newsletter w/c17/05/2010
Apologies again for having to raise the price of eggs to £1.80 per box and thanks for all the notes conveying your understanding re: the price rise. For those who haven’t noticed it. We raised the prices on the 1st May, so if you could amend your payments accordingly we be grateful.
For the last week we seem to have spent a lot of time covering seedlings at night to keep the frost from doing too much damage. We’ve had a few cold mornings, but nothing seems to have perished, although some of the earliest sown seed trays, form the end of March, are really struggling to make much growth at all and have been overtaken by later sowings. I’ve been busy in the field on the dry days, sowing all the carrot seed that I need to at the moment and getting the other root crops sown too. I’ve got at least some of every type of vegetable and herb growing now, either in the field or the polytunnel, but there is still a lot more to be sown yet. I’ve spent the wet days in the tunnel, pricking-out brassica seedlings and now only have calabrese and brussels sprouts to transplant from the first main batch. I’ll get them done before I move on to the rest of my planned work for this week.
We also finalised, with Anne, the direction and design for the logo that we’re going to use for The Whole Shebag from now on, and Anne’s busy getting it into a format we can use for van signage and business cards, enabling us to launch it.
This week I hope to be pricking-out salad and herb seedlings and hopefully will be able to plant out the first batches of cauliflower and calabrese, rocket and mizuna. That’ll be the first of the produce from the poly-tunnel to make it to the field. I have also still a lot of seed to sow directly into the field as well as sowing more seeds into seed trays as follow-on crops for the brassicas that I spent last week pricking out. There is a chance, that if the temperature picks up, newly sown plants will catch up with those that were planted a month ago. Other jobs for next week include weeding the garlic rows, which are really growing away strongly from transplanting about a month ago. I also need to make a start at weeding the onions. It’s vital not to let them get crowded out by weeds.
The large bags this week, should contain, globe artichoke, Broccoli (calabrese) and Broad beans. Substitutions may be required.
Potatoes Solanum tuberosum. Tatties this week are Remarka a good general purpose potato.. 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. Source of Vitamins A and C, Iron, Calcium and Potassium .
Carrot Daucus carota 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.
Kohl-rabi Brassica oleracea Gongylodes Group (1 head) Excellent source of Vitamin C and of potassium. Peel the outer skin off of the swollen bulb then eat either raw or cooked. Here’s a recipe for Sugar-browned kohl-rabi Peel the kohl-rabi and cut into finger-wide strips. Blanch for 5 minutes then refresh in cold water. Return the kohl-rabi to the pan with a small amount of boiling lightly salted water. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Drain and allow to cool slightly. Melt 1oz (25g) sugar in a heavy based frying pan without stirring, until it bubbles and is pale brown. Add 1oz (25g) of butter and stir until blended. Stir in the kohl-rabi strips and shake the pan frequently to coat all the strips evenly with caramel.
Parsley Petroselinum sp. This is the more traditional moss-curled type of parsley Excellent for flavouring all sorts of dishes or cut into saladsor, cut over boiled potatoes, with a little melted butter. If it’s looking a bit limp when you receive it just trim the base of the stems off and pop into cold water, shake dry and then pop into a jar of water, covering the bottom of the stems by about an inch.
Aubergine Solanum melongena Source of Vitamin C, potassium, iron and fibre. Serve cooked. This is a member of the same family as tomato and pepper and is widely used in vegetable lasagne. We tried a recipe, last week, where we chopped up an aubergine and pan fried it til it was a golden brown colour, then added a chopped up onion til it softened. Then add a couple of tomatoes a crushed clove of garlic a tablespoon of your finely chopped parsley, a pinch of spice, a pinch of sugar and a pinch of cinnamon. Simmer for 5 minutes transfer to a baking dish, sprinkle with cheese and breadcrumbs and bake in an oven at 190oC375oFGasmark5 for 30 minutes
Celery Apium graveolens (1 head) This biennial veg is high in Vitamin C, folic acid, potassium and fibre. The stalks are generally eaten fresh or used in soups and stews. To cook it, boil it in a little salted boiling water for 15-20 minutes or steam it for 25-30 minutes. Serve in cheese or parsley sauce or smothered in butter.
For the last week we seem to have spent a lot of time covering seedlings at night to keep the frost from doing too much damage. We’ve had a few cold mornings, but nothing seems to have perished, although some of the earliest sown seed trays, form the end of March, are really struggling to make much growth at all and have been overtaken by later sowings. I’ve been busy in the field on the dry days, sowing all the carrot seed that I need to at the moment and getting the other root crops sown too. I’ve got at least some of every type of vegetable and herb growing now, either in the field or the polytunnel, but there is still a lot more to be sown yet. I’ve spent the wet days in the tunnel, pricking-out brassica seedlings and now only have calabrese and brussels sprouts to transplant from the first main batch. I’ll get them done before I move on to the rest of my planned work for this week.
We also finalised, with Anne, the direction and design for the logo that we’re going to use for The Whole Shebag from now on, and Anne’s busy getting it into a format we can use for van signage and business cards, enabling us to launch it.
This week I hope to be pricking-out salad and herb seedlings and hopefully will be able to plant out the first batches of cauliflower and calabrese, rocket and mizuna. That’ll be the first of the produce from the poly-tunnel to make it to the field. I have also still a lot of seed to sow directly into the field as well as sowing more seeds into seed trays as follow-on crops for the brassicas that I spent last week pricking out. There is a chance, that if the temperature picks up, newly sown plants will catch up with those that were planted a month ago. Other jobs for next week include weeding the garlic rows, which are really growing away strongly from transplanting about a month ago. I also need to make a start at weeding the onions. It’s vital not to let them get crowded out by weeds.
The large bags this week, should contain, globe artichoke, Broccoli (calabrese) and Broad beans. Substitutions may be required.
Potatoes Solanum tuberosum. Tatties this week are Remarka a good general purpose potato.. 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. Source of Vitamins A and C, Iron, Calcium and Potassium .
Carrot Daucus carota 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.
Kohl-rabi Brassica oleracea Gongylodes Group (1 head) Excellent source of Vitamin C and of potassium. Peel the outer skin off of the swollen bulb then eat either raw or cooked. Here’s a recipe for Sugar-browned kohl-rabi Peel the kohl-rabi and cut into finger-wide strips. Blanch for 5 minutes then refresh in cold water. Return the kohl-rabi to the pan with a small amount of boiling lightly salted water. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Drain and allow to cool slightly. Melt 1oz (25g) sugar in a heavy based frying pan without stirring, until it bubbles and is pale brown. Add 1oz (25g) of butter and stir until blended. Stir in the kohl-rabi strips and shake the pan frequently to coat all the strips evenly with caramel.
Parsley Petroselinum sp. This is the more traditional moss-curled type of parsley Excellent for flavouring all sorts of dishes or cut into saladsor, cut over boiled potatoes, with a little melted butter. If it’s looking a bit limp when you receive it just trim the base of the stems off and pop into cold water, shake dry and then pop into a jar of water, covering the bottom of the stems by about an inch.
Aubergine Solanum melongena Source of Vitamin C, potassium, iron and fibre. Serve cooked. This is a member of the same family as tomato and pepper and is widely used in vegetable lasagne. We tried a recipe, last week, where we chopped up an aubergine and pan fried it til it was a golden brown colour, then added a chopped up onion til it softened. Then add a couple of tomatoes a crushed clove of garlic a tablespoon of your finely chopped parsley, a pinch of spice, a pinch of sugar and a pinch of cinnamon. Simmer for 5 minutes transfer to a baking dish, sprinkle with cheese and breadcrumbs and bake in an oven at 190oC375oFGasmark5 for 30 minutes
Celery Apium graveolens (1 head) This biennial veg is high in Vitamin C, folic acid, potassium and fibre. The stalks are generally eaten fresh or used in soups and stews. To cook it, boil it in a little salted boiling water for 15-20 minutes or steam it for 25-30 minutes. Serve in cheese or parsley sauce or smothered in butter.
posted by thewholeshebag at 4:30 PM
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