Persimmons, Apples of the Orient

by Amber on May 8, 2012

Fire up your meals with Rocket!

Next week sees the appearance of certified organic rocket bunches in all of the small boxes, thanks to farmer David out at Bathurst. I included rocket in addition to Rita’s baby cos lettuce so its time to break out those salads – perfect for the sunny autumn afternoons we’ve been enjoying lately. Also, rocket basically goes well with pretty much anything whether its a sandwich, a garnish to some grandiose culinary masterpiece, or anything in between. I hope you enjoy it!

Apples of the Orient!

Also of note next week are Persimmons in all the fruit boxes and the large boxes. Traditionally grown in Japan they have been called ‘apples of the orient’. I’m not usually a fan of them and so was skeptical when Lily brought some in as a sample the other week. They arrived quite hard but the FC staff all had a munch – it was decided they needed a few days to ripen up. We’re glad we waited! We all arrived back in the office last Monday, having each taken persimmons home the previous week, and we all said the same thing – ‘wow, those persimmons were amazing! There’s something in the air or the soil out at Bilpin because I am now officially a fan of Persimmons! For those of you not registered for our fruit or large box, remember that you can always order Persimmons as an extra item. I’ll also aim to get them in the small boxes at some point soon. With bananas on the way out, expect to see a few fruit alternatives in the coming months.

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Change is in the Air

by Amber on April 30, 2012

In Season

It’s the start of May and change is most definitely in the air. Back in my northern UK home, May 1st is the traditional marker of the start of Summer, with more may poles, morris dancing, bonfires on hill tops and chasing cheese down steep hills than you can shake a ribbon covered stick at. I’ve lived in Sydney for two years, am here to stay and have been slowly adjusting to the year being turned upon its head. Therefore I officially am noting that this week marks the start of the cold dark times – get ready for winter folks, there’s a chill in the air. By the way, for anyone wondering what that Halloween nonsense is all about in October, its based upon an old European harvest festival in mid autumn – its southern calendar equivalent is May 1st. We have plenty of spare pumpkins down at the Food Connect warehouse in case anyone fancies carving a lantern!

As the warmth leaves us the crops change too. Enjoy the last bananas of the year over the next few weeks. Kiwis are making their last appearance in week 19 (a very short season). In another month or two we’ll also lose summer vegetables such as capsicum and eggplant. You’ll be pleased to know that standard tomatoes keep on going, though we’ll have to say goodbye to Rita’s wonderful cherry tomatoes until the next spring.

Don’t worry though, because its out with the old and in with the new. Citrus is still just beginning but soon we’ll be flooded with new produce. Anthony out at Colo River will have his incredible oranges for us in the next few weeks. I’ll also be looking out for more of those wonderful lemonades I found last autumn. And don’t forget the mandarins, which made their big comeback this week. I just tried one today and they’re outstanding! We’ll also continue to see a wealth of beautiful new season apples right into the winter months.

Winter veggies to look forward to are English Spinach, Snow Peas and Broccolini. We’ll also see the comeback of Kale, which was wiped out in all that summer rain. Kale is not only incredibly tasty and highly nutritious but you generally can’t buy it in the supermarkets. Then there’s the brassicas, the cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli, which all do well in colder weather. Add an array of spud varieties (from Kipflers to Tassie Pink Eyes) and pumpkins and I foresee some hearty winter stews and bakes coming on!

In the news
Recent news on falling fruit prices demonstrates the need to support our local farmers to avoid major price fluctuations. Natural disasters can send local prices through the roof and a strong Australian dollar can make imported goods cheaper than locally grown. This is good in the short term for consumers, however if our local farmers leave their farms then what will we do when prices go back up or we can only get food that was grown overseas with different production laws and long travel times?

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/interest-rates-to-fall–and-keep-falling-20120424-1xjhf.html

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Week 18, starting Monday 30th April 2012

by Amber on April 23, 2012

In Season

Mandarins are back! We’ve all missed this firm family favourite and now that the weather is cooling Lily is bringing us the first of the new season.

Also, welcome to Lachlan Roche’s chemical free apples grown at his orchard in Adelong. Lachlan is a fifth generation apple farmer and values the chemical-free traditions of his forebears. He uses traps for the coddling moth (the thorn in the side of all apple farmers) but refrains from sprays, opting for organic management techniques. Lachlan is bringing us Pink Ladies for all the boxes. We hope he’ll become a permanent part of the Food Connect family of farmers!

What’s that produce?

Is it an albino chilli? No, its probably a banana bullhorn! Rita has been growing this rather wonderful little vegetable as a recent new variety for us. Next week all the boxes get mixed bullhorn peppers (red, green or banana varieties) so look out for them. They’re particularly sweet in flavour, even more than the standard bullhorns. I find that bullhorns also have a mild chilli flavour except no spiciness, which makes a lovely subtle difference to standard capsicum.

News from the Farm

A bit of bad news I’m afraid – Phil Lavers, our potato farmer down in the Southern Highland, called last week and explained that his potato crop is pretty much wiped out by wet weather. This means that he wont have anything for us until the end of this year (probably December). Therefore I’m on the lookout for a new organic potato grower. I think I’ve found one, in the form of Lester and Joy Price out in Crookwell (near Goulburn). The Prices grow quite an interesting variety of spuds, many of which will be new to us at Food Connect. Fingers crossed we’ll have Tassie Pink Eyes for you in week 19!

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Week 17, starting Monday 23rd April 2012

16 April 2012

In Season
Its time for Pears and Lily has got us two different varieties. There’s the standard Bosc pear with its mat olive-brown skin and the sumptuous Corella, with its smooth red-blushed skin. Both will be available throughout the coming months.
New Farmers
I’d also like to welcome Neill and Gina Wiseman back to the Food Connect family [...]

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Week 16, starting Monday 16th April 2012

13 April 2012

In Season
This week sees the return of that incredible luscious rainbow chard from Kurrawong Organics – you should remember it from a few weeks back. We were so impressed with it that I thought I’d put it in all the boxes again, while its still around for the taking. Kurrawong is run by Lesley and [...]

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Week 15, Starting Monday 9th April 2012

2 April 2012

In Season
Well, citrus season is right on the doorstep. We’re getting our first oranges in next week and mandarins are due for the end of the month. The number of apple varieties also continues to expand. I recently found a couple of apple growers out near Canberra, whose produce include some interesting old varieties such [...]

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Week 14, beginning Monday 2nd April 2012

27 March 2012

Recent Updates
There are a couple of updates from the farmers that I’d like to share. Firstly, Phil wasn’t able to meet our entire order for Ottway Red potatoes this week so some of you may have King Edwards in your boxes. King Edwards are great for roasting, boiling or mashing (for all your spud variety [...]

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Week 13, starting Monday 26th March 2012

21 March 2012

In Season
Farmer Phil has been back out in the fields braving the mud to dig us up some beautiful Red Otway potatoes at Moonacres Farm near Fitzroy Falls. He says they had 3 inches of rain in 24 hours so there was a lot of mud to brave when digging them up. He’s got us [...]

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Week 12, beginning Monday 19th March

14 March 2012

New Produce: Mushrooms!
The exciting addition to our produce repertoire this week is white mushrooms from Kim and Chris Margin up in Woy Woy. The Margins grow chemical free mushrooms and specialize in the more gourmet Swiss Brown variety. However, as I was in search of a source for the common white variety, Kim and Chris [...]

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Week 11, beginning Monday 11th March 2012

7 March 2012

Update
Unfortunately we had weather-related problems with our corn order which meant that we didn’t have enough for medium and large boxes. We’re really sorry to disappoint. Rest assured that we made up the value by increasing the quantity on other produce items.
In Season

This week we’re getting a big order of certified organic bi-colour heritage corn [...]

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