them by immersing the leaves in cold water for 10-20 minutes then shake the water of and put them in the fridge. They should sit back up no problem. Let me know if they don’t so we can sort some other delivery site for you.
David
Potatoes Solanum tuberosum The varieties this week are Arran Victory (blue skins)quite a dry tattie and Valor (white skins) which are reasonably general purpose. Potatoes are the only commonly available source of B3 and Iodine. Excellent source of Vitamin C and also Vitamin B6, Potassium and fibre.
Onion Allium cepa. Used in stews, pasta dishes, soups – in almost any type of cooking. Source of Vitamins A and C as well as Iron, Calcium and Potassium .
Carrot Daucus carota Stored carrots now so use them quickly please They are various sizes. Some of them are more than ½ Kg in weight so you may have a bonus. Carrots are eaten fresh in salads or cooked in just about any way you like. They are an excellent source of Vitamin A and also contain significant amounts of Vitamins B, C, D, E and K. and Potassium.
Leek Alllium porrum (2 head) Leeks arew used to give a creamy texture to soups. They can also be served as an accompanying vegetable, and may be boiled, braised, steamed or fried. To prepare, cut off the root base and any damaged upper leaves. Rinse in running cold water to wash away the grit that gets caught between the leaves. Boil in minimum of salted water. Whole or halved leeks need 15-20 minutes while rings and slices need about 10 minutes. Drain then return to the pan to steam off any remaining water. Serve with a knob of butter, or coated in a white sauce or cheese sauce.
White Cabbage Brassica oleracea Capitata Group. (1 head) It’s the first time we’ve had white cabbage in the bags for about a month. Some of them were pretty big, so we cut them in half. To cook, simply wash in cold running water, removing any marked outer leaves. Quarter the cabbage, then cut out the core. Shred the leaves, then boil or steam for about 8 – 10 minutes until the leaves start to wilt. You want to retain a bit of a crunch! Drain thoroughly and tip into a warmed serving dish with butter melting over the top
Garlic Allium sativum.( 1 head) Good for Vitamins A and C, calcium and iron. A crushed clove of garlic can enhance many savoury meals.
Swede Brassica napa. (1head). Cut off the top and bottom of the swede then peel thickly. Cut into cubes or big chunks and boil for 30-40 minutes or alternatively, parboil then set around a roast in the oven for the last 30 minutes of cooking time. Excellent boiled,