Newsletter w/c 5th March 2012

The boys keep us very busy at weekends nowadays. We had friends over to stay on Friday night and ended up sitting up chatting til the early hours. So when the alarm went off at 7am, we felt we’d only just shut our eyes. Finn and Keir play pipes and drum respectively for a band that was having a fund-raising performance on Princess St in Edinburgh and we had to get them in to town by 10am. We made it with time to spare and the band played really well considering their fingers must have been almost numb with the cold wind. There is nothing like the sound of a pipe band. We went for a quick lunch then headed to the zoo for an hour before heading home. Sunday morning and we were up before 8am again as we were off the Melrose for a rugby tournament. Melrose are a great club and were perfect hosts. None of the Biggar teams managed to get through to the final stages but everyone seems to have had a good time which is the main thing for the youngsters. We stopped off in Peebles on the way back, after a wander around Melrose, and watched the Ireland France match while having a bite to eat in the County Inn. Then it was home to prepare for work for this week. I’m worn out.

On the farm I’m managing to get a lot of small jobs out of the way, however, the big jobs seem to get sidelined and put back. I’m determined to get the pot-holed road sorted out this week and I still have seeds to sow and a poly-tunnel to cover, gates to hang and a collapsed dry-stane dyke to re-build. To cap it all, the grass has started growing and is going to need maintenance soon too. There just aren’t enough hours in the day!

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 is Valor. 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.

Kale Brassica oleracea Acephala Group.. Some of the kale is still on its stalk so remove it before preparing. Kale is an excellent source of Vitamins A and C and also a source of potassium, copper, calcium, fibre and phytochemicals. To cook, strip the leaves off of the tough midrib, then shred and wash in cold, running water. Then steam for 10 minutes and serve with melted butter and season with pepper or ground cloves. You can make Colcannon by draining the kale after boiling then setting it aside. Take a finely chopped onion and put it in a pan with 150ml of milk. Bring it to the boil then remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Blend about 375g of mashed potatoes with the finely chopped kale, then heat through gently, adding as much of the milk and onion mixture as it will absorb to give the consistency of creamed potatoes. Put in a serving dish, make a depression in the centre and pour in some melted butter.

Broccoli Brassica oleracea Italica Group (1 head) Excellent source of Vitamin C, folic acid and phytochemicals and good for Vitamn.B6. Also contains Vitamins A, B2, B6 and phosphorus, fibre, calcium and iron. It is best eaten raw or quickly blanched in boiling , lightly salted water. Broccoli is also good in stir-fries as it has a lovely crunch to it if you don’t cook it for too long.

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.

Beetroot Beta vulgaris Contains Vitamin C folic acid and potassium. Can be cooked in various ways, but don’t peel the beet until you’ve boiled it as this stops it ‘bleeding’. My recipe for you this week completely disregards this, so have a pair of rubber gloves and newspaper handy. I’m going to tell you how to make Super Boost Juice – Put on the rubber gloves, spread out a newspaper and peel your beetroot and cut it into chunks. Take 4 apples and quarter and core them. Take 4 carrots and trim and peel them. Take 1cm/1 inch of fresh ginger and peel it. This is easily done by scraping the skin off with the side of a teaspoon. Process all the ingredients through a juicer. Stir and serve immediately, adding ice if desired.