Newsletter w/c 25th february 2013

The return to snow last week disrupted my plans to get on with the poly-tunnel structure and get it covered again. Hopefully I can get to that job this week instead. I’ve still quite an extensive list of jobs to get through before the main start of the growing season. There are walls to build and repair, sheds to sort out, (one of them is leaning over rather alarmingly), the farm road resembles the lunar surface so needs graded again an the grass in the holiday cottage garden needs to be raked out and re-sown. Longer days and better weather are definitely what’s required.

Lynda has made a great job of our new website, which I am delighted to say is now up and running. We can keep adding to it in a way that we couldn’t with the last website design so I have great intentions of updating it at regular intervals to keep it interesting. Please let us know if there is anything you would like us to add to the website.

My long-awaited return to competitive athletics went reasonably well at the weekend. I ran in the Scottish National Cross Country Championships and made it round the whole course without injury. The conditions were perfect and the grass underfoot was so well tended that it wasn’t much different from running on a track for most of the course. There were 500 starters and we ran 3 laps of the park totaling 12km in distance. I think my next competitive outing should be the end of March in Livingston. I’ll need to try to get some speed into my legs now that I know I have the stamina.

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

Potato Solanum tuberosum.. The variety for the most part is Valor. Some of you may get washed potatoes. These have been washed to check for blemishes and disease. Soil acts as a natural preservative, so the washed tatties may not keep quite as long as the dirty 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.

Butternut Squash. Cucurbita sp. The pumpkin in the bag this week is a very versatile vegetable. It can be roasted or cut into stews. It makes delicious and hearty soup, but can also make a dessert pie. We quite often make a curry with ours, so just google yourself a recipe. Cut the pumpkin into quarters remove the tough outer peel and the inner seeds and cut up the inner flesh to your desired recipe’s requirements.

Garlic  (1head). Use a clove of garlic to flavour savoury dishes. Split a clove off of the bulb, peel off the skin and crush or chop finely. Mix with butter and spread on bread or  toast to make a tasty snack.

Celeriac apium graveolens Celeriac is rich in Vitamin K, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus. It is edible raw or cooked. It can be roasted, boiled, stewed or even stir-fried. Our favourite recipe is celeriac and apple soup which is a great thick hearty soup for a frosty day after a long walk. Also good mashed through potatoes to add an extra flavour to your tatties.

Newsletter w/c 18th February 2013

The surprise and delight in the fine weather over the past two or three days just highlights how few good days we’ve had recently. It’s a lot easier to get up and out in the morning when the sun’s shining – no matter what the thermometer says.

I’m hoping to get the poly-tunnel rebuilt and covered with a new polythene sheet over the next week or two, to allow us to start getting seeds sown for the coming season. We’ll be changing the way we plant and sow this year to make sure we get some crop no matter what the weather might throw at us. If anyone has any suggestions for veg that they’d like to see us trying out that we haven’t grown before, this is the time to let me know.

Lynda has been extremely busy over the last wee while as she’s been re-doing the website. I had a look through it all last night and it looks fantastic. The final hurdle is to change the domain name over, so hopefully we can get it up and running online in a few days. It should be far easier for us to control the website now, so again, if you’ve any suggestions as to what you’d like to see on there then get in touch.

Despite all the bad weather, I’ve managed to get out and get some running done a couple of times a week at least since December. I’m not as fit as I was in the summer but have decided to try myself out at the Scottish Cross Country Championships in Callendar Park, Falkirk this Saturday. It must be 25 years since I last ran the National CC, and, although to some it’ll sound like torture, I’m looking forward to getting out there and battling through the mud for 12Km with hundreds of like-minded runners. There’s only a handful that will have a realistic chance of winning anything – for the rest of us it’s just a bit of fun. There are not many sports where you can directly compete with the National stars of your sport and many of the best runners will already be on a training path which they hope will end up with a place at the Commonwealth Games next year.

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

Potato Solanum tuberosum.. The variety for the most part 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.

Brocolli Brassica oleracea Italica Group Excellent source of Vitamin C and folic acid. 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. Also good in stir-fries. Please use as quickly as possible as it doesn’t keep well..

Parsnip Pastinaca sativa. Source of Vitamin C and Folic Acid.  Peel the root thickly and slice the flesh. Boil in lightly salted water for 30 minutes. Alternatively, parboil for 10 minutes then roast for 20 – 30 minutes. Here’s a recipe I found for: Fried Parsnips; Trim the tops and roots off the parsnips then peel and cut in half lengthways. Put the parsnips in a pan of boiling water ( lightly salted)  and cook for 15 minutes. They should still be firm and not quite tender. Drain thoroughly. Lightly beat an egg and dip the parsnips in it before coating them with breadcrumbs seasoned with salt and pepper. Melt 2oz(50g) of butter in a frying pan and shallow fry the parsnips until they are golden and crisp on both sides, turning once.

Savoy Cabbage Brassica oleracea . To cook, remove any damaged outer leaves, cut into quarters and remove the central core. It can be cooked in quarters like this in boiling salted water or else shredded and boiled or steamed. Here’s a recipe for Cabbage soup which will use up a few items in the bag this week: Prepare and wash the cabbage and shred it finely. Prepare and roughly chop, 2 carrots, the leek and 1/2lb(250g) potatoes. Put all the vegetables in a pan with 3 pints(1.5l) stock and a bouquet garni, bring to the boil  as it has a big and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Season to taste, sprinkle with parsley and serve at once.

Parsley Petroselinum sp. This is the flat-leaved type of parsley Excellent for flavouring all sorts of dishes or cut into salads or, 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.

Newsletter w/c 4th February 2013

Just like a fortnight ago, we’ve woken to a white world of drifting snow and high winds. This means I’ll have problems getting out of the farm so delivery times may be altered. I won’t really know how bad it is until I try, so hopefully conditions aren’t as tricky as they look. I’ll try to keep you updated on here if there are delays.

Although it was cold at the weekend, the weather did seem to be picking up a bit. The boys managed to get a Sunday at rugby for the first time in a few weeks. The pitch has either been frozen or waterlogged for what seems like ages, so it was good to see the two of them shaking off the rustiness and getting stuck into the games.

The short days and poor conditions have made it difficult for me to keep my training going for the marathon I want to run this summer, but I’ve managed to get out at least twice a week since the middle of December, so I’m feeling quite fit. I’ve entered the Scottish National Cross-country Championships in 2 or 3 weeks time so will be able to get some measure of how well I’m doing from that, as long as I don’t pick up another injury before it.

Finn and Keir were needing a bit of extra pocket money at the weekend, so we took them busking into Edinburgh after rugby on Sunday. There didn’t seem to be very many people about, but it’s amazing how people gather at the sound of the pipes and drum. They played for about half an hour and came away quite happy. Finn’s been asked to play for at a Burns Night in a local school this week and they’re both trying to practice for their first solo competition at the beginning of next month. The band opens a lot of avenues of opportunity for them. If any of you have children that fancy taking up the chanter, which leads on to the pipes, or the drum, we’d be delighted to hear from them. We have a real shortage of young pipers in particular, at the moment.

Potato Solanum tuberosum.. The variety for the most part 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.

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  has contiutough 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

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.

Tomato Lycopersicon esculentum.  Can be eaten fresh in salads or cooked into sauces, the famous soup, or for the unhealthy option fried for breakfast.

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.

Garlic  (1head). Use a clove of garlic to flavour savoury dishes. Split a clove off of the bulb, peel off the skin and crush or chop finely. Mix with butter and spread on bread or  toast to make a tasty snack.

Fruit and Vegetables
Organic Vegetables	£13.50 per standard bag
	£16.50 per Large bag
Organic Fruit	£4.00 per Small Bag
	£7.50 per Large Bag
Organic Pasteurised Milk ( full cream/semi skimmed)	£1.20per  litre
Organic Single cream ( 250ml)	£1.00/£1.60
Organic Double cream ( 250ml)	£1.30/£1.70
Eggs
Organic Free Range Eggs	£1.80 per Half Dozen Box