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,
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,
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