Newsletter w/c 26th September 2011

We attended Juniper Green Farmers market last Saturday and for the first market in a long time, we had good weather. Dry and sunny conditions, with no windy gusts to blow the paperwork all over the place. It was great. I had to leave a little early as we were heading over to Ayrshire straight after the market. It was Lynda’s birthday on Sunday and to celebrate, we met up with our friends, Ronnie and Jacquie, for dinner, after dropping the boys off with Gran and Grandpa. We hadn’t got together for a while, so there was a lot of catching-up to do and the night passed too quickly.

We picked the boys up next morning and they were a bit disappointed by the Scotland rugby result after getting beaten by Argentina in the World Cup, but they soon brightened up too.

The weather is still holding us back with harvesting, however, by the look of the weather report for this week, we could be in business at last. I may bring deliveries forward a bit if I think an early start will allow me more time in the field later on. So don’t be surprised if your bag has arrived before you get your breakfast.

After a couple of weeks where the veg selection has included some larger items and the bags have seemed huge, we have a slightly lighter week this week as I hope to have enough salad to do the whole week and we’ve also got kale in the bag. So there’s no real bulk in the bag this week, just plenty of nutritious greens.

Last Friday, we were invited to an open day at Damhead Nursery on the outskirts of Edinburgh. We were shown round a very well laid-out shrub and tree nursery. There were a wide range of specimens on show, all in good healthy condition, with many of them propogated and grown-on at the nursery. This means that the plants are acclimatized to the conditions here and should give a better chance of survival when planted in gardens in Scotland, which isn’t often the case when dealing with big Garden Centre chains. Look them up online if you’re interested in the ornamental side of the garden.

We’re always on the look-out for new customers too, so please spread the word about the box scheme and what we can offer. I’m constantly amazed by how many people don’t even realize that such a service exists.

This is a list of the vegetables included in the standard bags this week. Substitutions may occur.

Potato Solanum tuberosum. We’re onto our own new potatoes now. The variety for the most part is Pentland Javelin. If I came across any ‘volunteer’ plants (potatoes left in the ground from last years crop) I dug them too so there may be one or two different tatties in your bag. It’s such a nice change when we move to new potatoes from the previous season’s stored ones. They are very easy to prepare when they’re as fresh as this and really only need a wash and a scrub. 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.

Cucumber Cucumis sativus. Good source of vitamin C and A. Also, a good source of potassium. Wash thoroughly, dry, then slice up to use in salads. Occasionally used in soups.

Kale Brassica oleracea Acephela Group..(1 bag) Excellent source of Vitamins A and C. Also a source of Calcium and copper. One of cooking is to rinse the kale in cold water, drain well and cut off and discard the tough stems. Cut the leaves into ¼ inch strips. In a well seasoned wok or frying pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil over a moderatley high heat, add a crushed clove of garlic and cook, stirring for 30 seconds. Add half of the kale and cook, stirring for 1 minute, until they begin to wilt. Add the remaining kale and cook stirring for 6 – 8 minutes until the greens darken slightly and are fairly tender. Season with salt pepper and lemon juice.

Mixed salad various –Excellent source of phytochemicals and a good source of Vitamins A, B and C, calcium, fibre and potassium. The ground was pretty wet when we picked the salad so some grit may be mixed in. Rinse it well. To store, it is best to rehydrate the lettuce. Rinse well, two or three times, renewing the water with each rinse, then drain thoroughly in a colander or salad spinner. Store in the fridge and you should get it to last all week. The salad is starting to get a bit thin on the ground at the moment so we may need to have a week gap and put a replacement item in the bag.

Parsnip Pastinaca sativa Peel the parsnip then cut into quarters in lengths about 2 –3 inches long then parboil for 5 minutes before roasting them for 25 – 30 minutes in the oven.

Newsletter w/c 19th September 2011

Our nephews, Robbie and Alistair, are in New Zealand watching the rugby World cup. We got a message from them with some pictures they’d had taken with some of the England rugby team when they met them in one of the bars. It wasn’t until a day or two later that the CCTV pics came out, which some areas of the media thought were very newsworthy. We were told to watch them closely as Ali and Robbie were in the video 2 or 3 times. It was nice to see them having such a good time. They were completely oblivious to all the alleged goings-on. I hope Scotland manage to pull out a big performance on Sunday against Argentina.

The rain is still holding up our major tattie digging efforts. We just can’t get started at all. Everything has to be hand-dug – as the ground is too wet to allow the machine access. We’re badly needing 2 or 3 days of dry weather, then we should be able to make a proper start.

We’ll be at Juniper Green Market on Saturday from 9am til 1 pm. The market is held in the car-park of the Kinleith Arms. If you time it right, you could take a walk round the market then pop-in and have a nice pub-lunch.

We’re always looking for ways to improve the service we provide. If you have any suggestions as to how the box scheme could work better for you, please call me or e-mail to discuss it. Sometimes things aren’t as insurmountable as they first appear.

We’re always on the look-out for new customers too, so please spread the word about the box scheme and what we can offer. I’m constantly amazed by how many people don’t even realize that such a service.

This is a list of the vegetables included in the standard bags this week. Substitutions may occur.

Potato Solanum tuberosum. We’re onto our own new potatoes now. The variety for the most part is Pentland Javelin. If I came across any ‘volunteer’ plants (potatoes left in the ground from last years crop) I dug them too so there may be one or two different tatties in your bag. It’s such a nice change when we move to new potatoes from the previous season’s stored ones. They are very easy to prepare when they’re as fresh as this and really only need a wash and a scrub. 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.

Swede Brassica napa (1 head) It’s been a while since we had swede in the veg bags, but, as we needed to thin out some of the rows, this seemed an ideal opportunity. It’s obviously the veg of choice to have with haggis, but is also a superb veg to puree for babies. To prepare it just peel it thickly and chop off the top and base of the root. Cut it up or dice it and boil for about half an hour in slightly salted water, ort until tender. Mash it with cream and a little butter.

Courgette Cucurbita pepo . Good for Vitamins A and C, calcium, fibre and iron. The courgettes may be green or yellow this week. Courgettes can be eaten raw or cooked in butter or stirfried or even roasted, so very versatile. Just give the skin a good wash first and drain it off then prepare.

Mixed salad various –Excellent source of phytochemicals and a good source of Vitamins A, B and C, calcium, fibre and potassium. The ground was pretty wet when we picked the salad so some grit may be mixed in. Rinse it well. To store, it is best to rehydrate the lettuce. Rinse well, two or three times, renewing the water with each rinse, then drain thoroughly in a colander or salad spinner. Store in the fridge and you should get it to last all week. The salad is starting to get a bit thin on the ground at the moment so we may need to have a week gap and put a replacement item in the bag.

January King Cabbage Brassica oleracea Capitata Group..(1 head) Excellent source of Vitamins B6 and C and also a source of potassium and fibre and phytochemicals. To cook, cut into quarters, cut out the hard core shred and wash under running cold water, then boil or steam for 7-10 minutes. The heart of the cabbage has a crisp texture and slightly nutty flavour which makes it ideal to shred or grate for use raw in salads or homemade coleslaw.

Newsletter w/c 12th September 2011

The poly-tunnel is hanging on grimly through the tail-end of the hurricane and the roofs are still on the sheds. Kipper, the cat, has exhausted himself, chasing leaves spinning in a vortex in the courtyard. So, apart from the annoyance of not getting a lot done outside, for fear of branches falling on top of us – we’ve got off quite lightly.

We’re well behind schedule with harvesting now, but that isn’t always a bad thing, as the amount of waste in the really cold weather, last year, showed. We’ll be out lifting potatoes, at every opportunity now for the next couple of months.

We had another very busy weekend, despite the weather. Late last week I got a call to ask if I could fill-in at a farmers market in Peebles, so I agreed and was off down there again early on Saturday morning. I stood all morning in what felt like a tropical storm. The rain lashed down most of the time, but the temperature was really high. It was a very quiet market. There was a lot happening in Peebles last weekend with the Highland games on the Sunday as well as the start of the Tour of Britain Cycle race. To celebrate the race the organizers staged a race on Saturday evening for about 30 of the riders around a kilometer circuit in the town centre. We stayed to watch it with the boys and it was a real spectacle. The cyclists completed each circuit in about a minute, so they ended up doing more than 40 laps which meant it kept the youngsters from getting bored. Next day was the Biggar Minis Rugby tournament, so we got down there bright and early, with the boys and cousin Gregor. It wasn’t pleasant weather for spectators, but the boys prefer the mud for playing in I think, and they ran themselves to a standstill. It didn’t take them long to get to sleep on Sunday night.

We’re not attending any farmers markets this week, so if the weathers good, hopefully, we’ll get some tatties lifted.

This is a list of the vegetables included in the standard bags this week. Substitutions may occur.

Potato Solanum tuberosum. We’re onto our own new potatoes now. The variety for the most part is Pentland Javelin. If I came across any ‘volunteer’ plants (potatoes left in the ground from last years crop) I dug them too so there may be one or two different tatties in your bag. It’s such a nice change when we move to new potatoes from the previous season’s stored ones. They are very easy to prepare when they’re as fresh as this and really only need a wash and a scrub. 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.

Leek Allium porrum Excellent source of Vitamin C. Particularly used to give soups a lovely creamy texture. As leeks grow they tend to lock soil into their leaf axils, so be sure to rinse them well after slicing them up. A nice idea for cooking leeks is to sweat finely sliced leeks in butter for 5 minutes, pour in a glass of red wine and simmer until reduced. Season and serve as an accompaniment to grilled fish or roast meat.

Cauliflower Brassica oleracea Botrytis Group (1 head) – Excellent source of Vitamin C and also a decent source of Vitamin B6, folic acid, pantothenic acid, fibre and potassium. To prepare, cut off the outer leaves. There is no need to remove the inner, tender leaves and the pale green base leaves. Trim the end of the stalk flush with the base of the cauliflower and cut a cross in it with a sharp knife. Boil the cauli in lightly salted boiling water for 12-15 minutes if whole or 8-10 minutes if the florets are split up.

Mixed salad various –Excellent source of phytochemicals and a good source of Vitamins A, B and C, calcium, fibre and potassium. The ground was pretty wet when we picked the salad so some grit may be mixed in. Rinse it well. To store, it is best to rehydrate the lettuce. Rinse well, two or three times, renewing the water with each rinse, then drain thoroughly in a colander or salad spinner. Store in the fridge and you should get it to last all week

Red Cabbage Brassica oleracea Capitata Group..(1 head) Excellent source of Vitamin C and phytochemicals and also contains Vitamin B6, potassium, fibre and calcium. Here’s a recipe for Braised red cabbage which uses apples rather than the orange based gravy I gave you last time. Braised Red Cabbage: Remove the outer coarse leaves and cut the cabbage into quarters. Remove the tough coresand shred the cabbage finely. Peel core and grate 2 cooking apples and mix with the cabbage. Melt 2oz.(50g) of butter in a pan, add 5fl.oz.(150ml) white wine vinegar and mix in the cabbage; coat thoroughly; then cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer over a gentle heat for 1 hour. Add a little more vinegar or water if the cabbage threatens to stick. Stir in 5fl.oz. (150ml) of red wine or blackcurrant juice, season to taste with sugar. The cabbage will have a fairly sharp flavour. Cover with a lid and simmer until tender.

the flesh. Boil in lightly salted water for 30 minutes and dash with cream and butter.

Newsletter w/c 5th September 2011

The van is on the road, fully functioning and MOT’d, so with any luck, we can have a relatively trouble free and ‘on-schedule’ veg run for the foreseeable future. Wednesday customers may notice that delivery times have been a couple of hours later in the past few weeks. This has been due to me staying in bed until a more reasonable hour than I used to.

Our camping trip to Peebles went ahead at the weekend despite the poor weather forecast. It was dry when we put up the tent. The campsite was reasonably quiet, so the five boys we had with us were able to get out on their bikes and burn off some energy while Lynda and I set up camp. The rain stayed off til we’d got into our sleeping bags and it hammered down all night. It’s great lying cosy in a tent with the rain drumming against the fly-sheet. It wasn’t quite so good for Alistair who had managed to roll himself into a puddle of water at the edge of the door. By the morning his sleeping bag was soaked and he hadn’t had a lot of sleep. The campsite had a tumble dryer, so we got it dried in no time. On the Saturday morning we set out for the Mountain-bike trails at Glentress. I hadn’t experienced much mountain biking before, but you couldn’t wish for a better place to learn the techniques. There are miles and miles of trails through the forestry and hills, graded in the same way as ski-slopes are, for beginners to experienced and then on to trails that would test anyone’s ability. They’ve got a beginners area set up to practice before you hit the longer trails. Both Alistair and I fell off our bikes on this bit, but apart from a few grazes and bruises we were fine. After lunch we took to the trails and spent a couple of hours climbing up through woods and hurtling back down again. There are little obstacles and jumps to take if you want to, but even just cycling through the woodland, taking in the scents of conifers and moss and the anticipation of whats round the next bend is exhilarating without the added stunts. We are already organizing our next visit. The boys were asleep very early on Saturday night.

On the farm it’s all potato lifting at the moment and will be for the next few weeks. I think we should have a decent crop as long as none of the varieties have been affected by the wet conditions. The signs are good so far.

This is a list of the vegetables included in the standard bags this week. Substitutions may occur.

Potato Solanum tuberosum. We’re onto our own new potatoes now. The variety for the most part is Pentland Javelin. If I came across any ‘volunteer’ plants (potatoes left in the ground from last years crop) I dug them too so there may be one or two different tatties in your bag. It’s such a nice change when we move to new potatoes from the previous season’s stored ones. They are very easy to prepare when they’re as fresh as this and really only need a wash and a scrub. 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.

Garlic Allium sativum.( 1 head) Good for Vitamins A and C, calcium and iron. A crushed clove of garlic can enhance many savoury meals. May be substituted with pepper if you received garlic last week.

Kale Brassica oleracea Acephela Group..(1 bag) Excellent source of Vitamins A and C. Also a source of Calcium and copper. One of cooking is to rinse the kale in cold water, drain well and cut off and discard the tough stems. Cut the leaves into ¼ inch strips. In a well seasoned wok or frying pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil over a moderatley high heat, add a crushed clove of garlic and cook, stirring for 30 seconds. Add half of the kale and cook, stirring for 1 minute, until they begin to wilt. Add the remaining kale and cook stirring for 6 – 8 minutes until the greens darken slightly and are fairly tender. Season with salt pepper and lemon juice.

Mixed salad various –Excellent source of phytochemicals and a good source of Vitamins A, B and C, calcium, fibre and potassium. The ground was pretty wet when we picked the salad so some grit may be mixed in. Rinse it well. To store, it is best to rehydrate the lettuce. Rinse well, two or three times, renewing the water with each rinse, then drain thoroughly in a colander or salad spinner. Store in the fridge and you should get it to last all week

Beetroot Beta vulgaris Beetroot can be eaten fresh, cooked or pickled. The least messy way to cook them is to wash them but boil them before you peel them. After boiling the skin rubs off very easily and the flesh doesn’t bleed all over the place. The small beetroot we have this week will cook in only half an hour. They can be used for soup, grated into risottos, boiled and eaten as an accompanying veg, pickled or roasted. Very versatile indeed.